What excites me about this years project is that it is something that will not only benefit the community as soon as it is completed, but it will continue to benefit them for years to come.

We will not just be building something sustainable, but at the same time using what is built to teach members of the surrounding villages. We will help teach important skills that will prevent illness, prevent food shortages, save money and bring them closer to self sustainability. All these things are important to the health and well being of the villagers and their children.

Instead of just giving we will be teaching and that is what is most exciting!

The lack of modern toilets leads to a lack of hygiene, which in turn leads to illness and sometimes death. This problem does not come with an easy solution but it does create an incredible opportunity for change. We have the ability to change the way people in Malawi think about health, hygiene AND self sustainability.

When I started to think about announcing this years project my mind immediately went to images from one of my favorite books. Everybody Poops by Taro Gomi. That’s right, this years project is all about poop! How can we create a clean safe environment for poop and at the same time create an incredible foundation of self-sustainability? The answer is compost.

Compost toilets have been around a long time and as we work in a country with water shortages, little access to plumbing, and a terrible problem with disease and death due largely to poor hygiene practice it seems to be an amazing solution and opportunity.

This year we will be building 2 compost toilet buildings. One building will be for men and one for women. Each building will have 4 separate bathrooms. The buildings will be on the site of the soccer fields at Kumbali which are currently being used to run an amazing community soccer program.

We will be working with a small group of carpenters as well as with some of the people from Natures Gift. Throughout this process we will be teaching the locals about the benefits of compost as it relates not only to farming, but also health and hygiene. I am very excited about the possibilities and can’t wait to find out who will be along for this amazing adventure!