Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH :

Lucknow:

In next two weeks, Papna Mua, a small village on the outskirts of the city will be free of open defecation-thanks to the efforts of a mother-daughter duo, who along with building a toilet in their own house motivated 418 families of the village to do so.

For the last six months, Noor Jahan and her 11-year-old daughter Nargis have made hectic efforts to encourage fellow villagers to build a toilet in their homes.

Living with her spouse and two children, Noor Jahan initially faced serious opposition from everyone including her husband who abandoned for sometime for taking up the social cause. “People used to kick me out literally when I went to tell them how important a toilet is in every household. They had problems with me interfering in their personal lives but my agenda was always clear-I wanted every house of this village to have a toilet,” shared she told TOI.

Owing to her constant efforts presently nearly 300 families of the village already have a toilet and in rest of the houses, construction is underway. Besides telling people the hazards of defecating in open and how it can hamper the safety of young girls, Noor also tells them about the government scheme to sanction money for building toilets for those who can ill afford one.

It all started with an Anganwadi workshop where women were apprised of the necessity of a toilet. While every other woman only attended the workshop, Noor took a serious lesson from it. “On that every day in the evening I started digging a pit in the backyard of my house with my hands and in few days I had the first toilet of the village right in my house,” said Noor.