Li Longdan in central-south China's Hunan
Province was so embarrassed two years ago when his nephew came
to visit him and refused to use his toilet, which was a simple pit
with a couple of planks placed across it.
"He kept shouting to me, 'Worms are all over your toilet'," Li
recalled. Even though Li told his nephew that those worms didn't
bite, the boy wouldn't use it whatsoever.
Today, Li is no longer embarrassed by his toilet. In fact, Li is
very proud of it and ready to show it off.
Li is among the 313 families in Shiluo village, who have
benefited from the sanitation projects funded by the European
Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO).
Implemented by the Red Cross Society of China and the
International Federation of the China Red Crescent, the projects
focus on improving the sanitation systems and promoting basic
hygiene education to villagers in low-income communities in Hunan
Province, Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China and southwestern Chongqing
municipality.
"I'm very pleased to see the latrines are so well kept, said
David Hill, ECHO's representative to China, during his visit to
Shiluo village last week. "I'm glad the state of hygiene and state
of health in the community have both improved."
In China, about 60 percent of the population lives in rural
areas. The latrines they use are usually no more than a pit in the
ground or a trough running to a storage pit in the corner of
courtyards or behind buildings.
Rural latrines are a breeding ground for infectious diseases,
especially during flooding when effluent washes from crude village
latrines to contaminate surface and groundwater, said Yang Ziai,
director of the Hunan Red Cross Society.
In 2004 ECHO provided 2 million euros for sanitation projects
that have benefited 60,000 villagers in China. In Hunan alone,
8,700 toilets have been renovated.
The new toilets separate urine from feces. Urine can be used
directly as fertilizer because its nitrate content replenishes
nutrients in the soil, but solid waste is stored in one of the
toilet's two chambers for a period of six months, neutralizing
dangerous bacteria.
Farmers can go on doing what they have done for years -- using
human waste as fertilizer -- but doing it safely, said Yang
Ziai.
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(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2005)