Throne Room

There are now 39 latrine pits underway, with 20 of those completed. We’re almost half way there with the pits. It’s a bit of a safety and care nightmare really; 38 pits about 1.5m wide and between 10 and 2 meters deep, no warning signs or covers, and 140 children from 5 months up – you do the maths.

But finally, and just before I leave, we have a latrine being built. The concrete slab was cast last weekend, and today lifted over the top of one of the 10m pits, and then the foundation squared up around it.

Due to a hold up with brick making we decided to buy some adobe (mud/straw) bricks from members of the community and the walls are going up. Hopefully by the end of the day the walls will be complete and the roof on. The next step will be to fit a door and open up the hole that is in the slab and then the only thing left to do is… I’ll leave it to your imagination. But how do you dedicate a throne room?

Tomorrow’s the big day – we’re going to celebrate with Sodas and biscuits: hopefully the Mayor will be there, and various other levels of government as well as officers from the Rwanda region. (There are twelve officers in Rwanda including Isaac and I. Six of them are native Rwandese, but they will be joined by the 7 cadets that are currently in training and will be commissioned in August this year.) Together we are going to open and dedicate the pump and the community shelter, and plant some trees. It should be a good day. (I’ll leave it to the Mayor and the Regional Commander to fight over who gets to christen the throne!)