Green NGOS go forforth& multiply

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• [21:29 December 07 2009]
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Children wait their turn at a water tower in eastern Tongwei county, Gansu Province. Photo: Courtesy of Friends of Nature

By Deng Jingyin

No seat, no light, no flush, no sewage pipe, no tap water, no toilet paper – few city folks forget their first time at the rural toilet.

Squatting on wooden planks over a pit in a primitive outhouse, it's always a funky experience, full of friendly flies.

Yet it's surprisingly hard to persuade residents of rural China to abandon their time-honored habits and embrace UN-approved eco-friendly dry toilets, says He Lei, a member of Wild Grass, an environmental non-government organization (NGO) based in southeastern Sichuan Province.

"They've been using the old-style toilets for generations and generations, and many are reluctant to change," He says. "Some asked me, ‘Why bother caring about the environment?'"

For Wild Grass and other grass-roots environmental NGOs, their work is a constant struggle for attention from two sides: the public and the government.

"On the one hand, we have to work hard to seek understanding and participation of the general public," He says. "On the other, we still find it difficult to get full support from the government, such as funding and preferential policies."

The dry toilet is designed to separate numbers one and two. The bacteria dies in the dried-up feces, which can then be recycled to enrich the soil.

In the beginning, misunderstanding was common. He Lei and his Wild Grass colleagues worked hard to befriend villagers. They lived in villages for months trying to convert locals to their green toilets.

Suspecting a scam, one Dayi county villager last year chased He out of his home with a broom.

"The villagers have been living in an enclosed group for too long," He says. "They tend to keep their distance from strangers, never mind accept our call to protect the environment."

Breakthroughs came through befriending villagers.

"Everyone in our group has learnt to be good at drinking and smoking, which are the most effective ways to socialize and gain trust from local people," He says.

Wild Grass has 10 full-time members of staff, 14 part-time workers and more than 100 volunteers. As of November, the workers have helped build nearly 10,000 green toilets in 15 places, mostly in earthquake-stricken areas and nature zones of Sichuan such as the Xiling Snow Mountain.

Worrying about how to fund his NGO kept He awake at nights for most of 2007. Ten volunteers donated 500 yuan ($73) each to pay for the first year.

"In the second year, we finally raised some money from some companies and interna-tional foundations," He says. Nonetheless, the NGO's staff still worked for nothing. They were promised a salary in 2009 if they could realize their 2008 green toilet goals.