Just till last Pongal 26 acres in Pasumpon Nagar under Sakkimanagalam Panchayat near Madurai lay open for abuse. It was a haven for anti-socials and also a place where the local residents unabashedly dumped their household garbage and also relieved themselves. The wild growth of prosopis juliflora bushes hid every wrong. Not any more because one young woman decided to change the landscape of her non-descript village. And she is on the road to success.
“Come and visit us again next Pongal to see the complete transformation,” says K.Selvi, secretary of the Grama Varumai Ozhippu Sangam (Village Poverty Reduction Committee).
In the last six months, “Selvi akka” as she is referred to by all, has already achieved what was once considered impossible. The 30-year-old mother of three has ensured that each of the 67 families living in Pasumpon Nagar build their own toilets and save themselves of the embarrassment of defecating in the open. She is now in the process of planting saplings, building a nursery, a children’s play park and digging compost pits in the open ground that was once the cause for shame for all.
Such is the impact of her drive that four clusters of habitation consisting of 15 villages, 2,522 families and a population of 10,854 under the Sakkimanagalam Panchayat are now set for a massive change. It is expected by early 2017, all the other villages will also model themselves after Pasumpon Nagar and the entire area will be declared Open Defecation Free (ODF).
Of course achieving the ODF status, can’t be the matter and will of just one person. Selvi has inspired all the women in her village to take it up as a challenge and collectively participate in the ODF process. And she herself is inspired by the Additional Collector and Project Director of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA-Madurai), B. Rohini Ramdas.
“Sanitation was an untouched subject here,” says Selvi. “No official ever came to our village before to talk to us about the importance of sanitation and health and the need to construct our own and use toilets,” she adds.
Class XII pass, Selvi looks demure but is quite a firebrand. In fact, hers was one of the few odd houses with a toilet in the entire panchayat that now has three community toilets as well. Once when the toilet in her house was under repair, Selvi was forced to go to the same open ground and felt extremely ashamed. Next time, she took the public bus to the Government Hospital – a good 30 minutes ride -- to use the pay toilet there. “Can you imagine my condition,” she asks, “and what to speak of those who put their dignity and safety at stake to relieve themselves?”
Luckily that was also the time when the DRDA was reaching out to people for a collective behaviour change. Selvi attended one of the meetings and became the automatic choice for leading the change.
Today she has an all-women army of half-a-dozen whistle blowers, 18 thooimai kavalars (the cleanliness guards) and 35 ‘K2K’ (Kanmaikarai to Kazhiparai, i.e moving people from tank bunds to toilets) motivators working with a zeal to educate people on the dangers of open defecation and desisting them from doing so.
At 4 a.m. daily, Swarna with four of her neighbours keeps a vigil near the ground. “If we find anybody defecating in the open, we chase them out by loudly blowing the whistles,” she says. “Earlier when more people came to the ground we even use to pelt stones at them but now the awareness has been created and hardly anybody comes other than an occasional stray outsider,” she adds.
The cleaning guards share four tricycles among them and go out in batches of two to collect garbage from every house in Sakkimanagalam. At the entrance of Pasumpon Nagar is a processing unit where they manually segregate the garbage. The biodegradable waste goes into the four large compost pits dug in the open ground that has been cleared of bushes and is slowly turning into a beautiful garden of colourful blooms, mango, neem, mehendi, lemon, curry leaf and other trees. “Shortly we will also be selling the manure and saplings,” says Selvi and reveals over the next two months, she will also be undertaking a massive plantation drive with 18,000 saplings.
Muthurakha Sakthivel, a resident of Pasumpon Nagar, says how with a toilet inside her house now, she is saved from going out in the dark and not only facing the risk of eve-teasing but also snake bites. Even then it was not easy for Rohini to convince the people to cull out one little corner on their 200 sq.feet plots and construct a toilet for their own ease with the Government providing the financial aid of Rs.12,000 for every twin leach pit toilet.
But as Maya Angelou, the American poet and civil rights activist once said, “If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.” The people of Sakkimangalam Panchayat are now determined to learn more and follow the example of Pasumpon Nagar residents. “We have shown ODF means no more long walks to answer nature’s calls and also the status and safety of our people is now elevated,” says Prabha, the Block coordinator.
It proves when public officials and citizens work as partners their achievements can be remarkable and cooperation and enthusiasm can have a ripple effect.
QUOTE:
“It is very important to be open about open defecation and explain to people how difficult and inconvenient it is for women during the night or inclement weather and also how it can make the children sick. We highlight a toilet as a facility that ensures security of women and where adults can go with dignity.” – Rohini Ramdas.
