January 25, 2015

Pit latrine and septic well

Our construction workers dug two really deep holes on our land, one for a pit latrine (outhouse) and the other for a septic well (for sewage drainage).  Our community has no drainage pipes, so we have to drain our own sewage into our land, into a deep pit.  Due to the lack of community drainage, we are putting in an outhouse (which is what most people in our community use) for those coming to our ministry building.
They dug the holes with pickaxes and shovels
using a plumb line to go straight down.
They hauled the dirt out by bucketfuls.
The guys worked in a team of 3: one digging,
one pulling up the buckets, and one carting
away the dirt in a wheelbarrow.
They traded positions every hour.
It took two weeks to finish, and the final
holes were 12 and 15 meters deep, respectively,
with concrete around the top two meters.
For now, the holes are covered by
tin roofing pieces and gnarly tree stumps.
Eventually the area will be covered by
concrete, with an outhouse building over
the closest hole.