Its World Toilet Day! Heres a story from World Vision: 23-year old Josephine giggles when she talks about the years that her family would dig the land whenever they defecate. “I’ve been married for four years and that’s also the number of years that we have been defecating everywhere,” she shyly admits. The story of Josephine is not new in their community in Leyte. “We cannot blame the people then. Most of us are coconut farmers and what we have are just enough for foods. Toilet is a luxury,” explains Propetisa, wife of village captain. In the case of Josephine, her husband used to be a coconut farm worker. He earns around P70 each day in dehusking coconuts. Data from UNICEF and World Health Organization shows that there are almost 10 million people in the country who continue to defecate in the open. Experts say open defecation is a serious threat to health causing diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. When Haiyan caused destruction in the Visayas in November 2013, more than 14 million people were affected, 4.1 million of which were displaced. There were also 1.1 million houses that were either partially or totally destroyed, posing the risk of increased open defecation. “To many of us, open defecation is normal. We never knew of its health implications,” says Josephine. And even if she knew, she wouldn’t have any choice because the cost of toilet alone is already enough for the family’s food in a week. When she became one of World Vision’s shelter beneficiaries, her family started rebuilding. Her biggest surprise though was the latrine kit. “It feels good and at the same time awkward to use toilet again after a long time. The two mothers have also been attending water, hygiene and sanitation (WaSH) sessions which opened their eyes to the risks of defecating everywhere. Pearlie Ybanez, WaSH Coordinator for East Leyte says that the communities like that of Josephine and Rachel have come a long way in hygiene awareness. To date, 44,000 people have benefited from household sanitation with their shelter assistance, including latrine kits, and in some cases, latrine construction. “The best approach is to empower the communities and make them responsible for themselves and for their community. In Zero Open Defecation sessions, we do activities like shit calculation and medical expenses calculation. The good thing about the people is that they listen,” shares Pearl. A year after Yolanda, ten villages are now declared Zero Open Defecation (ZOD) areas.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 09:02:59 +0000
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