New Bathrooms & Showers

OSI-Sri Lanka (Wattegama)

January-April 2007

The Wattegama home is an ancient planter's "bungalow," -the old home of a British colonial era plantation owner.  As romantic as it sounds, the home is thus very old and its facilities were dire and primitive.  It has been our goal to improve the facilities of the home, and the most important of these required some major construction and reconstruction of the home's sanitation facilities.  Thanks to the extraordinary generosity and genuine care of Mr. Rusi Captain from right here in Sri Lanka, we have been able to modernize the home's sanitation facilities and to build a complete new indoor shower/bathing facility for the children.  The result is an important improvement in hygiene, as well as a much-appreciated increase in the standard of living of the children in the home.
Project Cost:  US $1932
Donor:  Rusi Captain

Bathroom Reconstructions

The five side-by-side water closets were with pit toilets, non-functional plumbing and lighting, cement flooring, and ancient, rotten wooden doors with broken hardware.  A modern commode was installed in each unit, with all new plumbing; the floors were tiled, and the interior of each unit was painted, as well as the exterior of the whole block.  New electrical/lighting was also installed, and new doors were fitted and installed with all new hardware.  The final product is much more sanitary, "user-friendly," and much easier to keep clean!

Before (one of five units)

After

Shower Block Construction

The "bathing facilities" at the Wattegama home consisted of a large concrete outdoor basin, from which the children would scoop water with buckets to pour over themselves.  This rudimentary arrangement allowed for no privacy when bathing, and also resulted in inefficient use of the very limited water supply at the home.  To address this critical need, a complete new indoor shower block was constructed from scratch, containing three individual, private, enclosed shower stalls with water-efficient shower-heads.  The entire interior was tiled, and heavy-duty hardware installed, as well as top-quality plumbing fittings.  New lighting was installed, the exterior of the new block painted, and a new door installed.  The result is a substantial improvement to the children's sanitary and hygiene conditions, in addition to being much more convenient, private, and comfortable for them.

Before (location for new shower block)

Constructing the walls

Plastering and tiling

Finished product

With lighting

One of three shower stalls
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