Archive for the ‘Empowerment’ Category
India, Bihar: ‘Dirty, horrible job’ of manual scavengers
A manual scavenger carries a tin of human waste from a dry latrine. Photo: BBC “The worst thing is that the baskets we carry the waste in, often leak and drips down over your clothes”, manual scavenger Lakshmi Devi from rural Bihar tells BBC correspondent Mike Thomson. All her seven children are boys who clean out sewage tanks for their work. Manual removal of excreta (night soil) from “dry toilets” is the job of ‘dalit’ (low caste) women in India. “If I had a daughter I would rather that we all die of hunger than allow her to do the work we do”, Lakshmi said. Listen to Laksmi Devi’s interview (10 Nov 2010), which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and read a background article (17 Nov 2010) by Mike Thomson on scavengers from the serie on “India’s forgotten people”.
World Toilet Day, November 19th
November 19th is World Toilet Day. Join the Big Squat! A day to celebrate the importance of sanitation and raise awareness for the 2.6 billion people (nearly half of the world's population) who don't have access to toilets and proper sanitation. Where there are no toilets: 2.6 billion people worldwide are without access to proper sanitation, which risks their health, strips their dignity, and kills 1.8 million people, mostly children, a year. Diarrhoeal diseases kill five times as many children in the developing world as HIV/AIDS. That's 5,000 children DYING EVERY SINGLE DAY. Not only that, but the disease kills more children than either malaria or AIDS, stunts growth, and forces millions - adults and children alike - to spend weeks at a time off work or school, which hits both a country's economy and its citizens' chances of a better future. The majority of the illness in the world is caused by faecal matter. Lack of sanitation is the world's biggest cause of infection. One gram of faeces can contain 10 million viruses, one million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs. Safe disposal of children's faeces leads to a reduction of nearly 40% in childhood diarrhoea. Wherever the ...
UN declares sanitation and water a human right
After more than 15 years of debate on the issue, the UN has passed a resolution declaring "the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights". The 192-member Assembly also called on UN Member States and international organisations to offer funding, technology and other resources to help poorer countries scale up their efforts to provide clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all. Read the full resolution text here: http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/64/L.63/Rev.1
Other news...
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Emergency Cyclone Appeal
India Cyclone - Emergency Appeal You may have heard on the news about the cyclone that recently devastated ...
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Summer Newsletter 2011
Read our Summer Newsletter for a run-down on our recent work in India.Click the newsletter to enlarge
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Sixteen women
This is our latest video, share amongst friends & family. We welcome any feedback!
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A Christmas success
A huge thank you to everyone who contributed towards our Christmas Appeal, which aimed to raise £7,300 to feed 200 street children in Bangalore for a year. Thanks to your ...
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Human excreta may help secure future food security
"Human excreta could have a key role in securing future food security, helping prevent a sharp drop in yields of crops such as wheat due to a shortage of phosphorus ...
