Women demand toilets; old men reluctant to use them!

While an 11-year-old girl, K P ­Suchitra, from a little village in ­Karnataka is making waves by getting all the homes in her village to build toilets through her crusading spirit and by stressing upon the dangers of young girls using open fields to relieve themselves, Rotary Club of Madras, D 3230, is combating a totally opposite mindset.

Once a premier club of Chennai that spearheaded among the first measles and polio vaccinations in India, RC Madras is emerging in the last few years from a sort of lull to step up its community welfare projects.

It’s very difficult to bring about behavioural change among elderly men, those above 60.

Over the last few years, the club has been carrying out a series of community services in a cluster of villages near Chennai, with the main activity being water and sanitation and water conservation. Sundaresan Ravi, International Director of the club for 2015–16 says the club’s aim is to make all these villages ‘open defecation free’ (ODF) during 2016–17 (Rotary year). During 2014–15, while 100 toilets were constructed in Amarempedu village, in 2015–16, 107 toilets were constructed in Keemalur village. “More than 90 per cent of the beneficiaries are using toilets in these two villages, and their health and hygiene habits have significantly improved.” An additional 175 toilets have been constructed at Periyapuliyur village and another 205 at Paiyanoor village.

A S Venkhat Ramani, RC Madras President for 2015–16, says that before undertaking such construction and other work, “we first create awareness among the villagers. ­Construction of toilets is very easy, but changing the mindset of people is not.”

Adds Ravi, “First we have to create the need for toilets; instil in their minds that the toilet is a very important part of their daily life. Then they themselves come and request us; without their request it is not worthwhile to give them something they will not use. But once you trigger that thought, then behavioural change, which is very important, comes easily.”

Rotary doesn’t begin on July 1 and end on June 30; we have to keep continuing the projects for community welfare.
— Club President N V Arulmozhi Varman

Interestingly, while ushering in this “behavioural change,” these Rotarians divide the population of the village where they are working, into four categories. Children below 18; young adults up to 30; the 30–60-year age group and the above-60 group. “The first three segments, particularly women, change their behaviour very fast. Most rural women do not have toilets and are obviously reluctant to use open fields during daylight hours, and hence end up with all kinds of urinary tract infections, not to mention their vulnerability to sexual assaults. They are the first to ask for toilets. “But it’s very difficult to bring about behavioural change among elderly men, those above 60,” says Ravi.

Reluctant old men

RC Madras has a history of doing projects to ensure ODF villages. So ­meticulous have been these Rotarians to ensure that the toilets they build in the villages are really used, from the population of about 1,200, they have identified 16 villagers, all of them elderly men who refuse to use toilets. “We have recorded their names and taken them to the Collectorate where on our request, people from the health department talk to them about the benefits of sanitation and hygiene and how use of toilets can prevent airborne, waterborne, and more important, landborne diseases,” says Ravi.

And after so much effort, only three of the 16 have converted to using toilets. “The others argue that for long years they have used a vast stretch of open space and can’t change their habits now!”

Dr N V Arulmozhi ­Varman, the current President of RC Madras, adds that in order to give the villagers continuing awareness messages on using toilets, the club works with the NGO Nalamdana, which does street plays to raise awareness on the need to use toilets. “This NGO was chosen as they have prior experience in spreading awareness about using toilets for better sanitation and hygiene. The government has been building toilets for some 20 years or more, but unless you bring about a behavioural change in people and convince them to use the toilets, they are converted into storerooms in many homes.”

He adds that behavioural change is effected through this NGO in three stages — first before building the ­toilet, during the ­construction phase and after the toilet has been completed.

Water conservation

Ramani explains that donation of term gifts of $30,000 each was converted into a Global Grant on the suggestion of C R Raju, when he was the DG. “And after a long lull our club got a grant of $160,000 from TRF and as we had another $20,000 from the previous year, we are using $180,000 for building 206 toilets in the two villages.”

Long ago, Rtn Markand Desai had given 14 acres of land in Gummidipoondi and “we added another 20 acres; so with 34 acres, we support a poor Boys’ Town there; they stay there and go to school.” Beginning with his predecessor, S N Srikanth, the club has built some 175 toilets in Gummidipoondi, taking the total number of toilets to 400.

In addition, two huge wells have been ­built/deepened at the Boys’ Town campus, to which the villagers have access, at a cost of Rs 30 lakh, “as during my year the theme was water conservation. These wells, with a diameter of 40 ft and depth of 22 ft have very good quality copious supply of water and will take care of the water needs of the whole panchayat, some 22 villages, in this drought year.”

Ravi adds that some of the villages take water by tractors; “but we give them water only for drinking purposes and not irrigation.”

Continuity

The most heartening thing about the projects undertaken by RC Madras is their continuity. As Varman puts it “Rotary doesn’t begin on July 1 and end on June 30; we have to keep continuing the projects for community welfare. So building toilets and ushering in behavioural change will continue in the coming years too. I am already collecting funds for the next year for incoming President P N Mohan, and next year we hope to build 250 more toilets.”

Rotary Nagar

Another long-term ongoing project that RC Madras has been running is Rotary Nagar, “and we’ve been doing this since Independence, in a small slum behind Queen Mary’s College in Chennai,” says Ramani. For some years the project was on the verge of closure due to several problems, but these have now been sorted out, and this year, Varman says, the project saw a “significant boost.” In the evening special classes are held for the slum children to bolster their classroom learning. “We’ve got an all-time high of 215 registrations; we have hired nine B Ed and M Ed regular school teachers, paying them a wage, and classes are being conducted in three shifts as the numbers are huge.” The results in the school exams have been good, and the centre now has CCTV camera coverage and biometric attendance system in place. “Remote site monitoring of this tuition centre is now possible with broadband connectivity in place,” he adds.

As soon as the children come in at 4.30 pm they are given some nutritious food such as fruits, sundal or chikki. The idea is to ­inculcate the habit of learning and now that some quality teachers are on board the parents are also showing interest. Classes take place in two batches of two hours each, and both boys and girls are given supplementary education.

During the day tailoring classes are conducted for women; “these are now oversubscribed with a waiting list of over 200; 40 trainees were taken to Rtn Ranjith Bakshi’s garment factory for a tour. Sixteen have applied for a job there; many are working out of their homes and some have even turned small entrepreneurs.”

A generous employer

Now computer classes are also being organised for women. One touching story Ramani recounts is that of a woman from an ordinary middle class family. “She had a maid Lakshmi, 20, working in her house and she thought this girl can’t always remain a domestic servant. So she found this centre and enrolled the girl for computer classes.”

But as she thought it dangerous to send the young woman alone for the classes, she too got enrolled and both the women acquired some basic computer literacy! Lakshmi has “really done well and managed to land a part time job which fetches her an extra Rs 4,000,” says Ramani.

At Selaiyur, near ­Chennai, where RC Madras has a plot of land with 20,000 sq ft facility, it is now working with the NGO Unnati to skill high school dropouts. “We have trained 50 boys in soft skills and all of them are employed as office boys in small offices, making photocopies.” There is a great demand in cinema complexes for trained girls and boys for dispensing popcorn, soft drinks and other eatables and the club is training such youngsters.