Shahidul Islam Chowdhury <\/span>
\nWhen nature calls, most of the time Liza, 6, falls in trouble as her family does not own a latrine.
\n\u2018At times, I have to defecate in open spaces, no matter whether it is day or night, even knowing that it is bad,\u2019 she said on Tuesday in the yard of their home in Dautia village of Dhamrai upazila, about 40 km from the capital.
\nLiza\u2019s brother Azizul, 11, said they are sometimes allowed to use a latrine owned by a paternal uncle. \u2018They [uncle\u2019s family members] always keep us waiting even though we are in a hurry to relieve ourselves,\u2019 he complained. When asked if she would defecate in the open if they got a lavatory someday, Liza, a student of elementary\u00a0class, said, \u2018Never!\u2019
\nHalima, 18, mother of a four-year-old girl, said they have built a lavatory at the cost of about Tk 1,000.
\n\u2018BRAC gave us the money which is repayable in 11 equal instalments,\u2019 she said. \u2018BRAC takes Tk 100, in addition to Tk 1000, taka as service charge.\u2019
\nAbout 20 adolescent girls including Tania, Moushumi, Rabeya and Sathi, who are Class V to Class X students in different schools, were holding a formal meeting at Depashai village in the same upazila.
\n\u2018We discuss how we can maintain hygiene in every sphere of life, and at the personal, family and social levels,\u2019 said Sathi, a class V student. \u2018We share our knowledge of hygiene with our friends.\u2019
\nEven three months back, many girl students of Shuapur Nannar High School in Dhamrai had to remain absent in classes as there was no exclusive bathroom for them.
\n\u2018It was very difficult for us to remain clean, and even to answer nature\u2019s call, in class hours,\u2019 says Sraboni Sarkar, a Class IX student of the school. \u2018But now we have a place, equipped with a tube-well for water and a waste basket for disposable things.\u2019
\nMohammad Ashraful Islam, headmaster of the school, said, \u2018Now the girls\u2019 absence in classes has drastically decreased. The number of drop-outs will also shrink.\u2019
\nThe school management built the bathroom for girls last October at a cost of Tk 97,120. BRAC, under its WASH programme, donated Tk 35,000 to install the girls\u2019 bathroom, he said.
\nIt was BRAC which persuaded the school management to build a bathroom exclusively for girls, he said.
\n\u2018Drinking safe water, using sandals while going to the toilet, washing hands with soap before taking meals and after defecating, and washing the lower part of the body with hot water and soap after menstrual bleeding are no longer strange things to us,\u2019 said Sraboni.
\nTanjeba Ambereen Haque, programme manager of the BRAC\u2019s WASH programme, said an exclusive place with water supply and disposal facilities helps girls, who are future mothers, to maintain personal as well as menstrual hygiene.
\nKamar Ali, 70, a villager in Dautia, said people are also taking loans of Tk 4,000 to 5,000 from BRAC for installing tube-wells in their yards.
\nTanjiba said BRAC launched a 5-year programme in May 2006 to provide sanitation services to 17.6 million people, safe water to 8.5 million people, and knowledge of primary hygiene to 37.5 million people in 150, out of 481, upazilas in 40, out of 64, districts.
\nAccording to BRAC\u2019s officials, about 2,32,666 new latrines for the poor, 2,51,814 latrines for people not so poor, 39,737 free latrines for hardcore poor families and 641 deep tube-wells were installed across the country under the WASH programme by 2008.
\nIt is a Tk 456 crore programme launched in collaboration with the government and other local and international NGOs, they said, adding that the Netherlands provided Tk 416 crore for the programme.
\nAccording to researchers, lack of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities forces the country to spend about Tk 5,000 crore every year for treatment of water-borne diseases.
\nSheikh Khurshid Alam, secretary to the Local Government Division, said the government would continue its efforts to ensure safe drinking water and environment-friendly latrines for all by 2015.<\/p>\n

Courtesy: newagebd.com<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shahidul Islam Chowdhury When nature calls, most of the time Liza, 6, falls in trouble as her family does not own a latrine. \u2018At times, I have to defecate in open spaces, no matter whether it is day or night, even knowing that it is bad,\u2019 she said on Tuesday in the yard of their … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n