Let‟s talk about crap! There are many words for feces: poop, pooh, crap, crud, doo, dung, s**t, etc. Everyone defecates, but no one wants to talk about it in public.
Defecation, especially open defecation, is a public issue. In areas where there are no proper latrines to separate people‟s excrements from living areas and from water supplies, fecal matter poses health risks to everyone. In my interview with Anastasia Shown, a Coordinator at the African Studies Center of the University of Pennsylvania, she said that in her travels through Cameroon, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, and Ghana, most of the people she met wanted running water in their houses. However, what they do not realize is that even if there are a hundred taps in a family compound, people will still get sick if their neighbors openly defecate (Shown). It is estimated that 705 million people in rural parts of southern Asia practice open defecation. This practice is brought about due to the lack of access to proper sanitation facilities. Water supplies will get contaminated and people will get water-borne illnesses unless open defecation is stopped (Millennium 45).
In areas stricken with poverty, especially in slums, people go to the bathroom in various methods. Some would wait until night in order to venture to the fields or bushes to relieve themselves. Others would do their business inside their houses in a bucket and empty the contents into an open drain when no one is looking (Black). “Flying Toilets”
are also a common practice where people defecate in plastic bags and throw the bags into a dump.
54 The lack of a proper sanitation system is more of an issue for girls than boys, especially when young girls are menstruating. “Before the school had toilets we used to hide under the bamboo when we had to go,” recounted Sabina Roka from Simle, Nepal.
“During menstruation it was really difficult, and we used to stay at home instead.” In Nigeria, a mother said “During the day we must walk far into the bush if we do not want to be seen. At night there is a danger from snakes and scorpions. Sometimes men follow us and that also makes us afraid” (Plumb). What some of us consider being a simple act of going to the bathroom can be a difficult and dangerous task in some parts of the world.
What is it about crap that is so deadly? According to New Internationalist’s
“Toilets – the Facts,” in one gram of feces, there can be:
10,000,000 viruses 1,000,000 bacteria 1,000 parasitic cysts 100 parasitic eggs
In slums, where thousands of poverty-stricken people are crammed into a small area, with no proper sewage system or water system, diseases travel quickly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some diseases caused by drinking polluted water include cholera, typhoid, diarrhea, dysentery, and Leptospirosis. Children are most affected by these diseases because of their weak immune system due to malnourishment, which is due to poverty. Some may say that poverty is caused by the lack of access to clean drinking water and a sanitation system. When children are forced to spend most of their days fetching water, they cannot go to school. When children drink contaminated water, they become sick and some even die, robbing them of their opportunity to get an education. Without education, these children cannot get themselves out of poverty.
55 In an ideal and uncorrupted world, governments would help those in poverty. In certain countries, however, government agencies turn a blind eye against those living in slums. It‟s too much of a problem and too costly to deal with, so slum dwellers continue to live in poverty. The reality, however, is that whatever goes on in the slums affect the wealthy and the country as a whole. If there‟s a cholera outbreak in one slum in a city, the whole city population is at risk. It‟s in the government‟s interest that the people are healthy. Mel Payne, who traveled to Kenya to work on a water project with Keiyo Soy Ministries, said, “People are the most precious commodity you can have. Without human beings, nothing can happen.” He further explained that countries develop and grow because of good infrastructure. Having clean water for people to drink means that people will be healthy enough to create the infrastructures that are needed (Payne). Because governments are corrupt and the poor tend to be forgotten in policies, foreign aid is important to encourage changes. International humanitarian groups can help improve drinking water quality and sanitation quality in slums. It is up to the inhabitants, though, to maintain the improved facilities after the foreigners have left. Education is key to breaking through poverty.
You can find out more about global water and sanitation issues through “Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene” on UNICEF‟s website: http://www.unicef.org/wash/index.html.
To help build toilets around the world, visit World Toilet Organization‟s website:
http://www.worldtoilet.org/.
To find out more about Keiyo Soy Ministries and their projects, please contact:
Dr. Elijah Korich 215.836.4008
[email protected] http://www.ksmministries.com/
56 Bprayee was born in the forest, that‟s how he got his name. The Cambodian forest by the Mekong River was his home, the only home he ever had. His mother would
recount the day that she gave birth to him. It was when the Mekong River reversed its flow due to the start of the monsoon rains. The forests were flooded and the fishermen were happy. It was the season that meant everyone had dinner to eat and enough fish to sell at the market. The fishermen would go out in the flooded forests, and catch tons of fish. If they ever happen to catch the giant catfish, the women would sprinkle it with perfume to pay respect before releasing it to the wild river. Usually, that family would be blessed with a prosperous catch that season. One day, his mother was angry with his father and decided to paddle the boat into the forest. It was there that Bprayee wanted to be born and she gave birth to him all by herself. She was in so much pain but so proud of herself at the same time.
The days when the nearby forest was flooded and fish could be caught on tree branches no longer exist. The elders of the village would talk about the days when the Naga fireballs would rise out of the river during the full moon in October. Foreigners and city folks would come to the river and watch the fireballs. Locals would make money from selling local foods and handicrafts to the tourists. Those days were long gone. The elders watched the forests that they once lived off destroyed and reminisced about the past.