It is about 50 km far from the center of Hue city, Hong Ha is a disadvantaged mountainous commune of A Luoi district, with the population of 2.029 people in 496 households. The main ethnic are TaOi, KaTu and Paco, which make up 90,73% of the population. The sanitation was one of big challenges that local people and authorities had faced when there was over 65% of the population (322 houldholds ) without a hygienic toilet and most of them used spare lands, streams, rivers to go to the toilet. These poor sanitary habits have exerted a negative impact on the environment, which also caused many cases of diarrhea and gastrointestinal disease in the area.
In 2020-2021, with the donation from the Dove Fund and the contribution from local households, 50 households were supported in building hygienic latrines. The project has had a significant impact on reducing environmental pollution and improving the living standards of ethnic minority people in mountainous areas. To scale up the program in the community, Hearts For Hue in collaboration with Hong ha’s People committee to implement a survey of building hygienic latrines for others in the community, there are 193 disadvantaged households who really in need of building hygienic latrines, in which there are 64 households that have no access to the hygienic latrines or have used makeshift latrines for many years.
On 21st May 2022, Hearts for Hue in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Danang conducted a field trip survey within a framework of Monitoring, Evaluation and Evaluation of Hearts For Hue. Those who participated in the trip included Mr. Truong Trong Khanh – Chairperson of Hearts For Hue, Mrs. Nguyen Thu Ha – Charter President of Rotary Club of Danang, and Mr Ho Viet Luong – Chair and Mr Le Van Hoi Vice Chair of Hong Ha Commune People’s Committee.
The delegation visited some beneficiaries who received support in 2021. The residents reported that the project had resulted in increased residents’ access to quality latrine system, especially their women and children members. The inhabitants accessed hygienic facilities are also very happy with the construction’s quality.
The delegation visited Mr. Hồ Thượng Nam and Mr. Kăn Thanh’s households who are living in the Pa Ring – Cân Sâm Village, Hong Ha Commune, A Lưới District. Currently, they have to use a homemade latrine made of makeshift materials. They expressed: “Due to the limited financial situation, we are unable to build an appropriate and hygienic latrine for our family. During the rainy season, it was inconvenient for us, especially for girls and women in our family as the temporary latrine is located far away from home.”
Mr Le Van Hoi shared with us: “The support of the DOVE FUND is great. However, some households still dig a hole and defecate till it fully, then backfilling and they need the support of donors to build a hygienic latrine.”
Mr Ho Viet Luong shared “Our Hong Ha Commune is a commune with particular difficulties: high poverty rate, people living in difficult circumstances, low indicators on development and access to essential services such as sanitation, income, housing, education and so on. Therefore, we hope that DOVE FUND, Hearts For Hue and other donors will continue to care for our people and connect with domestic and foreign philanthropists and benefactors to share more with the ethnic minorities, helping this population gradually change their perception and custom, towards a more developed community.”
