Construction of Toilets And Drinking Water Facilities

When large number of families live in refugee camps it is easy to spread disease and hard to maintain proper hygienic conditions, especially without toilets and water. I saw this problem in some of the refugee camps.

Some camps had no water and the ones that did have water did not have enough. The same was true of toilets. Some camps had absolutely no toilets whatsoever. The ones which did have toilets had only one or two that had to accommodate many whole families.

When I first arrived at the refugee camp where fifty families were living, I was surprised to see that there were no toilets in the camp. People had to walk about quarter of a mile to the nearby school. The school which itself had only three toilets was already a home to over one hundred refugee families.

When I arrived at the camp it was difficult to walk in the woods in the back of the refugee camp without stepping on you know what. I especially felt sorry for the young and teenage girls and the women in the camp. It was hard to imagine how all those people lived in that camp without toilets.

We went into action immediately and built two toilets within a few days. Then we were lucky to come across a NGO who told us that they can help us to build toilets in any locations that we chose.

Now wherever the toilets are needed we arrange permits and necessary documents so that they can be built without much delay. Toilets and water facilities are essential requirements for everybody to live with dignity. Especially for those who have lost everything they owned and their loved ones this is something small that we can do which will help them to live with dignity and good spirit.

The Triple Gem Society will continue our efforts to build toilets and drinking water facilities in tsunami affected areas.