Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1138834
W EEKLY EDITION JUNE 19, 2019 "The Importance and Value of Portable Sanitation" By Devyn Luden , 2019 PSAI Scholarship Winner Growin g up in one of the most well developed countries in the world can make a person prone to taking things like portable sanitation for granted. I can personally say that the value of portable sanitation was never truly clear to me until I traveled to Haiti in the summer of 2018. I was on this mission trip that my eyes were opened to struggles of accessing clean and sanitary water that so many people are the world deal with everyday. I know leading up to this trip to Haiti that journeying to a developing count ry would be a large adjustment to my life in the United States. I prepared myself for interactions with malnourished children, witnessing earthquake crumbled buildings, and driving along streets littered with people trying to sell anything they could get t heir hands on just so they could afford to buy food for dinner. What I did not anticipate to experience during my week in Haiti was the effects of a lack of fresh water. On the first day of the trip, when my group and I arrived at our mission house, we wer e immediately informed of the protocols for anything having to do with water use. These included: Only drinking water from the fountain supplied with imported water. Shower facing away from the water, don't let it enter your eyes or mouth. When brushing your teeth, don't rinse your toothbrush under the faucet, if you do you will have to throw the toothbrush out. To wash your dishes after meals, use the bucket in the sink that has imported water and never turn the faucet on. As I listened to these instru ctions, I wondered how doing something as simple as washing my plate with water from the sink could make me sick. A friend whispered to me, "there's no way the water here could be that bad." I agreed. However, it only took twenty - four hours in Haiti for on e of our fellow travelers to fall ill from accidental water contamination. P AGE 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4