Saturday, July 30, 2011

Leading off

Hello All:
So this is the start of this blog! I am very excited to hear all current and past volunteer stories about their digestive stories: glorious or horrid. I will start with my first poop story in this country:
When you arrive in country (at least in Uganda) you are placed with a host family and the PC tells you that you need to purchase a bucket because when you need to go to the bathroom, your host family will lock up the house. Which means you will not be able to go outside to use the pit latrine and you will need to do your business in your bucket. I woke up one night in my room to find myself needing to use my bucket desperately. I went pretty quickly and was not interested in substance but you clearly know (good or bad, bad in this case) when you go. I woke up at 6 in the morning to pick up my bucket and dispose of it in my pit latrine. My bucket is a small garbage pale. There are 2 layers to this device. The first is the exterior with a step to open it, and a handle. The second area is gray that holds my business. I went to lift my bucket and once about a foot off the ground, the handle breaks! Gravity sends it back to earth with my last gasp hoping that the bucket stays upright, but alas it tips to its left, and the urine and poop combine to create a nightmare. My host family are waking up right now to fetch water and there is no ceiling in my room (a roof yes, ceiling no) and I am panicking where I can not scream, but I'm mouthing my curse words and breathing like an asthmatic because I don't want my host family to know. I grab my laundry soap and throw it on the pooine (poop+urine cohesion) and immediately grab my bucket and clean it so efficiently that CSI couldn't identify the crime. Luckily laundry soap can harden pooine and make it an easy clean. This all before 7 AM.
Nick Duncan, Uganda, 2010-2012

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