Time for some action, let’s build a #ToiletForBabli

When you have loads of grannies, aunts and uncles, your conversations with your mother will never have a dull moment. For she always has tons of stories and circumstances to tell you to help you relate with your current situation. Yes, this is exactly what happens when I am chatting with Ma.

This time, we were discussing about one of my grannies and Ma’s aunt. One of the prettiest sisters who grew up in a posh locality in Kolkata was married off to a Zamindar family still living in a village, looking after their family business of farms, etc. Visiting them in their village used to be once in a while affair on occasions such as weddings or festivals. For me, rural areas seemed a distant reality and used to be a place that will be exactly like I had seen in my books or painted in my classes. After growing up in an urban setup, relating to most of the things in that village seemed difficult. I was about seven or eight years old that time and followed Ma for everything. But what was most shocking was the arrangement of toilets and bathing there.

Since they were Zamindars, they had a bathroom in their palatial house but the others, I found, had been defecating in the open in the nearby areas. Not knowing how to react, I asked my Dad about it. He replied that these places are still not developed enough to have bathrooms in each of the houses. It sounded unbelievable and disheartening to see many of the kids of my age going beyond the bushes or in the open field to defecate. The children and the parents, especially the mothers looked pale and sick. And I was only helpless, not knowing how and what to do for them.

But now I do. I know the importance of practicing hygiene and having proper sanitation facilities in your house and I have realized that it is now time to take a step forward, even if a tiny one, to eliminate this problem. #ToiletForBabli is an initiative launched by Domex, Hindustan Unilever Limited’s flagship sanitation brand that aims to make a major contribution towards solving the problem of more than 597 million people defecating in the open, still.

The Domex Toilet Academy programme was launched on November 19, 2013, with an aim of becoming a sustainable and long-term solution of providing sanitation facilities that will benefit the local community and in turn help in stimulating the local economy. This academy makes toilets that are easily accessible and affordable, and promote the benefits of using clean toilets and good hygiene. Their efforts have resulted in bringing about a change in the villages of Maharashtra and Orissa and in the coming time by 2015, their aim is to build 24,000 toilets in the rural areas that still deal with the problem of open defecation.

So, are you game for making a start to address this issue? All you need to do is, visit http://www.domex.in/ and participate in the “You Click Domex Contributes” and show your support for this Domex initiative. Simply “click” on the “Contribute” Tab on the site and on your behalf, Domex will contribute Rs. 5 to help in their plan of eradication of open defecation, thereby, will help many kids like Babli to live a dignified life.

I have done my bit. Now, it’s your turn. Go ahead and give the women and the children chances to live a healthy and a happy life.