Staff blog: Dorcas says goodbye to the river

She sat in front of her small thatched house, her face without emotion as she looked over to us, I was with Elijah her son in law and John – a project staff with the EU Unicef WasH, Klinpela Komuniti project (KKP).

Elijah is a community motivator and has the important role of promoting healthy hygiene and sanitation practices in his community at Tuarerukung, Kieta – Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

John Ruben, a project staff who works with communities in Kieta says, “Community motivators are our representatives on the ground and in their communities. They help connect us to the people”.

He adds that community motivators also brings reports and play the very important role of community relations.

We were chatty, as all three of us neared her house and the little platform she sat on. It was shaky and the space was too small to sit on so I remained standing, then I later crouched down in front of her as she spoke, “Hello”, and reached out her hand to shake mine. We shook hands and then Elijah whispered to her in their local language, “This is the man we told you about, he will write your story and share it with everyone on the internet and newspaper”.

She said nothing, but just looked at me and smiled as Elijah spoke, “This is Dorcas….

Dorcas is a person with disability since birth, we estimate that she is around 70 years old or more as she tried to explain to her son in law –Elijah who is translating her conversation, that she cannot remember her exact age or date of birth.

“I don’t know what had happened to me, only my mother knows and she would always carry me on her back everywhere she went, even for long distances”, she said.

As she spoke, Dorcas would occasionally smile at me and then look away, I could sense the sadness in her eyes and I knew that she longed to be part of the celebration in her village.

“My grandfather told my mother to throw me into the sea because I was crippled, he said I was not fit to live but my mother refused and took care of me until I was old enough to help myself move around”, she adds.

Tuarerukung was recently declared as an open defecation free community (ODF) under the KKP WasH project which is being implemented by World Vision in her community.

Before our intervention, Dorcas and many others used the river nearby to dump their waste and use as a toilet.

For her case, Dorcas would crawl all the way down to the riverbank and then crawl on her knees back.

The route to the river is steep and muddy at times, sometimes her knees would scratch or tear against stones or pebbles but she had no choice as this was the only way she would be able to relieve herself.

Dorcas does not have children of her own because she did not marry, however she has nieces, nephews, and sons in law and an older sister who has been her support system for most of her life.

Through our intervention, Tuarerukung is no longer a community where people use the river as a toilet nor the nearby bushes because now, they all have pit toilets.

The project has encouraged people to use easily available materials to build their pit toilets, and so, many have built their own with the support of project staff like John and community motivators like Elijah.

Prior to any community having an Open Defecation Free (ODF) status, all members of that community must have a toilet and Dorcas was no exception.

So work began as soon as possible on a pit toilet built with easily available primitive materials not too far from her home.

Now, Dorcas will no longer crawl all the way to the river but just go the back of her house when she feels like using the toilet.

Elijah recalled that Dorcas wasn’t always frail as she is today, she is only as such because of her age.

He says she was an active, creative and a strong woman who had a disability that could not hold her back. Although she would often need assistance to travel long distances, her determination to live a normal life was constant.

“When she was a bit younger, she would often tell me to accompany her to the garden where she would walk using a stick, she would dig food and then I would carry it home for her”, says Elijah.

He says that she sews clothes, bilums (string bags), and mats, then sell them to earn an income to support the family.

“She has not married and does not have children of her own but she has a family. We carry her when we need to. Even during the crisis we would carry her and walk for long distance to keep safe”, he adds.

John chirped in, saying the crisis had affected a lot of people mentally and hence the result is an unintentional ignorance of important sanitation facilities to avoid falling sick.

“There is still a lot of work needed on behaviour change and we are trying our best to do that”, he says.

A community that has ODF + status is one that has met certain key indicators set by the project such as having toilets – ventilation improved pits which must be a meter deep (1x1 metre to be exact). Toilets must have lids to prevent flies from entering and toilets must have ash inside to sprinkle every time after use, this stops the smell and speeds up the waste composition and a tippy tap outside for hygiene promotion.

The Klinpela Komuniti Projek is co-funded by EU, UNICEF and the PNG Government and is being implemented by World Vision with technical guidance from UNICEF.

World Vision is working closely with 3 Districts (Wakunai, Panguna and Kieta) in Central Bougainville, and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

Other partners include Regional WaSH committees, the Provincial Health Education are also key WaSH partners who play a key role in the sustainability of the project in Central Bougainville Region to accomplish the Central Region WaSH Plan.

So far in Kieta District, nine communities have been given ODF statuses – this includes Takee, Ashtango, Dakau, Sirivai, Bumbuka, Pontona, Iaru and of course Tuarerukung.

 Dorcas says goodbye to the river as she now has a 1x1 depth improved ventilated pit toilet with a lid and an ash container beside to sprinkle away the smell, and a tippy tap with soap that hangs outside her humble latrines door – all built with primitive materials by KKP project staff like John and community motivators like Elijah and their colleagues in the project.