Our country having advanced greatly in various streams. We
still face a huge issue. We have a deficit of “Toilets “. I live in Chennai supposed
to be one of the best cities in the country also said to be a great place to
live. However it has its own issues. Recently
I was engaged in a swachh bharat initiative within the heart of the city .My team
were Busy cleaning the streets and washed them up using domex. The locals were all excited looking at us and
helped us clear the road. The people loved the after effects of having used
Domex. Once done some of the girls in my team asked the local women if they
could use the toilet in their place. The women started to giggle, Later a little
girl says “Akka we go there for 1 and 2 “pointing towards a bushy marsh area. So Jamie tells the kid , I am a woman I'm not
a kid like you in a irritated tone. The little girl says everyone goes there.
The girls in my team were so very much tensed at this. It was pathetic, I could
even not cross the bushy marsh area as it was covered with faeces and foul smell.
We then had to leave.
Further me and my team did recall the incident and thought
of visiting the place to understand more about the situation. So when we visited these women they told us
about the various hardships that they go through every day for their early
morning chores. When I asked them do men
also use the same area . They said “no they use the left side of the marsh, while
we women use the right side area”. Another lady said even if we have allocated
places still sometime men accidental wander into the women's area. Hearing this I
was a bit taken back, true that most rapes also occur due to this in north Indian
states. No rape incident has occurred here though. The women said when they would be held up in
such a situation they just pull over a saree palu over their head to save their
identity, Sad but this is true. So further on we decided to go ahead and
educate these people the need of building toilets and sanitation.
The team then planned a street drama and put up a show about
the harmful effects of open defecation/ not properly sanitizing. We also played
the video byte where the mr MODI speaks about building toilets and cleanliness.
The locals were so excited and decided to work along and build a toilet for the
women folk for the start as the women had a real tough time in this locality. The area now has a good enough toilet we also
handed over a couple of Domex kits
. I also can picture the smiles and happiness of
the young women and girls in that
locality. Let’s make India free from open defecation.
So I hope everyone takes a step in helping to join the fight
against open defecation.
Every click that you make at this website contributes Rs5
for building toilets, Join the fight with Domex in making India Free from Open
Defecation
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