For many years, the migration of the population of Myanmar to neighboring states has been caused by events ranging from armed clashes, economic crises, extreme poverty, and lack of job opportunities. The conditions and quality of life in the country have been affected by decades of impoverishment caused by the military regime, leading to a rise in the cost of living and basic necessities and many areas lack infrastructure and access to health services and education. This is especially prevalent in rural areas, where clean water and knowledge about basic sanitary regulations are scarce, if not completely absent. Adding to this, many children suffer from severe diseases due to poor personal hygiene and lack of resources.
In an attempt to combat this, the Rays of Youth cross border project team (ROY) started a pilot project in 2016 to study the hygiene and sanitary situation within communities living in the most remote areas of the country. During the first baseline studies, the ROY team interviewed members of several villages to better understand their approach to hygiene and found that more than 90% of the inhabitants said that they did not use toilets and instead went to the forest to fulfill their needs. Even when toilets were available, they were not enough to serve the needs of the villagers. For instance, the village of Ta Aye Say, Karen state, had two toilets to serve the needs of over 200 people in the community. In 2016, with the help of the ROY team, 11 new toilets were built. A video of such activity can be found here.
Within the toilet project, a "toilet committee" is set up, involving about ten members of each target community. The construction of the toilets is then planned an implemented in coordination with the head of the village, local teachers, school committees, and other members of the community who collaborate to give organizational and logistical support. In addition, a series of workshops and training are arranged for the toilet committee and other villagers to explain how to maintain and clean the toilets. Public events and trainings are also organized to raise awareness on issues related to hygiene and health, as well as to spread awareness on the rules to prevent infectious diseases that have become a widespread reality in the communities. As a result, through project activities, toilet building techniques and knowledge on basic hygiene and health are passed on to community members so that the acquired knowledge can be used to further the construction of the toilets and to foster independent community development initiatives.
Following the construction of the toilets, the ROY team returns to the communities on a regular basis to monitor the situation and resolve any problems that may have occurred. In most cases, it is necessary to visit the communities several times to enforce the need to change the mentalities of the villages to start using the toilets, even if contrary to local habits and customs.
Over time, the ROY toilet building project has expanded to other villages inside Myanmar, especially in the Karen State. In 2017, the ROY team returned to Ta Aye say to conduct an evaluation on the status of the toilets and to spread further awareness and in 2018, they planned to build another 26 toilets in Ta Aye Say, Myawaddy, and Hlaing Bwe townships, Karen state. As of today, the construction, as well as most of the training seminars and awareness-raising campaigns have been completed. Following the success of this project, the ROY team plans to continue to spread awareness in 2019 by promoting health education to children, teenagers and adults in the most remote areas of Myanmar and the team is planning to build 20 more toilets in the villages of Kla Chaw and Hlaing Dan, Karen state. Here, awareness-raising campaigns will also be conducted, and furthermore, training courses and meetings for the toilet committees will be held in Hpa-an, the state capital of the Karen State where the Rays of Youth cross-border project is based.
We would like to express our gratitude to the Italian Autonomous Region of Trentino-South Tyrol, which has been supporting the construction of toilets inside Myanmar as well as other donors and supporters which help us in improving the quality of life in rural areas!
