The people creating change

Rita is from Ward 12 in Kamalamai, and is a community health volunteer. 

“We go to each household and create awareness about health and hygiene. People realise they need to change their behaviour because we keep coming back!

Since this project started, we are able to talk to other people, we are even capable of dealing with anyone we don’t know at any time. We will raise our voices. I am happy to contribute something to my community.”

One of the techniques used by the volunteers to help put a stop to open defecation in Kamalamai is to blow a whistle when they see someone defecating outside. There is also a fine of 100 rupees (approximately 66p) that people have to pay. The district is working towards being declared ‘open defecation free’ as part of the nationwide campaign in Nepal to end open defecation by 2017. 

Ashok is employed by WaterAid’s partner in Kamalamai, CIUD, as a Field Mobiliser. He writes and acts in the street dramas that are used in the communities and schools in the project area to raise awareness about health and hygiene issues. 

 

“I am interested in social mobilisation and like acting. I have written scripts for the three street dramas that we use about the role of the community health volunteers in reducing diarrhoea, the ways in which bacteria are transmitted, and the importance of using latrines. 

I really want to write. During the festival season, I write scripts and act in plays, I have also acted in a film. I get the ideas from my own concepts and like to generate characters. I have a great interest in literature and learnt what I know from books. I think I have a good imagination.

I think that humour and thinking about what you want to achieve through the story make for a good play. More than humour, satire is important [to draw attention to social issues and shame individuals into improvement]. The members of the Child Clubs also act in the plays and I train them regularly."

Ending open defecation in Kamalamai through latrine construction and awareness building

Previously, only one in four households in this area had a latrine. Now, through our partner (CIUD)'s work, only 50 households are without one, and the work continues to support them with construction and awareness raising about the health implications of open defecation.

This family has constructed their own latrine and connected a biogas unit to it, which provides a biogas supply in the kitchen for cooking (shown in the photo below). Biogas is produced by mixing animal dung, human faeces and water, and is an environmentally friendly source of energy. 

They shared their former experience of living without a latrine. “We used to have to relieve ourselves in the jungle. There used to be a lot of diseases, but now it is much easier.” Their neighbours also spoke of fearing snake bites when they had no option but to defecate outside.

The latrines are a combination of single and double pit latrines. Single pit latrines are emptied manually (by a mason) and double pit latrines have two pits, so that when one is full, the other pit can be used while the full pit is left to compost.

Connecting isolated communities of Kamalamai to a safe water supply

As we drove towards Bhiman, a small settlement within Kamalamai where CIUD has its local office, we passed a large river. Three of the wards in which this project is working lie on the other side of the river, further down from where this photo was taken. Access by road takes far too long, so our partner staff can only enter these wards by foot through the river. It is 2.5 feet deep on a good day, and impossible to cross after a period of rainfall. Their courage and skill left a lasting impression on us. When we construct the water schemes in these wards, tractors will help to transport the materials accross the river. 

This project started in April 2013 and it was very interesting for us to compare a new project with the completed project we had seen in Itahari. We visited Bathanchaudi in Ward 12, where we will construct a gravity flow water system once the rainy season is over. This will help to ensure a supply of safe water all year round. Currently, while the community can access water during the rainy season, there is a severe lack of water in the dry season. 

The gravity flow system will ensure that water is tapped from a higher source in the hills and stored in reservoirs so that it can be accessed all year round through community tap stands. The water will be filtered in a sedimentation tank, and we will raise awareness on further water purification techniques, including boiling, SODIS (solar disinfection) and filtration. 

Right: A house in Bathanchaudi in Ward 12.

First impressions of Kamalamai, Sindhuli District

Our visit to Nepal took us on from Itahari to the municipality of Kamalamai, in Sindhuli District, which was a five hour drive from Biratnagar. 

As we drove through the villages and plains in the Terai region (meaning 'plains'), it dawned on us how different the landscapes and contexts are, even just within Nepal. We heard about the challenges of improving water and sanitation in the Terai region, such as the high levels of arsenic in the water which comes from shallow tube wells, and the very high temperatures which put people off using latrines, simply because they are so hot inside. 

The landscape started to change and we were impressed by the bright greens everywhere as we had arrived during the rainy season. The terrain became more hilly and there were more and more trees as we approached Kamalamai. At the entrance to Kamalamai (pictured above), there is a Buddhist temple accross the river, the Kamal temple, from which Kamalamai takes its name. The name Kamal refers to the incarnation of a goddess. 

Our host from CIUD, our local partner organisation in Kamalamai, told us that there is 58% forest coverage in the municipality. The population has grown in recent years due to the Maoist insurgency, which caused many people to move from rural areas to towns. Despite being categorised as 'urban', as a municipality, we learnt that two Village Development Committees (or VDCs, a rural administrative area in Nepal) were merged to create Kamalamai municipality, which explained its rural feel, particularly on the outskirts. It is mainly in these isolated outskirts that WaterAid and our partners are working, in order to connect the poorest communities to a water supply and to sanitation and hygiene services.

Itahari, Sunsari District - Safe water

Access to safe water for every household in Gadighat Sukumari Tole, Ward 6, Itahari 

Alongside the improvements to sanitation in Gadighat Sukumari Tole in Ward 6 of Itahari, we also saw the household tap stands that have been constructed for every household through an extension of the existing water pipeline. This gives every family access to treated water which they can safely drink. 

The former water source was groundwater pumped through shallow tube wells which had a high iron content and used to cause illnesses. 

Laxmi (aged 18) explained:  

“There is now a main pipe. The community had to dig for the piping, Lumanti [WaterAid's local partner] has done a great work. I used to get sick often from the old water, now I don’t get sick."  

Laxmi's sister, Kamala (pictured right in the photo), explained: 

"The water used to be yellowish and dense, and turned our teeth and kitchen utensils black! Now the children can just go and drink safe water.”

Itahari, Sunsari District - Sanitation improvement

Improved sanitation transforms the community environment in Gadighat Sukumari Tole, Ward 6, Itahari

Our week in Nepal to see WaterAid's work started with a visit to a project completed in March 2011, which was implemented by our local partner organisation, Lumanti. 

After a one hour flight from Kathmandu to Biratnagar, and a 30 minute car journey to the small town of Itahari, we arrived in Ward 6 of Itahari where we visited a number of houses to see the household tap stands and latrines constructed through the project. 

This community was declared 'open defecation free' after latrine access increased from 35% to 100% during the project's lifetime, and the practice of defecating in the fields and on the roadside was ended through a combination of improved latrine use and increased awareness about the associated health risks. 

Laxmi, who is 18 (pictured), explained the changes she saw in her street.  

“Before, it was all dirty. We felt embarrassed and couldn’t even walk like this. We encourage people in sanitation every Saturday, like how to make the toilets clean and keep them clean [with Harpic and a toilet brush]. When I saw the dirt at the roadside, I volunteered to clean every Saturday with my sisters and the other volunteers. As a family we made groups to improve sanitation.”   

Over two years after the end of this project, the volunteers continue to clean their street, latrines and the surrounding environment every Saturday, calling on one person from each house to come out and help. 

“Now we feel like we should contribute [to making changes in our town]. I feel the change and am surprised by the change.” 
 
Geeta (in the left of the photo), a  Board member of the Water Users Association.

“It’s not just the municipality, we can now go to the district level! We have been to the Local Development Officer about open defecation and education. We can help women who are being tortured to get justice.” 

Kalawati (in the right of the photo), Chairperson of Sungari Women’s Savings and Credit Group.