Toilets before festival

Posted 5 November, 11:05 am

By Arjun Apabad, October 27 2015 , Masali Khadka of Sahare Village Development Committee (VDC) in Dolakha district is busy constructing her toilet these days. She plans to complete it before this Dashain festival. Toilet is must before Dashain as relatives gather during festival season. “It will be a shame if there is no toilet while they (relatives) come” she says.

Her house was damaged by the earthquake and so was the toilet. After the earthquake, she spent her time building a temporary shelter and plant crops so that she doesn’t miss the planting season.

People in her village are busy too. They are constructing new toilets and some of them renovating damaged ones. Community Development Forum (CDF) Nepal, a local NGO in Dolakha has been providing material support to renovate toilets.

Minuka Subedi, Assistant Program Coordinator at CDF said, her organization is providing toilet pan, cement, pipes and fittings and Corrugated Galvanized Iron (CGI) sheets to those whose toilets were completely damaged. Similarly, they are also providing CGI sheets to those whose roofs were damaged and pan and cement to the ones whose toilet pan were dismantled. According to Ms. Subedi, out of 693 toilets in the village, 143 were completely damaged and 314 were partially damaged.

People are involved in renovating their toilets as relatives gather during the festive season, says Lilaman Tamang of Japhe VDC. He added, it won’t be much of a problem to us but it would be difficult for guests if there is no toilet. CDF Nepal in Dolakha is supporting people in his village to rebuild toilets like in Sahare VDC.

The fuel crisis in the country has also affected the program. Though the program targeted to complete toilets before Dashain, it will not be possible as the construction materials could not be distributed on time due to fuel shortage says Sakuntala Karki, a local community mobilizer of the program. Community people have already done their part.

An elderly, Ganga Maya Magar is actively engaged in constructing her toilet. She was forced to defecate in open after her toilet constructed with support from VDC during Open Defecation Free (ODF) campaign last year, was destroyed by the earthquake. She is pleased to get support for toilet construction from CERF program implemented by CDF. “Good that the habit of defecating in toilet will not change” says Ms. Magar.

The earthquake had damaged many toilets in Dolakha district. According to Water Supply and Sanitation Divisional Office in Charikot, around 89.30 percent of toilets had been damaged in the district.

This is an unoffical translation of the news published in setopati.com on 17 October 2015,Saturday