All the Seventeen households of Kangther village, especially the women will no longer face indignity to go out for open defecation.  This tiny village of the Karbi Anglong District of Assam has become an Open Defecation Free (ODF) Village.

“We almost compromised with the situation of having no toilets until we were shown the path of exercising our rights by the Jirsong Asong staff”, expresses Sangmili Teronpi, a higher secondary student from the village.

Caritas India’s FARM Northeast programme partner Jirsong Asong has facilitated this mission to become a reality by accessing the Government Scheme under Swaach Bharat Mission and constructed toilets in the village. During the assessment of village needs, it was realized that not a single house in the village has a minimum sanitation facility. Men used to manage their nature’s call according to their convenience, but the situation of women and adolescent girls was way too difficult. Some HHs had kutcha toilets though but those are unhygienic and besides the locations of these kinds of toilets had to change once the pit filled up.

The situation was becoming difficult especially for the pregnant women and adolescent girls who were in a desperate need of sanitation facilities. The FARM staff urged community members to approach the Department of Public Health Engineering (PHE) to avail free toilet construction under Swacch Bharat Scheme. The FARM staff approached the concerned Officer in PHE and facilitated a meeting of the community members. Women representatives from Kangther village led by Ms.

Kache Rongpipi pleaded their case to the Officer and requested him to support them in their need. PHE immediately obliged to the request and ordered the construction of 17 toilets in Kangther village. The toilets were constructed and made ready for use in the month of November 2018.

It has been a team effort by the FARM staff resulting in a huge sigh of relief to the 17 HHs of Kangther village.

The signature reform under Swaach Bharat Mission has transformed the life of Kangther village. Women are now free from the humiliation of open defecation and lead a healthy life.