A Project Takes Off
December 9, 2001
Did you hear the noise? Did your neighbors tell you about it? Did you read about it in the paper? No? Well, you are pretty far away from all the excitement happening here in West Africa.
Let me tell you all about it: Trash collection started in Taabo, Cote d'Ivoire, on December 5, 2001.
The real fun started on December 3 when we loaded up the tractor trailer with 54 trash cans to begin distributing them around town. These are heavy metal cans - half of a metal barrel. I can lift them, but they're pretty heavy. We have poked holes in the bottoms of the cans to let the water drain out in the rainy season.
Like I said, we loaded up the first batch of cans and headed over to the "Worker's Neighborhood." That's the translation of its name in French - Cite Ouvriere. In my mind, I call it the poor neighborhood. It's just terrible... crowded, dirty, surrounded by trash and sewage. If we can get the trash cleaned up and fix the drainage problems, we can make a real difference for the more than 5000 people who live there. You'll be able to see what it looks like when the photos are posted here on the website.
We created quite a stir when the tractor, five city workers, and the white lady pulled into the back of the neighborhood. Kids came running out to see what all the noise was about. They followed us up the street, creating a sort of "trash parade." I don't know what was more exciting... seeing the big red tractor, hearing the horn honk, or talking to the weird white lady. Kids were cheering the truck. Women were coming over to thank me for improving their neighborhood and their kids' health. I think I greeted nearly all of the people who live in that neighborhood, and shook half their hands!
We started by putting two trash barrels at the end of each apartment building. The plan was to come back the next day and add barrels where the first two were already full.
We explained as we drove through the neighborhood that collection would be every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We also answered questions about what types of trash should go into the barrels and what types shouldn't. For now we're telling everyone to put in anything but sand, dirt, and rocks. I know that about half the trash in Africa is compostable, and I may follow up with a composting project... getting people to sort their trash into different colored barrels... but for now I just want them to get into the habit of using the trash barrels. Everyone's current habit is to just toss trash wherever they happen to be.
Monday afternoon we covered the Cite Cadre (Executive Neighborhood). These are single and duplex homes. We distributed one trash can for every two families - one for each duplex, and one for every two single homes. The people in this neighborhood are well educated and did not have as many questions. Plus, since the population is not as crowded, trash is not the terrible problem it is in the Worker's Neighborhood.
Tuesday, as I had promised many people, we returned to the Worker's Neighborhood and put extra cans where the first two were already full. It seems like a small thing, but people were truly surprised that I had kept my word about the extra cans. They thanked me again for cleaning up Taabo, and I could see mothers showing girls where to put the family's trash each night. Again, the tractor created quite a stir among the kids. They scream and applaud when they see us. I keep telling my work team that we're more interesting than television.
In all, we distributed just over 300 trash barrels... about 200 in the Worker's Neighborhood, 80 in the Executive Neighborhood, and 20 in miscellaneous areas around Taabo.
I gotta tell you, by the end of Tuesday, my body was exhausted, sunburned, and battered. I am not used to bumping around on a tractor all day, climbing up and down, and lifting heavy trash barrels. I fell into bed at 8pm each night... and we still had three days to go before the week was out !
Wednesday at 8am trash collection started. I had no idea how much trash we would collect, how full the barrels would be (or how heavy), or how long it would take us to move through the city. I sat on the tractor and took notes while the guys emptied the barrels. By 10am the tractor trailer was full and everyone was glad for the break while we drove out of town to the dump (about 5 km) to empty the trailer. By noon when we quit for lunch, the trailer was full again, and we weren't through emptying the 200 cans in the Worker's Neighborhood! We still had to go after the Executive Neighborhood and the miscellaneous locations!
My plans were all falling to pieces. I had hoped to collect trash Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and turn the workers over to less physically demanding work on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
By the end of the day Wednesday, we had gotten through all but about 50 trash barrels, and had emptied the trailer three times. We had used about 20 liters of gasoline (I had estimated 40 liters for the entire week). And we were all dirty and exhausted.
But Wednesday is when I started hearing rumors about myself too... and that's what has me the most tickled and excited. People are saying they can't believe I pulled off trash collection in only four months here in Taabo. They're saying the white woman is strong and has good ideas. They're saying things are improving for them and their kids. They're saying Taabo is a better place to live because of me. I mean really, what more could I ever ask for? I have gotten so many thank you's I can't count t hem. One woman brought me dinner Thursday night! I feel loved, I feel appreciated, and I feel like I have accomplished something. It's what I came here for.
Thursday and Friday were repeats of Wednesday. Thursday we emptied the remaining 50 cans from Wednesday. Friday we collected all day and barely finished the Worker's Neighborhood. We did not even get to touch the Executive Neighborhood. We'll start there on Monday.
I know we have a long way to go. Next week I will ride with the trash crew again, just to be sure we are on the same wave length. I am still not sure this project will keep moving without me. I have to revise the budget with my new estimates for labor and gasoline, and get the mayor's approval. I have about a million other things on my mental "to do" list. But for one week, in a small city in West Africa, people felt like things were going to be better, and I was able to help people feel that way.