Latrines for Los Mojarras

11/24/2021 – Teresa Cranmer

Las Mojarras is a community of approximately 550 people located 7 miles from the town of Playa Grande but the treacherous roads make the journey take at least an hour.  In 2019 the community shared with MSPP representatives their need for latrines at the primary school. The once functioning latrines were no longer usable, forcing the children to go to the bathroom outdoors. MSPP made the decision to address this issue right away but Covid had a different idea! Since the beginning of the pandemic all of the schools in Guatemala have been closed, travel to Guatemala was halted and many projects were put on hold.

The Mustard Seed student club at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Il and the MSPP engineering team took advantage of the time and set about designing handwashing stations and latrines for the community. Meeting remotely made the mentoring sessions more difficult but the team has successfully completed the designs and are waiting for the opportune time for implementation. The schools in Guatemala are slated to go back into full session in February. Our hope is that the latrines will be in place before the opening day of school with the handwashing stations to be built soon after.