In some countryside provinces, owning a standard latrine is a big issue as having a house roof to shelter from rain and sun is unaffordable to the people here already. In these places, living conditions are so simple and primitive. Therefore, in such an arid poor land full of burning sunlight and white sand of Hai An Ward, Hai Lang District, Quang Tri Province, many people from young to old, for long, have just known about standard latrines through books or films. However, such a conception has been changed after the 50 standard latrines built by New Toyo Pulppy Vietnam Ltd and the non-profit organization DOVE “came up” in some households here.

DOVE with representatives of Mr. Phan Thanh Vinh

Vo Thi Quy’s family (in My Thuy Village, An Hai Ward) including 4 people is one of the poor households here. Her husband passed away for long. So everyday, she goes around selling rice-steamed rolls to raise her 2 children at school age. The dream of having a proper latrine for them to take care of themselves was previously something impossible. “To women, latrines are very important in everyday hygiene care. Having no home restroom makes us feel uncomfortable in individual hygiene, especially when my children are in their teens and they are all girls”, says Quy.

Having no restroom irritates much in everyday individual care to normal people, let alone to visually-impaired ones like Mai Van Huan (Dong An Village, An Hai Ward). The situation is much more difficult to them. “Having no restroom is really a big difficulty for me as I have to grope my way to find a place – so inconvenient”, shares Huan. Therefore, when being granted a proper latrine, Huan was so moved that he burst into tears.

The project of “Building 50 latrines for Hai An Ward, Quang Tri Province” was initiated and implemented by New Toyo Pulppy Vietnam Ltd – one of the major tissue manufacturers in Vietnam – together with the non-profit organization DOVE in June 2008 and completed in early October 2008. The project with total capital budget of US$16,000 has brought to 50 poor households in the ward proper latrines with adequate facilities and water system, which meet the hygiene standards of the Ministry of Health. Besides latrines, New Toyo Pulppy and DOVE also visited and gave gifts to the households, especially An An Toilet Rolls, to help people here form habits of proper hygiene. This token is to start them off on the right footing to practicing proper sanitation and hygiene. 

Ms. Janet Leong, Marketing Director of New Toyo Pulppy, shares, “This visit is not only aimed at granting standard latrines, which marks a meaningful closure and the determination to eradicate the non-latrine status or so-called temporary latrines on empty land, but also an opportunity for the company to share the feelings and joy with the people here, whose desires for standard latrines have been met.”

In Quang Tri Province in general, and in Hai An Ward in particular, most of the families have badly maintained latrines without waste water treatment system in empty land or even no latrines at all, waste water is discarded directly into rivers and canals.  This increases the risks of dangerous diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, etc. This provides a good breeding ground for germs and bacteria to infect people living in such poor conditions – poverty and disease is like a vicious circle that can begin at any time. Once this circle begins, it sticks to the people here for long and has become a painful swelling. Mr. Nguyen Quoc Danh, Vice Chairman of Hai An Ward People’s Committee shared, “Hai An is a costal village with a long beautiful beach that is potential for tourism development. That’s why environment protection is specially concentrated. If the environment is polluted, the people will gradually lose sources from the sea. Not only the economic aspect but also the people’s health is ensured provided that they live in a safe and pure environment. Only good hygiene can bring about good health”.

Understanding the improper living conditions of the people here and the influence of such situation on the environment, New Toyo Pulppy Vietnam has made all best efftorts to implement this for-community project. Ms. Janet Leong, Marketing Director of New Toyo Vietnam, said, “This project of building 50 latrines for people of Hai An Ward, Quang Tri Province has been very successful and it was done as part of New Toyo’s commitment for supporting good charity causes especially that is in line with building a future for better hygiene awareness. We hope with this project, we have managed to help in a small way to improve their living conditions and hence, improve their health and living standards.  We hope they will use and maintain the latrines and also learn to use toilet paper as part of their sanitation practice.”

According to UNICEF, only 18% of current latrines can meet national hygiene standards. As the number is so modest, New Toyo Pulppy Vietnam Ltd. is committed to continue increasing the awareness and education of proper hygiene not only to the Quang Tri province but throughout Vietnam, as this is in line with its company’s mission and values to take up the responsibility of driving hygiene awareness.

MINH TRIET (SAI GON TIEP THI ) – 17th Oct 2008