By: Fatima Shahryar
Kashmore, Sindh, PAKISTAN, July 2014 – “All our lives we have been defecating in the fields far from our houses.” says Mai Sayani (48), the first woman to build a latrine in her house in village Tangwani, Kashmore district, Sindh. “Women in our community used to manage their diet intake in such a way that the need to defecate would not arise during the day time as they didn’t want to be seen defecating in the fields. They preferred going after sunset, though it was more insecure.”
“The community workers in our village introduced us to the concept of improved sanitation and its importance. With their help, I and my daughters built a latrine in our house. It cost us only Rupees 5000 (USD 50). The idea is common now and all houses in our village have latrines.”
Mai Sayani is a widow and a mother of four. She originally belongs to a Baloch family that migrated and settled in Sindh while she was a child. Like Mai Sayani, residents of Tangwani are living a life away from life. For a very long time, they remained uninformed about importance of Water Sanitation and Hygiene. This poverty stricken community, earning through cattle grazing and working in the fields, has little to invest in improving its lifestyle.
Kashmore is located on the northern belt of Sindh and borders Southern Punjab on one side and Balochistan on the other. It is due to its geographical location and migration induced tribal culture, that Kashmore is considered a critical district with respect to both its location and security. A large area of Kashmore is referred to as kacha contributing to the forest area along Indus River, which is home to wild animals and also a hideout for criminals.
It is one of the districts that suffered massive destruction during 2010 and 2011 floods. Open defecation, poor hygiene practices and use of contaminated water lead to incidence of diseases like Diarrhea, Cholera and Polio causing deaths or disability of people, majority of which are women and children.
To save and improve the lives of affected mothers and children, UNICEF incorporated learnings from flood interventions and adapted the globally recognized Community Approach to Total Sanitation (CATS) into the Pakistan Approach to Total Sanitation (PATS). A major part of this approach is improving access to sanitation through introducing new social norm of saying no to open defecation and creating Open Defecation Free (ODF) villages.
In 2013, UNICEF with financial support from the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) implemented the PATS project in three most marginalized districts of Sindh – Kashmore, Jacobabad and Shikarpur. The project was implemented through a local Non-governmental organization (NGO), Sindh Agriculture and Forestry Workers Coordinating Organization (SAFWCO).
The PATS approach encouraged communities to construct latrines in their houses on self-help basis. This was achieved by removing the bottlenecks to latrine construction which included cultural constraints and the non-availability of latrine construction materials and expertise.
“People of this community have been very receptive to the concept of adequate sanitation and hygiene,” says Kulsoom Jamali, a Social Organizer of SAFWCO. “They quickly approved of the idea of building latrines in their houses and proposed various innovative designs themselves.”
Women in interior Sindh, are both the housekeepers and working members of the family. Their daily routine includes household chores, working in the fields, cattle farming and making traditional embroideries. Despite their busy routines, it is a tradition in Kashmore for women to hold a small gathering in the afternoon every day. Engaging these groups of women, UNICEF and SAFWO held knowledge sharing sessions about the benefits of adequate sanitation and hygiene.
Samul Khatoon (45), another resident of village Tangwani, followed Mai Sayani’s example and built a latrine in her house. Excited about her achievement, she says, “After using the latrine at Mai Sayani’s house and observing the convenience and hygienic benefits, I and my Husband decided to build one in our house too.”
“We not only use the latrine ourselves but also dispose-off infants and toddlers’ faeces to observe hygiene and cleanliness. I have witnessed improvement in my grandchildren’s health, as they don’t fall sick as often as they used to. These latrines are a blessing for women,” she added.
Creating a new social norm is not possible overnight. It requires access to resources, complete acceptance, approval and agreement of the people and putting social sanctions in place by the people for its sustainability. The community must believe in new social norm for improving their quality of life.
“UNICEF will continue to support the Government of Pakistan, communities and sanitation sector stakeholders in creating a new social norm of ‘no open defecation’,” says Mubashara Iram, WASH Officer Sindh, UNICEF. “We advocate for enabling people’s access to improved sanitation and decreasing children’s morbidity and mortality due to diarrhea in Pakistan. With UNICEF’s support the change is already happening, as more than a million Pakistanis including women and children access improved sanitation and enjoy living in ODF environment every year.”