A team of five Northwest Nazarene University engineering students and their professors joined two Filipino engineers in building an off-grid public toilet with a hand washing station at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary in late May 2024. This project is a prototype, and the region hopes to replicate and build these water stations and toilets in communities where access to clean water and toilets is a challenge.

The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) project is a partnership among Nazarene Compassionate Ministries on the Philippines-Micronesia Field, Nazarene Missions Teams, APNTS, ICF, and missionary Randy Goossens. The goal is to provide a well-lit, safe place for people to practice good personal hygiene privately and access a clean water station without any connection to water/sewer/power utilities. This system could also be used at an NCM disaster site.

On the group’s first day, they gathered for orientation and learned about the ongoing ministries in the Philippines-Micronesia Field. Despite the hot weather, the team managed to organize the materials and get started. In the following days, the pipes were laid out, the toilet floors were installed, and storage tanks were washed and leveled.

In the middle of the week, the team was slowed by rain but still managed to finish the project and turn it over to APNTS. Aside from completing the WASH project, the team ministered to children at New Hope Church of the Nazarene and the staff at APNTS.

The Philippines-Micronesia Field is grateful to NNU students and professors.

--Asia-Pacific Region Church of the Nazarene