By Sonal Shukla | Managing Director
Hello friends,
It is very hot and humid in Mumbai right now. Onset of monsoon is expected by mid June. A lot of open air activities must take place before that. One of them was a much needed rally to demand more , cleaner and safe toilets for women and girls. Vacha is very active in the nearly 5 year old Right to Pee campaign for such toilets. Men are known to relieve themselves in the open and behind waste heaps of parked trucks. Apart from the inconvenience, these sites can also make women and girls vulnerable to sexual attacks.
In a series of discussions with girls in Malvani, the second largest slum in India after Dharavi, the toilet and garbage disposal issues were taken up for campaigning against. Six groups from various bastis (‘slums’) got involved as this is a common problem in all poor neighbourhoods. Boys were encouraged to participate also. On May 23 about 150 , mostly girls, got together in Malvani. Girls divided themselves in 3 groups to work on Signature Collecting , Slogans Shouting and Street Theatre Performance. Girls had already informed local police about the event and written to the Solid Waste Disposal and other relevant Municipal departments. The local response was amazing. This is a problem faced by all, men too. Hygiene is everybody’s issue. Very few in a slum have indoor toilets. What was surprising was the media response. Times of India carried a report in its tabloid Mumbai Mirror, Radio Mirchi interviewed Deepa Pawar of Vacha in Hndi for a popular programme, Maharshtra Times, a major Marathi daily reported the campaign and TV 9 covered it for its channel. Links for the reports in English are given here. Please do have a look.
The immediate impact of the campaign is big and the residents are now optimistic about getting decent toilets. The local authorities have woken up and the toilets are suddenly cleaner, being washed daily instead of once in a way. The campaign is still on. The matter is being taken up for impacting the development plan for Mumbai and with ward authorities. A women’s group is formed to support girls for monitoring state of toilets. The girls had originally started with rehearsing for a play, making banners, writing to elected representatives feel encouraged by thousands of signatures collected and by the tremendous support they have go locally. Girls feel empowered by such encouragement and by acceptance of their leadership role in the community.
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