The Sanitation Project is being run in the villages of Pedhamali, Amiyapur and Vantal by the Environmental Sanitation Institute (E.S.I) with the support of our friends Rishibhai and his family from the USA. The principal goal of this project is to foster healthy sanitation habits of the villagers, specifically in the areas of personal hygiene and use of toilets. There is also an emphasis on changing waste disposal habits.Part of ESI's is to seed values, practices and habits of sanitation; and let the action spring forth as a result of the values. As part of this, they have set up an experimental program in these three villages in Gujarat with the Nandini Van team. The goal is to develop these villages into ‘model villages’ through extensive interaction at multiple levels. The intention, is to foster a transformation in our hearts and minds of the people, in order to make the practice self-sustaining. In turn, these villages would be examples for other villages, and word about sustainable sanitation can spread by word-of-mouth from village to village.
Why Sanitation?
The purpose of the partnership sanitation project is to create and maintain a culture of sanitation and cleanliness within small villages throughout Gujurat. Poor sanitation accounts for a large amount of preventable diseases, which we hope to curtail through this project. For the initial phase, we will be focusing on three specific villages, with the possibility of adding more in the coming years. Each project will continue for a period of 2 years throughout which we will provide sanitation education, help build sanitation culture, install toilets, and conduct surveys to assess the efficacy of the project.
Basic Plan
The basic plan is as follows. In each village we hope to transform the
culture of sanitation. We will start
with the plan of funding sanitation education, school toilets, and 25 personal
toilets for the village. With further
fundraising, we hope to continue to add personal use toilets to homes in each
village.
Education in the village will be
handled through a variety of different methods.
Firstly, Suresh and ShalieshBhai will venture into each village with the
Nandini Sanitation Van and begin to educate the villagers and get them ready
for the coming months. From there, they
will identify a team of community members, including students, teachers, and
influential people from the community, to help carry out the next stages of
education. These stages include weekly
lessons in school, sanitation marches in the village throughout the coming
months, speech/cleanliness competitions, and home visits to both educate and
administer sanitation kits. The
sanitation kits include nail clippers, soap, tooth brushes, and other basic
necessities. We will also put up wall
slogans and posters depicting the importance of a strong culture of
sanitation. All of this education will
be in an effort to increase awareness and demand for sanitation.
After we have utilized education to
try to foster a culture of sanitation, and bring about a demand for toilets, we
will begin the construction of toilets.
Once the toilets are built, we will continue to provide education,
assistance, and maintenance for the toilets for two years.
It is important to note that when we
teach the weekly lessons we will want to address personal hygiene, home
hygiene, school hygiene, and village hygiene, and how all of these must coexist
to create a culture of sanitation
Administration
Compassion Team: Amrish, monetary and
ideological support
Kharma
Team: E.S.I., Mentors
- Shri Jayesh Bhai, Shri Gopaldada, Shri Kanchandada
-
Motivators:
primary implementors
o
Suresh
Bhai-Coordinator_Suchita Sadhaka
Dharma Team: - Safai
sainik-
Shri Shalieshbhai- Amiyapur village &
Village team
Shri Snehalben-
Pedhamali village.
Shri Nayanaben-
Vanthal village.
Compassion and Kharma teams will work
together to craft a cohesive 2 year plan for general application to each
village. With each village, Compassion
and Kharma will team with Dharma to incorporate the specific needs of each
village to the general plan.
Read more about the Project here..
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| Read stories of our visits so far |
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