Friday, June 14, 2007
It has been a long time since I wrote in this journal and so much has happened. We arrived in Pommern as people described and got to work on our assigned projects. Evan, Josh and I have been working hard on improving the sporting grounds and getting them ready for use in inter-town and school athletic competitions to begin in July. We have almost fully completed a 400-meter track built from scratch and have made a soccer net for one of their goals.
Since their projects are nearing completion and time is running out, we have turned our focus to the issue that we chose to take on and try to come up with a sustainable solution to waste management. Evan being in the environmental group and I in the economic sustainability group have chosen a project that that addresses both areas.
A major problem in Pommern is waste management: the system they use right now is to build a building over a hole in the ground and use it as a toilet until it fills. They then cement over it and build a new one. This is not only gross but very bad for the soil and water supply near by. Another problem they have is with the use of fertilizers. Not only are they expensive but the rain washes a lot of the chemicals into the water supply making it unsafe to drink.
Our solution: COMPOSTING
Before the trip I did some research on composting and specifically the composting of human waste. I brought with me all of that information and instructions on how to implement it. Not only will this give an alternative to burying the waste in the ground but it will create an inexpensive and all-organic fertilizer for the town to use along with the rest of the environment group. Nicole, Margaret (our local environmental expert), Evan and I met with the upendo women's group today to present our materials and get their suggestions on how it might be best to implement something like this. The meeting was very successful and the women all agreed that composting is a great idea. There was a little snag through when using human waste was suggested. I guess people didn’t like the idea of carrying their poop out back in a bucket and dumping it in a big pile, go figure.
As weird as that may sound, it is a common practice in many third world countries and when done correctly really isn’t all that gross. We have scheduled another larger scale town wide meeting for Sunday after church and hope to gain more support there.
In other news Chris, Josh, ay and I taught 6-8 of the local students how to play American football last night. It was a great time and they were surprisingly good although they had some issues with throwing form and not throwing it again once they caught it. They were all very good at kicking though.
Now it's really late and everyone else in sleeping so lala salama and tutaoonoana Boadai.
-John
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