Halfway

Today is the halfway point of Ramadan. The past few days I have really enjoyed my site. I wonder when I am going to stop calling it my site and start calling it my home. I think that may be one of the setbacks from both a PCV’s viewpoint and those of the community. It’s almost as if two years is not enough. It feels temporary. I am looking up at my homemade calendar. As of right now, it shows as far as October 2010. June 2010 is our halfway point, when we have our midservice training and medical exams. I am moved in completely and besides a few other comforts I would like to add, I am settled in. I have started putting together my powerpoint presentation that we are presenting to the Ministry of Health in a month. I started looking through some of the piles of information that I have acquired. Lots of it has come from Sarah Moorman, my infamous role model and predecessor, and from Peace Corps vast collection. Some of these facts I came across, collected from USAID:

Adult Literacy Rate
52.3
%
2004
World Bank/WDI Database-2007

Adult Literacy Rate, Female
38
%
2002
World Bank/WDI-2006


Adult Literacy Rate, Male
63
%
2002
World Bank/WDI-2006

Healthy Life Expectancy: Female

60.9
2002
WHO World Health Report-2004
Healthy Life Expectancy: Male
59.5
2002
WHO World Health Report-2004


Some of these numbers have since improved, but not by much. The core of our project framework is prevention through education and improved water and sanitation, our target audience being women and children.

My core project will be a trash disposal system in my community, and hopefully, will be duplicated in the surrounding dours. If the one here is successful, we will assess and analyze the pros and cons and apply them throughout the area.

The gorge area’s predicament regarding trash disposal is that there is no safe place to dispose of it. Most of the communities are situated within the valley of the mountain ranges. Without knowledge of the hazards regarding waste disposal, people throw their trash into the river, into dried up streambeds and on the ground. The beauty of these communities is that relatively, they produce little trash. Lack of money and access to materials means that most of the trash that is not recycled by household means that the majority left is plastic bags, metal tins, plastic bottles and wrappers left by various goods. Food wastes are fed to livestock, paper goods are usually burnt in ovens that cook bread and plastic bottles and glass containers are used again and again for milk products, juice, and water until they are finally discarded.

One PCV pointed out that there was the same amount of trash and problem as there is in the States. I concur. He even went as far to say that it was not a huge problem and that other ailments should be looked into first. This bothered me. It was this very thinking that got many first world countries into the situations they are in today. A gross commercialized society with overflowing landfills. I want to counter this problem head on now, before it becomes a major problem. It’s not until we see the direct result of hazardous waste leaching into the soil and water before we do something about it? This may already be a problem and we are unaware of it. Already we have been exposed to the problems of EACs through plastic bottles and the hazardous effect they have on pregnant women and their children. It may not be seen now, but in 20 years when women are having spontaneous abortions and children are born with birth defects, when plants and animals are starting to show more and more mutations or we eradicate species entirely. Already I am alarmed by the lack of fish in the river here. There are numerous amphibious species, but I rarely see fish despite the fact that the river is here constantly, despite the summer dry season.

Restraints in this region are time, money, resources, and geographical location. If we were to bury the trash, we would have to find an appropriate area, not affected by the water table where we could safely dispose of the trash and cover it with soil. The rains come down from the mountains, into the valleys and replenish the fields and river. Anything in its path is washed down. Finding an area that is convenient to the community is another obstacle. When it is easier to throw the trash in a nearby alley as opposed to walking to the edge of the community is a huge obstacle. Toying with the idea of a trash pick up and depositing to the closest landfill was shot down by my Peace Corps program managers. The closest landfill is in Boumalen Dades. Trash would have to be collected and then taken by either truck or transit vans to the outskirts of Boumalen to be dumped and that costs enough in and of itself. The next solution would be to burn trash. Of course, the majority of the trash is harmful when burned, if it will burn. I am going to look into possible scrap metal options. The idea would be to have oil drums strategically placed in areas in my community where citizens could deposit their trash. There would need to be a dramatic behavior change also. People would need to start using the receptacles as opposed to their old ways of dropping off trash off the cliff beside the river, or the empty riverbed that comes down from the mountains. This project would be a huge undertaking but by employing the right people, with the right mindset, it just might happen.