Cedeco Composting Toilet Trip

Hey guys. We had a very successful trip to Cedeco (Predisan) to reengineer the composting toilets and the system which the engineers had been installed two years ago. The boxes were too heavy to move and some of the major metal parts of the boxes were corroding. Our goal was lighten the boxes and protect the metal against corrosion. We also planned to replace any metal which had been corroded. We accomplished this goal as well as some extra parts to the project which were requested once we arrived on site. We were able to work very closely with Don Albino (the caretaker of Cedeco) to improve the overall proposed process. Since he is very invested in the success of the process we hope to attain usable compost in 2010. This may seem far off, but it can take that long to obtain a viable product from the composting toilets. He was extremely instrumental in helping us streamline the entire process to make it easier on him, as well as any other Predisan staff, in maintaining and working through the process.

We had no major injuries during the project, except for Rick who had several run-ins with fireants (no worries he is fine, but was itchy). We arrived in Tegus. on tuesday and went on up to Catacamas which is roughly 3-4 hour drive. There we stayed the night and drove to Cedeco on Wednesday (another 3ish hour drive). We arrived there in time for lunch. We were oriented to the site and Don Albino showed us some work he had already done toward the project´s goal. This was very exciting since it showed us that he was already invested in the overall success of the project. We worked that afternoon and through the day on Thursday. By dinner on Thursday we had finished the major work on the project! That left Friday morning for Dr. Dudley and Sheena to work with Don Albino on training him in the use and maintenance of the toilets as well as the composting process, especially that which pertained specifically to the toilets (sorry we kinda got wordy). Anyway that was an awesome success and we are extremely hopeful that Don Albino will carry through and contact us through Kyle (Predisan Operations Director) with any questions he has. This will allow us to continue to assist in the project even if it is from afar. We left after lunch Friday and arrived back at Catacamas. Saturday we went to Teguc. to meet with our driver from Mission Lazarus at the airport. From there we also added Mr. Pettit (just arrived from the US) but lost Dr. Dudley (who went home). We went on to Mission Lazarus in Choluteca another three hours. We joined the rest of the Honduras team and have been helping them with their projects.

-Sam & Heidi

p.s. we miss Doña Dora´s cooking, but the food here is still good.