In India, there are still some areas where people don’t have toilets at home, let alone public facilities. DW follows a 20-year-old woman who has transformed sanitation in her village in Tamil Nadu.
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00:00Everyone likes the day, but mostly the people in the village like the dark, because only in the dark can you go to the toilet.
00:09If we sleep for a while in the morning and wake up, that's it.
00:13We don't run all day that day.
00:15There is no such problem now.
00:18Because now there is a toilet in everyone's house.
00:22Opentification used to be a common practice in Thamyunadu's Adana Kothai village.
00:29Due to the lack of individual household toilets, villagers had to defecate in open fields, often located far from their homes.
00:44Before building the toilet, we used to go to the forest to get up in the morning.
00:48If we couldn't go then, we would come back.
00:50We would go back at night.
00:52Can anyone tell me how you faced that difficulty?
00:55We used to go to the forest and they would ask us where we were going.
00:59We would come back.
01:00We wouldn't go for 15 minutes and come back.
01:02They would give us stomach aches.
01:04We would go for at least one kilometre.
01:07The villagers would scold us when we went to the toilet.
01:10We would think that someone might come.
01:12We would think that someone might come.
01:14It was very difficult.
01:25There were a lot of incidents when we went to the forest.
01:27It was not just a personal incident.
01:29It happened to my friend.
01:31She went to the restroom.
01:33When she went there, she was raped by 4-5 people.
01:38When she told her family, they said,
01:43It is your fault. Why did you go to the bathroom?
01:46Her parents asked her.
01:48She cried and said that she had to go to the forest because there was no bathroom at home.
01:52She was asking for a toilet at home.
01:55She didn't have a father.
01:57She was thinking that she would go to the forest and build a toilet at home.
02:0222-year-old Jayalakshmi rose to prominence 4 years ago
02:07when she was selected by NASA to visit that facility.
02:11Given her family background,
02:13many organizations came forward to fund her trip.
02:17By the time that Modaran, the founder of Grama Laya,
02:20an NGO focused on sanitation and hygiene approached her,
02:24Jayalakshmi had already raised the necessary funds for the trip.
02:28Instead, she made an unusual request
02:31to use the funds to build toilets for all 125 homes in her village.
02:37Hello everyone.
02:39I am very happy to use all the toilets in our village.
02:44Where did we go before without toilets?
02:48How far did we go?
02:50We went 2 km.
02:52It was very difficult when it rained.
02:54Now that the situation has changed,
02:56we can go home and use the toilets whenever we want.
03:01Am I right?
03:03Thank you very much.
03:05I think building toilets is a useful and maintainable way.
03:09If people don't share,
03:11don't involve others,
03:13don't use the toilets,
03:15we need to ask them where to build the toilets.
03:18We need to involve them.
03:20They need to spend money to build the toilets.
03:23When they are involved in the project,
03:27the project is successful.
03:30But initiatives like the one at Jayalakshmi's village are rare.
03:34Building toilets in rural areas requires efforts from individuals
03:39and financial help from NGOs.
03:42Experts say the condition of existing toilets also needs to be improved.
03:48Many villages are struggling due to the lack of toilets.
03:52There are newly built houses,
03:54houses that are not built properly,
03:56damaged toilets,
03:58disfunction toilets,
04:00abandoned toilets,
04:02incomplete toilets.
04:04It is difficult to renovate them.
04:06But they are asking for toilets.
04:09According to the 2022 World Bank data,
04:1211% of the Indian population
04:15still practice open defecation.
04:18A few kilometers from Adana Kottai,
04:21women from Kuppayanpatti village
04:23describe the lack of toilet access that persists.
04:28My name is Ramya.
04:29I am 22 years old.
04:30I have a B.Sc. B.Ed.
04:32My hometown is Kuppayanpatti.
04:34I have a B.Sc. B.Ed.
04:36My hometown is Kuppayanpatti.
04:38I do not use the bathroom.
04:40The only place I know is this village.
04:52Our toilet problem is very serious.
04:55We have to go far away from here.
05:00If we do not go far,
05:02there will be a lot of snakes and insects.
05:04It will be difficult to go during the rainy season.
05:07It will be difficult to go during the rainy season.
05:16Many people do not know
05:18how to get money from the government.
05:24Suresh Maria Selvam is a community development advisor
05:28who has over 25 years of experience
05:31in the social development sector.
05:33He says that the persistent gap
05:35between designing a scheme and implementing it
05:38is a major issue.
05:39There are developers.
05:40There are people to build and provide.
05:42There is a government.
05:43There are people.
05:44But there is a gap somewhere.
05:46How to fill this gap?
05:48The community has to decide
05:50how a community should develop.
05:54The infrastructure has to be built.
05:57We have to see if people are using it or not.
06:01We have to see if people are using it or not.
06:06While there is still a lot to be done,
06:08India has made long strides
06:10in improving access to sanitation.
06:13Nearly 600,000 villages have declared themselves
06:17open defecation free as of September 2024,
06:21according to government data.
06:24For more UN videos visit www.un.org