Location 
Daga Soukoum, Fatick, Senegal
Community Description
Daga Soukoum is a small village in the Djilor area, department of Foundiougne, region of Fatick, Senegal. It has a total of 222 people living in 13 homesteads with 34 households or families. The name of the village chief is Omar Guissé.
The community has no electricity or running water and is 6 km away from the nearest paved road. The people who live in Daga Soukoum are subsistence farmers, growing primarily millet and peanuts. They do not have an elementary school; kids walk to the neighboring village for elementary school through high school.
There is currently one latrine (built through a separate Peace Corps project), an inadequate number for the entire population of the village. Villagers will go into the bush to relieve themselves, and children usually don’t even bother with that, and relieve themselves directly behind huts. This contributes to the oral-fecal cycle, and lowers the overall health of the village.
Project Description
This project is to build ten simple pit latrines in the village. Each latrine consists of a 2-meter hole in the ground, 1 meter in diameter, covered with a reinforced cement platform.
Project funds will be used to purchase the supplies necessary for construction: cement, iron for supporting the cement, wood for the frames, and pipe for ventilation.
The villagers will be providing the labor of digging the holes and building the platforms, as well as providing sand and rocks to make the cement.
The design of these latrines is such that when one pit fills, the cement platform can simply be lifted and moved on top of a newly dug pit. One cement platform should be able to last upwards of 20 years.
This project is based on another Peace Corps latrine project that took place in the neighboring villages of Pethie and Ndiomdy. Daga Soukoum saw this project taking place and approached the Peace Corps Volunteers to get their own latrines and expand the project.
Project Impact
This project will put latrines in ten of the homesteads of the village, which will affect the entire village population of 222 people. The community will have increased access to toilet facilities, which will improve the sanitary conditions of the village and cut down on both malaria and diarrheal diseases.
Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Mary Haviland
Comments
Because there are no latrines available, there is public urination and defecation around the village. Through this project, the sanitary conditions of the village will be greatly improved, and the work accomplished will provide the impetus for further community development.
This project builds upon the knowledge and experience of a prior Peace Corps project, and shows the impact that can be had from sharing an appropriate technology.
Dollar Amount of Project
$500.00
Donations Collected to Date
$500.00
Dollar Amount Needed
$0.00 – This project has now been fully funded, through the generosity of The Soneva SLOW LIFE Trust as a part of their Clean Water Projects initiative.
We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below, and we will notify Peace Corps Volunteer Mary Haviland of your donation. Additional funds will be used to fund the next project by Mary and/or those of her counterpart PCVs in Senegal.
