Rachel got one of her neighbors to build her an outhouse on higher ground. She didn’t know how it would turn out, but lo! she is able to stand up in it, the foot rests are sturdy and the hole deep, and she can lock the door–if she manages to find a padlock for it. At Rachel’s behest, the neighbor even made a cover with a handle to fit over the hole so that the flies can’t get in.

The building supplies (those that could not be reused from the old outhouse or scrounged in the environment like the ravinala leaves that make the roof) cost 5,500 ariary (about $5) and Rachel paid the neighbor $10 for his labor–considerably more than he had asked for since the work was so good. So for $15 she has a great new kabonety, and if Peace Corps doesn’t manage to repay her for it, no big problem.