The street skit debuted in Nagorivad on April 24th, and the education workshop on April 27th. Almost 150 people turned out for each, and the air was charged with curiosity. “I felt that the street skit had an amazing start,” says Larry. “There was immense energy from the community and the feedback received revealed a bright future for the sanitation campaign […].” The educational workshop was also a success; although a bit restless at times, community members actively participated in a call and response-style performance by Larry’s colleagues at HDRC. To Larry’s surprise, residents quickly exhibited the disgust that the workshop aimed to elicit through demonstration of ways that open defecation leads to the contamination of food and water, and the spread of disease. Women of the community also eagerly approached HDRC staff after the workshop to share complaints about the existing community toilet block, as well as their suggestions for improvement.

As with the rollout of all pilot projects, Larry quickly realized that he needed to modify his original plans; in spite of his extensive surveying, he was suddenly confronted with a plethora of new feedback. As such, he now intends to include a more structured forum for discussion at the end of each educational workshop. Reflecting on his experience working with the residents of Nagorivad and Shankarbhuvan, Larry says: “The community is very unique in that it has a drastically diverse culture. Even from neighborhood to neighborhood, house to house—there are Muslims, Hindus, and different varieties of castes within the Hindus; there’s conflicts between community leaders, a very diverse economic background; it’s presented problems that I hadn’t foreseen, and we’ve been trying to tackle them one by one. And we have—but it’s not like showing up to a community where everyone has the same views. You’re trying to help something like fifteen different subgroups; and while you may have the overall goal of trying to accomplish one thing, you have to cater to each one of those groups.”

AIF Clinton Fellow, Class of 2014-2015

AIF Clinton Fellow, Class of 2014-2015

AIF Clinton Fellow, Class of 2014-2015