Project creates awareness
Eight volunteers mostly from our Harleyville Cement Plant recently participated in a volunteering event with Water Mission, which is a non-profit organization that designs, builds and implements safe water, sanitation and hygiene solutions for people in developing countries and disaster areas.
The purpose of the event was to construct one concrete latrine using our cement, which will be used as a display at the Walk for Water fun-run, which will be March 17 in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. By displaying this concrete latrine at this event, the organization hopes to create awareness and raise money for their cause.
Safe drinking water and sanitation are crucial components for health, education and economic productivity, and when people don’t have access to these necessities, the impact is devastating. It is reported that, every day, 1.8 million people drink unsafe water, and 2.4 billion people live without adequate sanitation. Even worse, diarrhea caused by the very same unsafe drinking water and sanitation kills an estimate 2,300 people every day.
To build the concrete latrine, the volunteers worked as a team and mixed the materials manually using shovels, just the same way others would do in under-developed countries, and then poured the mix into a form to cure. Not only was the activity rewarding for the employees, but it enriched our team since they were able to learn more about how many people are suffering from things like access to water and to a bathroom, which we can easily take for granted in the U.S.
