Eco-san technology promoting Human rights Navsarjan s s Experience
What is manual scavenging There are over a million families, almost all belonging to the lowest l caste of Indian caste system, who are by and large employed by the various s organs of the State against the law of the State that prohibits employment ent of manual scavengers. Both in urban as well as rural areas lack of sanitation facilities invites open defecation. This results into the system of manual scavenging. The T dirtiest works doubtlessly falls on the women heads. In urban areas flushed toilets is understood as the only technology ogy of a clean and hygienic sanitation system where the domestic toilets are clean and in the events of routine clogged sewage lines the only technology used to unclog them is to lower the manual scavengers in them using their t bare hands without any protective gears to clear the sewage lines. The children among the scavenging families have the highest drop out rate from the primary education. This is both due to the notion that they are dirty and therefore to be humiliated by teachers and fellow students and often they join as helping hands to their mothers who can t t carry all the shit by themselves that need to be dumped outside the village.
Different ways to clean shit in rural and urban areas
Why manual scavenging is on.? The State provides money to build dry toilets and employs manual scavengers it also passes a law to prohibit construction of dry toilets and employment of manual scavengers! People believe that it is the duty of the lowest caste to provide e such service to society. Scavengers apprehend that if they give up this work where there is absence of competition and adapt to diverse occupations the caste prejudices against them will only weaken their livelihood further. Followers of particular faith believe that flushing can kill germs and therefore it becomes an act of violence which their faith does not n advocate. For the State, rehabilitation of manual scavengers is to train them t on paper into other services and give money to divert into other economic avenues. Change of mindset of population and the State administration is a non- issue.
What s s ecological sanitation in practice? Navsarjan has been working on eradication of manual scavenging practices since 1996. Apart from raising public awareness, unionizing manual scavengers, taking recourse to legal action, advocacy, primary education for children of the scavenging families ies and vocational education it also has been working in collaboration on with other partners such as SEACON and GTZ to develop ecological sanitation technology with its central focus on protection and preservation of human dignity as a way to finding solutions to the t manual scavenging practices. Navsarjan has developed the following ECOSAN systems on the campus of the three boarding schools it runs and on the campus of o Dalit Shakti Kendra which is a vocational training center having residency of over 1000 students (two month residency) and equal or more visitors having a short stay annually.
How does ECOSAN systems eradicate manual scavenging? We have no one to clean the toilets. All the users have to clean it after use. Large amount of water and electricity has been saved. All students ts as well as staff are given only a single bucket of water (12 liters) for bath. The girls get a quarter portion of water more due to their long hairs. Ten tubs of 20 liters each are found sufficient for 250 users to wash their dishes. Our earlier system that consisted of underground sewage ending in large pits was filthy and stinking and was overflowing on roads at various spots. The campus is now much drier and beautiful. Mindsets to change require constant education that is a continuous us activity. Once we had morning breakfast outside toilet doors since certain prejudices prevailed among students and the toilets were not kept clean. It was a powerful experience that resolved the issue. Our school children are the biggest ambassadors and that uphold the ECOSAN systems with dignity. They identified God as ECOSAN and even named two small dog puppies as ECO and SAN. The children were instrumental in correcting the prejudices of their teachers towards ECOSAN.
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