Let's Connect For A Cause

Did you know that more than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene- related issues? Of the 60 million people added to the world’s towns and cities every year, most move to informal settlements like slums with access to no sanitation facilities. 780 million people lack access to an improved water source.

Importance of Clean water and Sanitation

Three things most of today’s world’s population cannot do:

Take a hot shower,

Get access to clean water,

Flush away last night’s dinner.

Today a greater number of people have a mobile phone than a toilet. Shocking, isn’t it?

In the year 2013, my school celebrated the United Nations World Water Day. As the survey head of the project, my team and I visited slums, residential and corporate complexes, a children’s hospital and an agricultural fair to understand the water problems these sectors were facing. Out of all the others, my visit to the various slums of Mumbai exposed me to a side of my city that I had never seen before. Open sewage channels ran along the length of the narrow lanes, with houses so close to each other that there was hardly any space to walk. The repulsive stench emerging from these channels made me feel a little nauseous. It surprised me how the residents of the slums were totally oblivious to it. When I told them how unhygienic it was to have an open sewage right outside their house, they said, ‘ये तोह चलता है ’, - This is completely fine. The concept of sanitation and hygiene was miles away from them. This experience made me realize that there is a dire need for awareness within the people.

In the midst of several pressing issues like corruption, human trafficking, the economic crisis, terrorism, etc. India may have lost focus on something as basic as water and sanitation. As Mahatma Gandhi once rightly said, ‘Sanitation is more important than independence’. Inadequate sanitation and hygiene is a major cause of diseases worldwide.I believe that sanitation is a noble and important mission for this nation.

The existence of such sanitation and hygiene issues in India is due to India’s huge and growing population, which is putting a severe strain on all of the country’s natural resources. Statistically speaking, majority of the water sources are contaminated by sewage and agricultural runoff. On a brighter side, India seems to have made some progress in the supply of safe water to its people, but there persists to be a gross disparity in coverage across the country. In India, diarrhea alone causes more than 1,600 deaths daily. What is lacking in this nation is awareness and education. I strongly support the fact that only awareness and education can take us a step forward towards either alleviating or even as far as eradicating several problems faced by us today.

Sanitation is the basic human right. Then why are women in particular going through a major sanitation crisis? Why do women have to walk miles to fetch water, in turn giving up on their right to education? Why do women struggle most from the lack of adequate sanitation? In many countries, women are not permitted to relieve themselves during the day. This has a major impact on the health of the women, risking the accumulation of toxins in their blood stream.

Sanitation is a human right

About half of all girls worldwide attend schools without toilets. The lack of privacy causes many girls to drop out when they reach puberty.The question I want to ask here is- why this discrimination? Sanitation is essential for one and all, whether a man or a woman. An increase in the sanitation and hygiene access of women can lead to several positives. Increase access leads to an increase in the rate of education of girls, improved health for women and girls, reduced child and mother mortality rates, reduction in any form of physiological injury, increase in the status quo of women and also provision of new employment opportunities of women.

But a lack of access and the dual aspects of the water crisis – lack of water and of sanitation – lock women in a cycle of poverty.The water crisis is interlinked with the sanitation and hygiene concern prevalent in the world. Water is a scarce resource, which has become a source of conflict, instead of being a catalyst of building new connections. Sanitation and hygiene can be tackled by increased awareness and equality. Educating women about can indirectly lead to educating thousands of other individuals.

At CACR we screened short animation films on the necessity of hygiene and sanitation during the cleanliness week in municipal schools of Mumbai. After the screening lot of parents and students asked us questions on proper ways to store water in their houses, use disinfectants to keep their toilets and houses germ free and improve their health by various hand-washing techniques.As a organization working to promote education and health in school going kids , we remain committed to awareness creation on pertinent issues like clean water and sanitation, hygiene -WASH.

So please join hands with us to do your bit by becoming a change agent to promote healthy living.

-by +Meesha Gandhi , is a social media intern with CACR , a education non-profit based in Mumbai ,India.
Edited by +Richa Singh

References:
YOU TUBE VIDEO : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCid_6o8_t8Vx7oZUFGi5BnA
http://water.org/water-crisis/womens-crisis/

http://water.org/

Source: https://whatstartslikeafireburnslikeone.wordpress.com/

CACR works to improve the quality of education and health of school children in municipal (inner city) schools
Facebook : www.facebook.com/CitizensAssociationForChildRights

My first brush with the world of child rights and its sorry state of the neglect, came one afternoon in college, when a tall, burly man walked in to talk to us about his organization, and how he had pledged to work towards upliftment of this cause.

Mr. Nitin Wadhwani addressing the CACR interns.

Soon after, almost all of my friends began to get involved with this organization. ‘CACR’ would be mentioned in almost all of our conversations and I would be bombarded with stories of the successful initiatives it had undertaken, and achievements that had accrued to it. And now, here I am, a little more than half a year later. The organization, the Citizens Association for Child Rights, that had taken HR College by storm is a place where I can proudly say I am a blogger and intern. That man, Mr. Nitin Wadhwani is now my boss. This is my story of how I got involved with a cause that deserves a lot of attention, but gets only a little.

The "sweet delight" of CACR (pun intended.)

I do have a history of being involved with NGOs and social issues in the past; I was in charge of the marketing operations of SevaConnect, an NGO which seeked to provide a platform for other organizations to interact, and also tried my hand at teaching underprivileged children, among other similar activities.

Sadly, all of these endeavors, while successful, were short lived. Poor coordination, waning enthusiasm, and a myriad number of other factors caused these to go south.

But after having completed one internship period at CACR, and on the brink of my second, I am proud to say that this is far from what is happening here.

It is one of the few NGOs I have seen, that is gifted with a team of dedicated, and experienced individuals, that swear by its cause. It is one of the few NGOs I have seen, that has successfully managed to create for itself a network of student interns, and a network of tie ups with respectable organizations such as the BMC, social service cells of other colleges etc. It is one of the few NGOs I have seen, that has strived not only to sermonize about the cause they are working for, but has strived to actually make a difference.

The MustRun Marathon

Whether it is holding talks with the BMC, checking the quality of mid-day meals, or hosting marathons, dance sessions and organizing computer literacy sessions and other activities for underprivileged children, I am proud to say, CACR has the unique distinction of being an NGO that not only preaches a cause, but actually works extensively to support it.

My personal experience too has been one providing few matters to complain about. Being active in various spheres of academics and extracurriculars, I wasn’t fortunate enough to dedicate myself completely as a volunteer, but could only find it in myself to contribute to this organization through helping in handling the blog of CACR.

This has provided me with a wealth of knowledge on many issues, and has helped me hone my writing and content creation skills. Having a relatively free reign in choosing of topics to write upon, I discovered a number of topics and issues that I previously knew nothing about, and this strengthened my desire to be more involved.

I am truly proud to be a part of this organization. Not only am I gaining invaluable experience and honing my skills, but I also feel I am able to contribute, no matter in how small a quantum, to a cause that deserves the attention of every person who has a heart.

-By Anand Banerjee

Anand is a creative intern at the +Citizens Association For Child Rights , handling the CACR blog.

Website :www.ngocacr.com
Face Book : www.facebook.com/citizensassociationforchildrights

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