Another Letter From USA

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Robert Harvey <RobHarvey@compuserve.com>
Date: Jan 8, 2008 4:38 AM
Subject: Re: Child reportage program and other matters

Santakar:

I checked the Koraput Blog today and saw the many photos you have put on
Snapfish. Very interesting material.

From some of the texts accompanying the photos I have learned that good,
clean toilets are a priority for the school children. I thought it
interesting that the children claim at some schools the toilets are locked,
and I assume only available to the teachers and administrators. Maybe
that's because the kids make a mess of the toilet. Here in the USA the
schools have separate toilets for the adults and children.

I hope more toilets are installed for the children in the schools and in
their homes and villages.

This man wants to bring good toilets to all of India:

http://www.sulabhinternational.org/

Attached is a pic of the toilets at the campground where I stayed the night
before I climbed Half Dome Mountain. It requires no water for flushing, and
there is no smell, as a solar powered fan keeps the air pressure in the
bathroom slightly above that of the outside, so of course no smells can
drift in from the tank beneath the toilet seats. The tank itself
incorporates wood chips that have been infused with some kind of special
bacteria that eats the defecation more efficiently than the common
bacterias, and renders the whole mess into a compact and less odorous
compost that is then carried out on the backs of mules every couple of
weeks during the peak of the camping season (summer). Although both urine
and solid waste enters the tank, the warm air and additional solar power
fans dry out the urine so the compost that is removed is quite dry, like
soil.

In Koraput, such compost could be dumped in forests or used for the growing
of flowers.

You might wonder why the compost from the toilets in the picture is carried
out by mule instread of being dumped in the forest. That is because of
technicalities of the law, which require that efforts be made to prevent
the camp from having any negative effect on the forest. So all campers
must take their trash back down the mountain, and the human compost is
taken down the mountain also. Someone is likely profiting from hauling the
compost down the mountain, and I doubt there is much incentive on the part
of anyone else to mount a campaign against this ridiculous interpretation
of the law. So the taxpayer's money is wasted, as usual.

I did speak with the man who was loading up the compost on his mules. He
told me that sanitation is also a reason why the compost is packed out. As
the river is only about 200 yards from the toilets, packing the compost out
insures against water contamination. (of course one could simply pack the
compost further away from the toilets and then dump it. These toilets are
about 4 hours up the mountain from the trailhead.)

I can get more info about how the toilets are built for you or whoever
might be interested.

Why not give the Child Reporters the info about Sulabh International and
the pic of the attached toilets and let them confront the adult authorities
with the fact that the solution is likely well within reach, and perhaps
the slow implementation of such facilites and technologies is the result of
adult laziness and corruption. Please try to be there and snap a picture
of the faces of the adults when they are presented with these accusations.
What fun!

Cheers

Rob Harvey