Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1272101
ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT Portable Sanitation Association International News BIWEEKLY EDITION JULY 22, 2020 Page 5 Continued on page 6 Congratulations Devyn! Devyn Luden, the third of our five PSAI 2020 scholarship winners, grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Guildford High School in 2018. She is currently entering her junior year at Providence College in Rhode Island with a major in biology. Ultimately, she hopes to earn a PhD and embark on a research career to find cures for diseases like Parkinson's. While at Providence College, Devyn has been on the dean's list for two semesters and earned a cumulative grade point of 3.70. She has also been active as a student athletic trainer and varsity soccer player (where she earned a sportsmanship award), and held leadership positions in Pilgrim Fellowship and Peer Ministry. Devyn is also a member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society. During the past year, Devyn had a chance to participate in Parkinson's Disease research. This experience piqued her interest in continuing her education and working toward a career that positively impacts public health. One of her professors at Providence College declared that she is "a superb student," so it seems Devyn is well on her way to making those dreams come true. Below is Devyn's essay. Changing Portable Sanitation into a Respected Alternative in the Minds of the Public According to the PSAI, the only things that belong in a portable restroom are the three Ps: pee, poo, and paper. However, I believe there are three more important Ps that people should focus on when they think of portable sanitation: protect, preserve, and provide. Protect. One mission of the PSAI is to "expand and improve portable sanitation facilities worldwide." Living in a developed country like the United States can make it easy for people to forget how fortunate we are to have high functioning sanitation systems. In reality, 2.5 billion people around the world struggle with poor sanitation in their day-to-day lives. In 2019, I was given the opportunity to travel to Guatemala, a country severely affected by poverty and a lack of sanitation. In fact, 51 percent of the Guatemalan population lives with no sanitation at all. Instead, people are forced to resort to drinking parasite- infected water. Drinking this water leads to the death of one out of every 20 children before the age of five. During my week in Guatemala, I saw first hand the negative effects of poor sanitation when working at a construction site building a new home for a family of nine. At the time, the family was living in a makeshift shack, using a hole in the ground around back as their bathroom, and their seven children were sharing one blanket as a bed. The two youngest children, Abrahán and Dafne—only four and two years old, respectively—were still at great risk of dying from the disease-ridden drinking water.