How an Indian woman is helping bring toilets to her village

DW (English)

In India, there are still some areas where people don’t have toilets at home, let alone public facilities. DW follows a 20-year-old woman who has transformed sanitation in her village in Tamil Nadu.

Transcript

00:00Everyone likes the day, but mostly the people in the village like the dark, because only in the dark can you go to the toilet.

00:09If we sleep for a while in the morning and wake up, that's it.

00:13We don't run all day that day.

00:15There is no such problem now.

00:18Because now there is a toilet in everyone's house.

00:22Opentification used to be a common practice in Thamyunadu's Adana Kothai village.

00:29Due to the lack of individual household toilets, villagers had to defecate in open fields, often located far from their homes.

00:44Before building the toilet, we used to go to the forest to get up in the morning.

00:48If we couldn't go then, we would come back.

00:50We would go back at night.

00:52Can anyone tell me how you faced that difficulty?

00:55We used to go to the forest and they would ask us where we were going.

00:59We would come back.

01:00We wouldn't go for 15 minutes and come back.

01:02They would give us stomach aches.

01:04We would go for at least one kilometre.

01:07The villagers would scold us when we went to the toilet.

01:10We would think that someone might come.

01:12We would think that someone might come.

01:14It was very difficult.

01:25There were a lot of incidents when we went to the forest.

01:27It was not just a personal incident.

01:29It happened to my friend.

01:31She went to the restroom.

01:33When she went there, she was raped by 4-5 people.

01:38When she told her family, they said,

01:43It is your fault. Why did you go to the bathroom?

01:46Her parents asked her.

01:48She cried and said that she had to go to the forest because there was no bathroom at home.

01:52She was asking for a toilet at home.

01:55She didn't have a father.

01:57She was thinking that she would go to the forest and build a toilet at home.

02:0222-year-old Jayalakshmi rose to prominence 4 years ago

02:07when she was selected by NASA to visit that facility.

02:11Given her family background,

02:13many organizations came forward to fund her trip.

02:17By the time that Modaran, the founder of Grama Laya,

02:20an NGO focused on sanitation and hygiene approached her,

02:24Jayalakshmi had already raised the necessary funds for the trip.

02:28Instead, she made an unusual request

02:31to use the funds to build toilets for all 125 homes in her village.

02:37Hello everyone.

02:39I am very happy to use all the toilets in our village.

02:44Where did we go before without toilets?

02:48How far did we go?

02:50We went 2 km.

02:52It was very difficult when it rained.

02:54Now that the situation has changed,

02:56we can go home and use the toilets whenever we want.

03:01Am I right?

03:03Thank you very much.

03:05I think building toilets is a useful and maintainable way.

03:09If people don't share,

03:11don't involve others,

03:13don't use the toilets,

03:15we need to ask them where to build the toilets.

03:18We need to involve them.

03:20They need to spend money to build the toilets.

03:23When they are involved in the project,

03:27the project is successful.

03:30But initiatives like the one at Jayalakshmi's village are rare.

03:34Building toilets in rural areas requires efforts from individuals

03:39and financial help from NGOs.

03:42Experts say the condition of existing toilets also needs to be improved.

03:48Many villages are struggling due to the lack of toilets.

03:52There are newly built houses,

03:54houses that are not built properly,

03:56damaged toilets,

03:58disfunction toilets,

04:00abandoned toilets,

04:02incomplete toilets.

04:04It is difficult to renovate them.

04:06But they are asking for toilets.

04:09According to the 2022 World Bank data,

04:1211% of the Indian population

04:15still practice open defecation.

04:18A few kilometers from Adana Kottai,

04:21women from Kuppayanpatti village

04:23describe the lack of toilet access that persists.

04:28My name is Ramya.

04:29I am 22 years old.

04:30I have a B.Sc. B.Ed.

04:32My hometown is Kuppayanpatti.

04:34I have a B.Sc. B.Ed.

04:36My hometown is Kuppayanpatti.

04:38I do not use the bathroom.

04:40The only place I know is this village.

04:52Our toilet problem is very serious.

04:55We have to go far away from here.

05:00If we do not go far,

05:02there will be a lot of snakes and insects.

05:04It will be difficult to go during the rainy season.

05:07It will be difficult to go during the rainy season.

05:16Many people do not know

05:18how to get money from the government.

05:24Suresh Maria Selvam is a community development advisor

05:28who has over 25 years of experience

05:31in the social development sector.

05:33He says that the persistent gap

05:35between designing a scheme and implementing it

05:38is a major issue.

05:39There are developers.

05:40There are people to build and provide.

05:42There is a government.

05:43There are people.

05:44But there is a gap somewhere.

05:46How to fill this gap?

05:48The community has to decide

05:50how a community should develop.

05:54The infrastructure has to be built.

05:57We have to see if people are using it or not.

06:01We have to see if people are using it or not.

06:06While there is still a lot to be done,

06:08India has made long strides

06:10in improving access to sanitation.

06:13Nearly 600,000 villages have declared themselves

06:17open defecation free as of September 2024,

06:21according to government data.

06:24For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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