During the hartal only the government workers break the strike, almost all others do not go to work. Those that are in fixed employment do not have their monthly wages docked, but must make up the time during that month. The strike affects the desperately poor to a greater degree, as the day labourers and rickshaw pullers only receive an income for the days they work. The loss of the daily income of 200 Taka or the equivalent of two pounds, can have a massive impact for the desperately poor.
Our visit today was to a post intervention urban slum in Custom Basti, Khulna. As we walked into the slum we were greeted warmly by a gaggle of women and children. The first thing we noticed was the women walking confidently through the village, smiling in their beautiful saris. The slum was clean with open spaces. It had brand new concrete latrines, painted with handwashing symbols, which were fed by a rainwater harvesting system. The newly installed compost unit provided fertiliser for the village garden. It was a clear contrast to the pre-intervention slum we saw in Dhaka on the previous day.
Before the project started this slum was similar to the slum in Dhaka - the community used a water source that gave the family diarrhea, dysentery and skin diseases. The only sanitation facilities were hanging latrines. WaterAid Bangladesh's local partner Nabolok, formed a Community Based Organisation from 13 women from the slum. The women gathered the community to find out the issues people faced with their current facilities, by drawing a community map and a body map. This started the basis of their action plan to improve their village.
Case Study:`Taslima Begum at Custom Batsi
Taslima is a housewife and CBO committee member, living with her husband, mother and her eleven year old son. Her husband lost his job in the shipping industry, which made life particularly difficult in the slum. Taslima says 'Before the project, life here was critical, there was bad smell, flies, disease such as dysentery and diarrhea. No one could walk without a tissue to their nose. The water source was half a mile away, which would take one hour to fetch. Now life is good. I have time to take my children to school, time to prepare food and time to talk to you.' Taslima used to be afraid that her son would fall off the hanging latrines and spent time watching him, now she is happy in the knowledge that he can use the new latrines safely. Taslima says 'Women used to suffer from women violence, but now that we have plenty of time to do all the housework and food to prepare, we no longer suffer mental and physical violence'. The extra time that Taslima has saved has allowed her to teach five school children, which earns her 500 Taka a month and she now makes blankets out of old saris, which she sells for 150 Taka. The project has provided the physical infrastructure but has also provided training and capacity building for the women in the CBO, so that they have the knowledge and confidence to plan, organise and deliver projects in their community. The women used to be embarrassed about the toilet facilities and felt shy in inviting friends or relatives to the village. Now they are very proud of their facilities.
I am always amazed to learn that only fifteen pounds provides someone with safe water and sanitation for life, but there are also the unintended benefits from schemes which are priceless. For Taslima and the other people in her slum, they now feel proud of their community, they have more free time to spend earning an income or spending time with their families and they have more money available as they no longer need to visit the doctor for water born diseases.
