Yesterday,I was reading an article written by a friend and its about his courage to choose a career which is different and difficult but which can create a lot of social impact and I was yet to finish it when I received a call from my friend asking whether we can go to 'Gram Vikas', an NGO founded by Joe Mediath.I wanted to visit it always and my answer would have been 'yes' even on my wedding day.
It was an amazing trip.I didn't know that I was going to get answers to a few problems.When I visited a village in Bargarh distict some 5 months before,a diary farm-owner taught me much more than my college professors.His son taught me 'Where your passion can make u land?' but I asked them a few questions which is more system-related and they have no answers and whenever I ask people they answer "I don't know." and a few go ahead and say,"There are solutions but impractical" etc etc.,
Rural development is very important aspect which we always ignore at ground level.I certainly won't blame governments because at higher level their spending on this sector is magnanimous. We should look back to the places where 70% of our population live and in states like Odisha,it goes around 88% and 47% of people living below poverty line.Statistics say that the health and education is the costliest commodity for them.Can we do anything really? Can development be sustainable for them?
The answer is 'yes' if we have creativity and if we have dedication and its equally important to be skilled.A friend of me recently made me able to think about practicality by explaining me about the conditions in Ganjam district of Odisha.A village has been constructed in a more linear manner that the 'Harijans' live at the end of village.There is no chance of constructing bath rooms and by chance,if they construct there is no accessibility to water and no way to make them use bath rooms.I asked about the chances of community bathrooms.She said,"Its impossible" because people live with casteism circulating in their veins and its impossible to make them use community bathrooms" She finished the conversation,"we were the only family having a functional bathroom in the whole village."
For me its an upset.For me its undignified. For me its a failure.I used to tell this much before,"A newly wed-bride comes to a village and she has to go to bathroom and she won't have any accessibility to bathrooms.She has to pick a mug and run the nearest pond and hide behind the bushes and if by any chance any tress-passer comes,she stands up in an urgency and poses as she is doing nothing and most of the women in the rural areas post-pone natural calls till the sunsets because darkness brings light and lightens their burden in the stomach.It is what we have achieved in the last 63 years."
When I'm finished saying this, a close-friend of mine said,"Stop the shit,when we have million other problems to solve,why do u speak about these silly things.If people have enough food to eat then only it comes out.Let's think about feeding not about the luxuries you have to provide to make them shit." I just thought,"Bath room is a luxury.What a pity!" Its really important to construct bath rooms and improve sanitation not because it can improve our position in Human Development reports but it is the only solution to reduce diseases mainly water-borne bacterial diseases.
Visiting Gram Vikas has strengthened my belief that creativity in our approach can really make development( I feel sanitation is a developmental issue) sustainable.They designed a dignified solution.Cluster of bath rooms where they have numbering to each bathroom and they number them and allot a bathroom to a family and the family takes care of that bathroom and uses them.There are several other things which they are taking care of but this appealed to me.
I don't say that this is a complete solution but this is a solution of course,lot has to be done ,even in the areas they are working.Even they said,"It takes 3 years to make people agree and construct in a village." but it doesn't mean that people's mind-set changes in 3 years.Its indeed not that easy but something is better than nothing and working hands is better than praying lips.
I dedicate this note to the 522 people who are working in 895 habitations and who are giving people a reason to smile.I salute the team of Joe Mediath sir,who are dedicated to make development sustainable.
1 comment:
Its is so true that in our country,people especially woman lack the basic needs of sanitation and the same is true in many parts of the country where woman have to ravel miles to fetch drinking water.Though there are very cost-efficient and feasible solution needs but needs alot of co-operation of the people.Good to see people actually are working towards it.
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