This is the great celebration of a training workshop on Building Better Latrines. Building better latrines is one of the micro project areas of the Mozambique Canada Maternal Health Project. Building better latrines is an important key to developing healthier communities as well as providing a source of community investment and income. The membership of each unit for building better latrines is 50 per cent women with 75 per cent women in leadership positions. The training workshop was led by Carlos Macave – who helped developed the first better latrines (Latrinas Melhoradas) program almost 40 years ago. Students at this workshop set up a demonstration site so that other communities visit to see the technology of building better latrines and the health benefits.
Horacio Mandevo, project co-director in Mozambique reports that two communities were involved in this training session – Marrange in the District of Homoine and Makacula in the District of Massinga. These communities observed that there were serious problems with diarrhea that directly affected the health of mothers, children and families. 10 women and 9 men gathered for the training which took two weeks. Horacio stated ” they saw the need for better latrines and community education to use better latrines for better health”.
At the closing ceremonies of the training workshop Lidia Monjane, Mozambique Project Director spoke of the importance of micro projects such as Building Better Latrines in focussing on the reduction of maternal mortality and creating positive conditions for maternal and child heath in the communities.
Below is a short video showing a moment in the training sessions. The saucer like round mold is for a cement top (lage)) of the better latrine. They will have a hole in the middle and lid (tampa) to stop flies and other insects from going in and out and spreading disease. They will also be easy to clean on a regular basis.
Many Thanks to Horacio Mandevo for his reporting from Mozambique
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