Page 32 - ABILITY Magazine -Cedric Yarbrough Issue

Representatives from the Simple Seat, Better Lives project that created low-cost, accessible seating devices that helps land mine survivors in Uganda who cannot squat or stand up independently over a pit latrine. Partnering with ULSA and Ave Maria, a vocational school in Lira, Uganda.
Hey: Yes. We saw one that didn’t have any structure around it. It was just tucked away.
whole other issue.
Cooper: For those people who are having a problem commuting back and forth, couldn’t there be a way for them to lock it there so there’s some security, so they don’t have to carry it each time? If it’s a clan, I don’t see why somebody’s stealing it anyway. Why would they do that?
We actually asked if we could make something that folds down from the wall, and that stays there so people who don’t want to use it don’t have to, and people who do need to can, but they didn’t seem as interested in the idea.
Hey: Clans are pretty large. You don’t always know everybody in your clan. And a lot of them are built on roads and people pass by on those roads, and a lot of times those are the people who take their stuff.
Cooper: In your picture, you had what looked like a plastic seat connected to bamboo. Why couldn’t you just give them the plastic seat and they put the seat on that fold-down, so it’s their private seat but the fold-down
is permanent?
Cooper: It’s open to anybody?
Hey: Like hinge it from the wall?
Hey: Yes. In the village of Margaret’s clan, there was one set of pit latrines close to the road and another that was far away. She said, “I like to go to the ones that are farther away, because the ones close to the road that people can see and stop to use get gross.”
Cooper: Right. Did you ask them about that?
Cooper: Don’t they all smell no matter where they are located?
Hey: Yeah, we brought that up, but they wanted some- thing that was theirs. Also, there aren’t standard dimen- sions. But we were still thinking that wouldn’t be too hard—you’d just take a couple planks of wood. And yet, when we presented it as an option, they didn’t choose it.
Hey: Many do. I don’t know if it’s anybody’s job to take care of the latrines, but they definitely weren’t clean by our standards. Using them in a sanitary manner is a
Cooper: I bet if you build it, they will poop. (laughter)
Hey: I’m sure it’s better than nothing.
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