Keur Amadou Diop Latrine Project – Senegal

Location
Keur Amadou Diop, community of Patar Lia, district of Gossas, arrondissement of Ouadiour, region of Fatick, Senegal

Community Description
Keur Amadou Diop is located in the rural community of Patar Lia, the district of Gossas, the arrondissement the Ouadiour, and the region of Fatick.

Although Keur Amadou Diop is within the radius of the Boustane cluster, it is not part of the village cluster, and is itself a four-compound cluster comprised of 5 families.

The compound has an important male figure who is considered a village chief, but also as a “substitute” marabout. Keur Amadou Diop shares many activities and affairs with Boustane Diaw and Boustane Diop, as well as many other surrounding villages. For example, the children from Keur Amadou Diop who are able and allowed to go to school will attend the primary school in Boustane Diaw.

The health hut in Boustane Diaw is also a facility shared, as Keur Amadou Diop villagers will go there for medical advice, simple medical check-ups, and minor treatments.

Keur Amadou Diop has itself a functioning robine just steps away and shares the 60-meter deep well with Boustane Diop, though they will often come with donkey-drawn charrettes and draw water from the robine in Boustane Diaw.

The people in Keur Amadou Diop, like their Boustane counterparts, are subsistence farmers, growing primarily peanuts and harvesting millet and hibiscus during the farming season. Some families even share the same plot of land. The husbands head out to cities or towns for other work once the farming season is over to generate more income for their families.

A recent development is that a few of the women in Keur Amadou Diop are learning alphabetization with the women in Boustane Diop to help better themselves and their children. As for the children and teenagers, they help out with whatever is deemed necessary for them to do.

There is only one “functioning” latrine in Keur Amadou Diop, belonging strictly to the “substitute” marabout. Therefore, the majority of villagers, especially the children, will walk into the bush or away from their fields to defecate. Often though, the children will not even bother with going to the bush and defecate directly behind their compounds. This contributes to the oral-fecal cycle of diarrheal diseases, poor hygiene, and lowers the overall health of the compound and nearby villages.

Project Description
This project will construct 7 pit-style, brick-lined latrines. The project itself will provide one latrine for each “family” (four) in the compound, but will also cover the remaining latrines left in the villages of Boustane Diaw (one, for the wives of the marabout and their children) and Boustane Diop (two, the “talibe” boys’ dormitory and one other family).

The villagers will dig 2-meter by 2-meter holes, 2 meters deep. Each hole will then be covered by a cement slab.

The design of these latrines will provide great stability and protection. In addition, the latrines are built in the manner that when one pit fills, the cement platform can simply be lifted and moved on top of a newly dug pit.

Project funds will be used to pay the mason for building the latrines, the brick makers, and to purchase and transport the supplies necessary for construction: 5 cement bags, 3 iron bars, and a pipe for ventilation per latrine.

The villagers will be responsible for digging their own holes, providing sand and gravel to mix with the cement to make the bricks, and will provide an agreed amount as a contribution to the project.

A program is being developed to focus on proper hygiene and the proper care of latrines.

Project Impact
About 145 people will benefit from the project.

Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Albert Vang

Comments
Through this project, the sanitary conditions of the village will be much improved by the elimination of open defecation.

Albert previously successfully completed the Boustane Diaw Latrine Project – Senegal and the Boustane Diop Latrine Project – Senegal.

Dollar Amount of Project
$555.00

Donations Collected to Date
$555.00 + additional amounts

Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 – This project has now been fully funded through the generosity of The Soneva SLOW LIFE Trust as a part of their Clean Water Projects initiative, together with friends and family of Peace Corps Volunteer Albert Vang, with additional funds from the Elmo Foundation for future projects in the country.

We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Albert of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Albert and/or those of other PCVs in the country of service.

This project has been finished. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.