Body Noises and Such

Body functions and noises, quite taboo or unsophisticated to discuss in the US, are a fair game topic of discussion when doing development and humanitarian aid work it seems.   Especially in the two thirds of the globe that does not benefit from many of the amazing luxuries that we take for granted in the western world. 

What’s even more alarming than discussing your body functions and noises is that more people die every year from diarrhea than from AIDS.  And, a large part of that diarrhea could be prevented if people had two simple things.

1.     The knowledge of how bad pooping behind a tree 20 feet from their house is.

2.     The resources to do something about it once they understand it. 

New studies show that 6 out of 10 people on this planet do not have access to a toilet. 

And here’s what happens. 

1.     Dysentary, in other words bad bad bad diarrhea, the kind that you don’t joke around with, the kind that will humiliate someone in the western world but the reality is that it will kill you in a remote village.

2.     Typhoid

3.     Cholera

4.     Hepatitis A

5.     Hook Worm

What are hook worms?  They are nasty little guys, parasites, that hatch out of human feces and start crawling around.  They can live for up to 4 days and can travel as much as a foot per day.  What are they looking for?  The unsuspecting bare foot of their next victim.  Through small cuts on the bottom of the foot that are common in communities where shoes and sandals are a luxury.  This bare foot is they entry into the body. 

 When hookworms are removed from one’s system many things happen.  First you feel better, your body takes advantage of the nutrients that it ingests, rather than them being stolen by a worm.  Iron levels increase, which in turn reduces the cases of Anemia.  Over all you just feel better.  When you feel better and have energy the reality is that a child will go to school, stay in school, and literacy rates improve. 

When a child has an education, that changes everything.  It’s through education that a country can slowly climb out of the confines of poverty and this changes the future of the country, for everyone. 

Starting in 2014 Mission Lazarus is made a huge shift in certain areas of outreach.  We are doing this by intentionally changing efforts that were traditionally humanitarian aid/relief and now focusing on development efforts.    For the past number of years, hundreds if not thousands, of sacks of food have been delivered directly into homes by volunteers serving with Mission Lazarus.  While this provision was a blessing in the moment for the family it was also a consumable, lasting at most for a month.  While this provision was a blessing, and given to needy families as an outreach of the church, it also was a great cause for conflict in the villages, communities, and churches.  Added to the consumable factor, the benefiting families did not have any “buy-in”.  They had nothing invested in the blessing to value the blessing. 

Any time you have a consumable, you have a commodity, and commodities have a certain perceived value that other types of projects that benefit the family don’t have.  One woman who received an enormous blessing of a new home in 2013, made of bricks and mortar with a concrete floor, later complained that the preacher did not think about her, didn’t care about her needs.  I was puzzled and confused as we had this conversation inside her new house.  So I asked for details and she explained that other families had gotten a sack of food but she did not.  To which I replied, “No you didn’t get a sack of food that will be gone in a matter of days, you received a house that will serve your family for generations.”

The needs around the world are real.  They can be overwhelming.  There are many many ways to help.  When trying to help you need to be constantly thinking about the consequences.  This is outlined in detail in a great book, When Helping Hurts. 

With this in mind, starting in 2014 Mission Lazarus won’t be distributing food provisions, rather we’ll be building latrines, aka “Out Houses”.  Good, quality, well built latrines that will last a family for many years to come.  In some locations that have ready access to water we’ll be going a step further and installing flush toilets as well. The cost to build these latrines is about $600.  We are currently working to see how we can lower these costs as we perfect the design.  A group of 6 – 10 individuals can build one of these latrines in one day.  The beautiful part is that no matter how few resources that family has, they’ll have a buy in with the latrine.  The family, in order to receive the latrine, has to take care of digging the 10 foot deep,  round hole, that is 50 inches in diameter.  So if your group previously raised $2000 to distribute food, this year that same $2000 will go to build 4 latrines.  Not only will the family be blessed for many years to come but also the participants who’ll help construct the latrine will be blessed as well by spending the day with the recipient family as they work together on the project. 

Check out this video of the impact. As of October 2024 we have installed some 900 latrines in Honduras alone.