Volunteer Voices

We started our hike to villages by walking along the railroad tracks. When we arrived in the villages we were split into three groups, with one or two foreigners in each group. I was unprepared for the extreme poverty that we saw. The children had large bellies from starvation. Their teeth were a dentist's nightmare. They laughed lots, despite their obvious pain. We came to this village to build latrines, as the villagers had no bathroom facilities and still relieved themselves in their rice fields, causing sickness. We installed twenty latrines in total. Each latrine needed a hole that was 6 feet deep. We spent the majority of our time digging, but when we needed a break we entertained the children through silly slap-stick humor. When the hole was ready, we carried five cement rings and placed them in the hole."

Victoria Westcott ~ Bangladesh 2004