Girls Matter

Universal History Archive/UIG via Reuters

It all started in the year 1909. 

The brave women of New York city sparked a campaign for change, a fight against oppression and inequality, a fight that’s lasted over a century. They’ve paved the way and are now joined by millions of women and allies around the world, fighting for the same thing – change. 

A lot has been done to elevate women’s rights since this first march. In 2018 alone, women in Saudi Arabia were finally granted the legal right to drive, voters in Ireland struck down a draconian ban on abortion, Iranian women watched the World Cup in a stadium alongside men for the first time in decades, and the #MeToo movement sparked a much-needed international conversation about harassment and sexual assault. Most recently, a Netflix documentary about Indian women fighting stigmas around menstruation, Period. End of Sentence, won the 2019 Oscar for Best Short Documentary. 

There is no doubt that progress has been made. It’s been slow but steady and significant.

Watch Charimaya Majhi, an inspiring woman and community leader from our project in Jholunge, speak on the importance of cleanliness for woman.

At Manavta, our mission is to create sustainable sanitation solutions for populations in need. In particular, today we highlight the girls in need. In Nepal, as many as 3 out of 10 girls report missing school because of their period, as access to safe and private latrine facilities are unfortunately few and far between. Skipping school once a month takes a huge toll on these children’s ability to intake and retain information, causing many girls in developing nations to eventually drop out. At Manavta, we’re changing that by continuing to raise awareness about the sanitation crisis, building toilets in high-need rural areas of Nepal, and educating along the way.

“Malala Yousafzai said, “we cannot all succeed when half of us are held back”. This means that our collective success depends on equalizing the playing field.

 Ladies and allies, Happy International Women’s Day.
Keep fighting the good fight.”

Road to Jholunge

Update from the Field

Namaste from Nepal! To say the least our first few months back, have been eye opening. We have spent some time connecting with local NGOs, district public officials and learning about the current WASH situation. While scoping out various districts, we connected with local NGO Educating Nepal and have had the opportunity to spend time in a small village located in the district of Sindhupalchowk, named Jholunge (jho-loon-ge).

Nestled in the valley of Maghi Gaon, the village is home to some of the best fishermen in Nepal. Through a somewhat treacherous road, the village can be reached within 5 hours by local bus. However, as the current border blockage with India continues to make headlines, traveling has been quite the task especially with a lack of fuel and transportation.

Starting this December, Manavta will be building urine diversion toilets for three families and working alongside the community, students of Suryoda Primary School and artists from Kathmandu, to spread the good word about stopping open defecation. As many of you may know, Sindhupalchowk is also the epicenter of the earthquake and has been the site of much of the destruction that was witnessed in the media. Jholunge in total lost 25 members of their community and are currently rebuilding their homes, schools and lives. Their story is something I will come to learn while I spend the next few months living with them. We are so grateful to be able to work with this community and are equally heartfelt by the support our fans have shown us during the past few years leading up to this project. 

We are set to depart next week and I encourage you to keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (links at the very bottom of the page) to learn more about the progress and the community we are working with. If you would like to get involved with our current operations you can connect with us on social media or at toilets@manavtaproject.org, we would love to hear from you!