Pit Latrines/Bio Gas
Recently Partners completed an exciting project involving pit latrines and the creation of bio-gas in two elementary schools in West Gojam, the region in central Ethiopia surrounded by the Blue Nile.

Rural schools in Ethiopia defy understanding by people coming out of the North American school system. Ethiopia, a country the size of British Columbia, has more than 70 million inhabitants and a per capita annual income of less than $150 . Poverty is crushing and the resources available for education are scant. Schools run in two shifts: from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. In the rural areas classrooms are typically built from mud over a eucalyptus frame and usually have neither electricity nor running water. Inside between 60 and 100 kids sit on benches, often without desks, writing on notebooks balanced on their knees. Light comes from two or three window-like openings cut out of the walls. Schools in the urban areas usually have outdoor pit latrines. But in the rural areas pit latrines are rare and kids must relieve themselves around the perimeter of the school grounds. The first step in improving educational facilities is to make schools fit places to spend time.

Partners has build pit latrines in two elementary schools in West Gojam which are novel, useful and educational. In each case two structures were built on the school grounds. The first building consists of four latrines on each side of a central wall - one set for girls, the other for boys. Waste from each latrine drains into a sealed, underground concrete tank. The tank itself is a bio-gas system creating methane gas which is transmitted through a copper line to a second cement block structure about 100 feet away. This is a lunch room where the methane fires burners so meals can be heated and tea warmed. A large outflow trough from the concrete tank allows neutralized waste to be extracted and applied to a vegetable garden. Waste no longer soils the ground and threatens the health of students. And in the process methane gas is created in a living educational experiment.

And even more recently Partners installed a huge Bio Gas digester in the main prison in Addis Ababa, converting the human waste and grey water of 2000 prisoners into methane gas than now fuels cooking stoves in the prison kitchens.