This 102-Year-Old Sold Her Goats to Construct a Toilet. And Inspired an Entire Village

A 102-year-old woman from a village in Chhattisgarh has become a role model for many. Concerned about the health and wellbeing of the village, Kuwarbai Yadav sold off her goats and used that money to make a toilet near her house. She started with one toilet, and ended up making her entire village open-defecation free.

This 102-Year-Old Sold Her Goats to Construct a Toilet. And Inspired an Entire Village

A 102-year-old woman from a village in Chhattisgarh has become a role model for many. Concerned about the health and wellbeing of the village, Kuwarbai Yadav sold off her goats and used that money to make a toilet near her house. She started with one toilet, and ended up making her entire village open-defecation free.

When it comes to reshaping the country with significant modifications, some really determined citizens make sure that nothing can stop them on their way. Kuwarbai Yadav is one such woman. This 102-year-old lady did not allow her age to become a barrier, and went ahead to take an extremely important step for her village.

A resident of Kotabharri village in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh, Kuwarbai sold off her goats for Rs. 22,000 and utilised that money to construct a toilet near her house.

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Picture Credit: Mirjam van den Berg/Flickr

She also moved from door to door, motivating other villagers to construct toilets in their homes. Today, she is an ideal for many.

It was during a public meeting in the village when Kuwarbai came to know about the various diseases which can spread due to open defecation. This encouraged her to do something on her own to change the practice which was commonly followed in the village.

“I thought of doing something on my own. I sold off my goats and told everyone about my plan to construct a toilet,” she told The Times of India.

This step, taken by a woman who is standing at such a tender age in life, encouraged the 450 other residents of the village to take a pledge that will construct toilets in their homes too. And thus, by July this year, the entire village was declared open-defecation free. For this, they were supported by the administration and the collector Bhem Singh who provided subsidy for toilet construction to the villagers, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme.

It’s not just her village, the lady has even inspired Kamar tribals who reside on nearby hills to construct toilets for themselves. Under the Swachha Bharat Mission, the government gives a sum of Rs. 12,000 per toilet to every beneficiary who builds a toilet at his/her home.

Read about an open defecation free panchayat in Odisha here.

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