Blog March 16th

Claire Bernard's Cause: Improving Sanitation Conditions in Flood-Ravaged Bangladesh

For two years all my hard work that i've put into Oxfam GB has not paid off. Oxfam GB has been trying to create an innovation fund to test and develop sustainable water and sanitation technologies, and some of the fund's first projects are in Bangladesh. The population there is 156 million; this country is over populated. The country is only the size of Iowa and is unsanitary to have all those people living in a crowded area.

While the country as always been susceptible to floods and cyclones, my visit to the southwestern village or Gabura showed me how unpredictable and massice the flooding has become. I didn't get a chance to visit Gabura, however lots of the people told me about it. Since Cyclone Aila hit, ten months ago, it has been submerged under six feet of stagnant saline water, and it's displaced villagers reside on a thin embankment nearby, the tops of their houses peeking up in the distance.

These villagers live in huts that had colorful laundry or emergency blue plastic over them, delicately line both sides of the embankment, creating narrow walkways largly occupied by their livestock. There was so much color that there were pinks, oranges, greens, and browns everywhere. This was the most disturbing scene I've seen in my life. The women's clothing of the village was destructed by the cyclone. All the water made it difficult to build latrines, and that brought us out to Gabura to see the debut of Oxfam's desludger, a pump that empties a latrine into a nearby storage put in 20 minutes.

While 2.6 billion people worldwide do have access to basic sanitation, a few have access even to group sanitaion like the Gabura camps. In these places lots of diseases have been spread because most things are clean. Lots of latrines are dangerous and laborious to clean out. These villagers need help and are reaching out to you. If you have any type of donation the people of Gabura camp would appreciate it.

Like most cultures, the Bangladeshi look down upon people who handle waste meanwhile, these are some of the few jobs that are available. I grabbed the lever showing them that you should never judge a book by its cover. I helped pick up trash and clean, because I know it's for a cause. The people of Gabura village appreciated by concern.

Tone: informative
Organizational Model: facts, then opinions
Intended Audience: worldwide, and fashion readers
Purpose: to draw attention to this cause for help