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When pig poo changes lives...

Luo Ping walked out of his home with a swagger in his step and a grin on his face. His wife had just given birth to their second child. Like Ping, his wife exhausted but ecstatic, could look back on a year so different from all the previous ones. Last year, Mrs Luo had been in a very frail state. She would spend day with a child strapped to her back walking to and from the forest to collect wood for the fire that was so crucial to their every day existence. She had little time for herself, and even less for her husband. It was unsurprising that the second child they so craved had not arrived.

As the Luos had already chosen a name for their child: 礼神 Li Shen – gift from the mysterious God. Indeed, it is a mysterious God who could bring people into their lives that would change them so radically. About fifteen months ago, their first child Li Li, was taken sick. They rushed her to the hospital where she was treated, surprisingly, by a doctor from Singapore. He was quite aware that the Luos would be thoroughly unable to pay for this treatment. So he paid out of his own account. Then he started talking about the source of the illness. Why had Li Li fallen sick in the first place?

The doctor and a friend visited their home. Before too long, their noses were curling at the stench of the animals that wandered freely in and out of the home, depositing droppings wherever they went. Then they sat down together, in the midst of the droppings and made a proposal to the Luos. For a small sum, they were prepared to install a cistern in the front garden that would convert the animal droppings into methane gas, suitable for cooking, and for producing a little heat. They explained that Li Li, who was crawling and beginning to walk, had probable eaten some of the pig droppings, and it was this that had made her so sick.

The Luos had already heard of people in nearby villages who had installed these ‘biogas’ cisterns. His initial scepticism about the cleanliness of cooking with pig faeces had dissipated when he had seen the positive effect on people’s lives. So they jumped at the chance.

Within a fortnight, a team of engineers had come. Mr Luo himself had taken the shovel and started digging with the team. Within a month, there were enough faeces within the cistern to produce adequate methane for Mrs Luo to run a small stove.

And now, here is Li Shen. He won’t have to crawl through animal droppings. And he won’t be carried into the woods in the depths of winter to help his mother find fuel.

Biogas cisterns are changing lives in rural Africa, and also in rural China. OMF is looking for engineers who can support small community development teams by sourcing and providing these cisterns.