El Salvador Week Two

I got over my illness and am now back on track. I spent all week at the Ministry of Health, designing interview questions for our field work next week. I will not be conducting the interviews since my Spanish is limited, that will be done by Vivian and Catalina, my cohorts at the Ministry. Vivian is a wealth of information. She has worked in Sanitation in El Salvador for 22 years and have seen the successes and the failures of implementing ecological sanitation in rural El Salvador. She tells me that the Government installed many solar toilets in a rural community up in the mountains, but it was a failure because the community was not involved in the planning, construction or implement of the toilets. One of the criteria for success is involving the community as well as constant follow up and education for at least the first year. She also tells me that the treatment facilities here in San Salvador are not well kept. Most of the people in squatter communities use the river for the dumping ground for their waste.
Waste is a taboo word here since the goal is to reuse the urine and feces in agriculture.
Next Tuesday we go out in the field and see first hand how the existing ecological toilets are being maintained. Most of the ones we will see will be solar, perhaps a few compost. It should be interesting.
Until next week I bid you farewell
Patty