Global Handwashing Day: Remembering my decade-old experiences

Today is #GlobalHandwashingDay 2022?and I am remembering my almost a decade-old experiences working at the community level in sanitation and hygiene promotion.

As a beginner in the development sector, I worked on a water sanitation and hygiene project in Terai districts, southern plains of Nepal. My career shifted from teaching to the development sector, and for me every day was like reading a novel chapter. Meeting with community members, listening to their stories, and educating them on the techniques and basic tools was part of my regular work.

Washing hands and defecating on the toilet sounds simple for many of us. Yet we can only imagine what it might be like for someone who is starting this habit for the first time when they are in their 70s. I met with many individuals in the community, listened to their stories and learned from them that behavioral change is not easy and doesn’t happen overnight. “I do not feel comfortable defecating in a toilet and can’t afford soap to wash my hands every time after defecation,” said a woman who was in her 70s. From a sociological and a behavioral change point of view, I found that easy to comprehend.

In a rural village in the Terai region, I never realized how critical hygiene and sanitation are. Working together with the local team and the stakeholders in the community, I had experience of staying in the communities, participating in their daily chores and rituals, and triggering them to promote their hygiene behaviors with various participatory tools such as but not limited to community mapping, transect walks, focus group discussions, use of drawings, posters, role-play, theatre, and songs. Those were the days where we started working early in the morning at 4am for the morning followup. We were blowing whistles for those who defecate open even when they have built toilets.

We also celebrated the achievements of individuals and communities from time to time. In the project, we recognized and rewarded sanitation champions such as local bureaucrats, religious and political leaders, and female community health volunteers for their contributions. This process has taught me that rewards and recognition are very effective tools for accelerating success and making it sustainable.

Mind-sets and culturally embedded traditions

Defecation in the open is often regarded as an enculturated practice. There was open defecation along the paths and outskirts of every settlement, whether it was adults, youth, or children. In order to defecate in a private area, women had to develop coping mechanisms. Many people walked in the early morning or late evening. Women who had just been married consumed little food after they were married to control their 'need to relieve themselves'. The elderly often refused to share a toilet with their daughters-in-laws in some family homes. There were no accessible toilets in public places or at home for people with disabilities.

As part of a community discussion about the importance of toilet construction, and the role of individual households, social elites argued in favor of people living in poverty. In their question, they asked: 'How can poor households build toilets?' In our conversations with lower income households, their response was ‘How can we build expensive toilets?' This clearly illustrated the need to change attitudes and correct misinformation.

Coming out of high school, I didn’t have any particular career path in mind, but I was determined to accomplish three things: get a high-quality education, support people who are in need, and travel a lot. This is what I do today as part of my work with 国际助残 . Yes, I believe everyone’s story deserves to be told, but everyone also owes it to themselves to?discover?their own story. Here is my story.