Bangladesh: Sustainable Sanitation
There is a brief story behind this grant. I visited villages in rural Patuakhalli district in 1999 to see a women's literacy program in action. Dedicated fieldworkers was teaching women how to read in this remote area. Located in southern Bangladesh, Patuakhali is ten hours by barge from Dhaka city. Its' rivers feed out to the mouthes of the Ganges ultimately flowing into the Bay of Bengal. It is one of the most beautiful and tranquil places I have visited. Upon arrival, I had a look inside each families' home. At the far end, (but within about a few feet of the nearest thatched roof house) they pointed to a small hole in the ground and an open aired shack. "This is the toilet," the village women told me. I could see that the hut was situated near a water source and that everything drained into the local lake where the villagers took baths, children played, women washed their pots and so on. When I asked the villagers what they wanted, I expected them to tell me they wanted medicines for illness. No, that wasn't it. The villagers told me via the interpreter, that they wanted latrines. Hence, finally a latrine project for the villagers of Patuakalli with a twofold purpose. Read on....
Diarrheal disease is a major cause of death in Bangladesh. Diarrhea often occurs where there is no means of sanitation. In a poor village, no proper sanitary facilities exist. Having access to a sanitary latrine is one way to combat this problem and remove the threat of diarrhea.
This project aims to assist approximately 4,500 beneficiaries of eighteen villages in the rural district of Patuakhalli get access to sanitary latrines. Villagers build latrines for their communities and then sell them to earn an income. Latrines are a commodity in high demand as open fields or river banks are usually used for the toilet. The purpose of the grant is two fold in that it employs villagers to build the latrines while also increasing community awareness about sanitation and health.
The end goal is to reduce water borne and diarrheal disease and to increase the overall health and well-being of villagers. Ananda Foundation is very excited about this innovative and much needed project. Project Duration: Three years. Grant Award: $ 1238.83
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