Sanitation facilities in Bolivia

The Need

Young boys and girls in rural Bolivia are plagued with preventable gastrointestinal infections. Three in four children at the Cooperacion Cristiana Capilla Aramasi Compassion Child Development Centre can’t protect themselves through healthy hygiene habits since they have no access to toilets or sinks. In fact, most of the 200 beneficiary children don’t even know how to use a bathroom or wash their hands.

These little ones are growing up without any hygiene education or the dignity of using proper sanitation facilities, leaving them vulnerable to recurrent disease and missing school days and Compassion program days.

The reasons are multi-faceted, but the root cause comes down to poverty. Living in an impoverished village of 400 families where, on average, fathers only completed grade three and mothers only grade one, parents are unaware of the benefits of daily hygiene habits in combatting the spread of germs and infectious diseases. All parents have ever known is using vacant lots, nearby creeks or makeshift cesspits (a hole covered with plastic a few steps away from the house) for their washroom facilities—so this is all their children have learned, too.

Families living in precarious living conditions have no sewage system access and the only available water is cloudy and saline, unfit for drinking or washing. Children are often left to fend for themselves in their one-room houses while their parents leave early in the morning to seek work and return home late at night.

Compassion’s local church partner in Nuevo Aramasi, Bolivia, has been providing holistic care to beneficiaries since 2018. The hearts of the church leaders and members were burdened to protect the most vulnerable children in their community by providing dignity and safety through sanitation facilities at the church, along with hygiene education to empower families to enjoy better health and overcome poverty.

Our Response

Thanks to your investment, in August 2020, a group of passionate local leaders—including pastors, elders and church members—gathered to plan the bathroom construction for 200 beneficiary children at the Nuevo Aramasi Compassion centre. The designs included one boys’ washroom and one girls’ washroom, each offering four toilets, one sink and one shower.

In September, a construction crew was hired to dig the footings, place the core stones and erect the walls. In November, the work began for aggregates, joists and pouring concrete. Next, thanks to the teamwork of church members, pastors, Compassion staff, beneficiary parents and young people, we began plastering the ceiling. In December 2020, we completed the electrical installations, plumbing and wall plastering. January focused on laying the ceramic tiles and flooring, and installing the toilets and sinks. In February, we painted the interior and exterior of the bathrooms.

Finally, in March 2021, we celebrated the conclusion of the building project with a thanksgiving inauguration ceremony for our new sanitation facilities! Together, parents, children and church members rejoiced and praised God for this long-awaited gift that will change lives for years to come.

Compassion tutors were trained by a doctor and the pastor on how to steward our bodies well, prevent illness and teach children good hygiene habits. The tutors then showed the boys and girls the correct usage of the bathrooms and handwashing sinks, implementing a new schedule on program days to give children enough time to use the bathroom and wash their hands before enjoying their meals.

The next step, currently postponed due to the third wave of the pandemic, is to offer workshops so parents can become aware of the importance of hygiene habits for their children’s healthy growth and development. We are eager to see parents setting a good example for their children and being a positive influence in their lives.

Activities

Gathering materials: The project manager oversaw the shipments of construction materials. Church members, caregivers and youth worked together to assemble the materials for construction.

Constructing the walls: Pastor Alfredo and beneficiary parents worked together to raise the walls of the bathrooms. Church members also helped to plaster the internal walls and ceilings of both toilet blocks.

Plumbing and electrical: Church members volunteered their time to help install pipes in the bathrooms. Electricians installed light switches and wiring.

Laying the tiles: Pastor Leonardo and another church member helped to tile the bathroom walls. Other centre staff helped clean the glue from tiles.

Your Gift Provides...

• Building materials for bathrooms, including:
o Wood planks, stones, gravel, sand, bricks, cement, iron and beams
o Ceramic tiles and flooring
o Toilets, sinks, PVC pipes, taps and valves
o Windows, doors, wind protectors and waterproofing
o Cables, outlets, switches, lights and sockets
o Paint, mirrors and finishings
• Transportation for equipment, tools and building materials
• Construction labour and supervision
• Educational signs, toilet paper, soap and paper towels in the washrooms
• Training workshops for tutors, children and caregivers