The Priority - School Children

It is heartbreaking to talk to some of the residents in the earthquake affected areas to find out how their hopes have been shattered. Many have lost their loved ones, many are separated from their families, and many are not yet sure how to recover from the shock. The local communities have started planning and prioritizing the reconstruction projects in their region. However, their needs are unlimited while the resources are limited. Keeping this in mind, we are going to run the pilot project rebuilding the schools and providing sanitary toilets in those schools. This would be an important first step to provide the most vulnerable section of the society - the children - with well maintained toilets. We hope the children take the good practice to their homes and increase the overall social benefit by reducing the risk of spreading contagious diseases. 

Why Toilet?

This is an initiative to build sanitary toilets in rural schools in Nepal. Every big project starts small and continues to expand from there. So is the goal of this project and I hope to be able to garner support from everyone in this initiative. Now that the rescue and relief efforts to help earthquake victims in Nepal are coming towards an end, the country needs to think more about rebuilding infrastructures that impact health, sanitation, education, roads, electricity, etc. These infrastructures play a significant role in rebuilding the nation and the nation's economic growth in the long run.

While infrastructure in general is crucial to the nation as a whole, my research and teaching supports that infrastructure that directly impact human health need a much higher priority. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children worldwide at a rate equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every ten hours. Every year up to 9 million children under five die from preventable diseases such as diarrhea and malaria. The WHO estimated in 2010 that 2.5 billion people worldwide didn't have access to a toilet. According to the World Toilet Organization (yes, you read it right!), here are some toilet facts:

1. 1,000 children died per day from diarrheal diseases due to poor sanitation in 2013. 
2. Far too many girls miss out on education just because of lack of clean and safe toilet.
3. 1 billion people (15% of world population) still practice open defecation.

Nepal is no exception among the developing countries and there are fears of outbreak of epidemic in Nepal in the aftermath of the 2015 Great Earthquake. We can prevent such epidemic if we start early. Often the preventive measures are cheap and can be made readily available: clean water and properly maintained toilets. So, Model Toilet focuses on building toilets in rural schools in Nepal to promote personal hygiene and sanitation and to reduce the risk of possible epidemic.

My aim in the short term is to run a pilot project in the Dolakha district of Nepal. I plan to build one toilet at a time in partnership with local schools and avail many more Model Toilets throughout Nepal in the years to come. I am collaborating with my friends to help this project take off. Please consider contributing for a good cause.

Please follow the link to donate: http://www.gofundme.com/urbannepal