Episode 4

The past few days have been very interesting, and seem to have just flown by. The other student, my roommate is great; we are oddly similar and are both very anxious to do some traveling. However, we have started a bad habit of waking up at about 2 in the morning and talking until about 4am. Although we have really started to get to know each other, it also makes for rather long days.

For the past two days we have worked with Sulabh Int, an Indian based NGO (non-governmental organization, like a non-profit) that has taken Gandhi’s vision and turned it into a multifaceted intervention that has changed the lives of millions. The founder, Dr Pathak, took Gandhi’s concept of non-violence and created an organization that truly practices what it preaches, striving for both social and environmental justice. Dr Pathak, a Brahman by birth, started by trying to help some of India’s untouchable caste or scavengers. This group of people was forced to go from home to home and clean the toilet pots of others, and carry the excrement in buckets on top of their heads. They were often forced into the poorest regions of the town, stricken by perpetual disease, and discriminated against in every way. At one point they were forced to wear bells around their necks, so to alert others when they were coming. They were disallowed from all other professions, and in order to prevent contact, food, water, and money were thrown at them. Dr Pathak realized that in order to help these people, he first had to rid of the pots that the scavengers were forced to clean- an indirect approach to a seemingly impossible task. He created the Sulabh toilet, an environmentally friendly, low cost, 2 pot toilet system, where excrement is deposited in one pot while the other is allowed to decompose into manure. These toilets tackled 2 big problems; the social injustice faced by the untouchable caste as well as provided a much-needed technology for proper sanitation. The toilets cost about 1 rupee, and the profits are used to train these scavengers in other professions. Sulabh toilets are used throughout India and in numerous other countries, and have turned into a fully recyclable, eco friendly technology where the gas, solid waste, and wastewater are all fully recycled. The profits from these toilet complexes are then used to fund a school for the scavenger’s children, multiple vocational training centers, and provide small loans for the scavengers to start their own businesses. On Tuesday, we visited one of the first training centers in Alwar, where the ladies who were once forced into such a degrading trade were practicing their new skills in tailoring, embroidery, sewing, and even beautician services. At the Sulabh center, the women also prepared food items such as Papadums and noodles, which they would sell at the market. The people who once wouldn’t even touch these women, now buy food items that they prepare. All the women spoke of their new professions with such pride and happiness, and showed off their English that they had learned in the school.

While in the town of Alwar, we also visited the King’s Palace; an enormous Rajasthani structure nestled in the hills. It was very beautiful and a very nice break from the Delhi urban sprawl. While walking up to the palace, a wedding procession passed us, and let me say that weddings in India are a BIG deal. The procession immediately invited Natalie and me to join and kept yelling for us to dance with them. We were also doused in shaving cream and confetti as part of the ceremony. A fun experience nonetheless.