In 2006, we began to plan another trip to Bangladesh. For many years our principal objective had just been to run the Medical side of the Clinic, and fund-raising has always been to that end. However, our thoughts had long been turning towards problems external to the Clinic per se.

We had grave concerns about the reversal in the sanitation situation in Baroudha. We learned some time ago that our 12 tube wells had been condemned because of naturally occurring arsenic in the water table. Again, the villagers had no source of fresh water and were drinking from the polluted pond.

We obtained advice form Water Aid and estimates from Bangladesh. Consequently, we decided to fund a “deep-bore” well, which would be driven below the arsenic level. $US4000 was raised for this.

The villagers have no toilets and use “open defecation”. Women have to wait for nightfall before they can go outside.  Again, Water Aid gave us a great deal of advice and information. Unfortunately, Baroudha lies outside Water Aid’s area, so they could not provide local support. We came up a plan to provide each dwelling in the village with a number of hygienic latrines, to be manufactured locally on the Water Aid model. These latrines each cost about US$120. Funds were raised for this project.

For some time, we had been aware of the acute shortage of firewood in Bangladesh, which is becoming seriously de-forested. Women often trek for miles in search for increasingly scarce and expensive firewood. Cooking fires are always in a corner of the tiny, one room huts. These smoky fires cause regular respiratory disorders and there are frequent accidents causing burns, particularily to children who fall into the fires.

A simple and cheap solution is used in a number of sun rich, but fuel poor countries, Solar Ovens. These are commonly made from cardboard and aluminium foil and cost as little as US$1. These simple ovens can cook a meal in less than 2 hours. We decided to take a number of these with us to try out in Bangladesh.