Rotary Foundation Minute

A Rotaract project in Uttar Pradesh, India, is liberating women who emptied dry toilets with their hands by teaching them skills that enabled them to earn a living for their families.  Although, manual scavenging was banned in India in 1993, it persists in many parts of the country.  The women who engage in this provide the sole wage for their families and make a meager income for their efforts.   Through collaboration with Project Azmat, the Rotaract club of SRCC Panschshilla Park partnered with the international nonprofit Enactus to organize women who had been doing this work into a cooperative, teaching them basic literacy skills and training to make and market detergent.  This project is also replacing dry latrines with two-pit toilets, which require no maintenance and use only a small amount of water to convert human waste into manure improving sanitation and preventing the spread of disease.  More than 120 new toilets have been installed, enabling over two dozen women to earn a living through the sale of detergent.

 

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