A very pleasant surprise for us was the way the group who had been trained in TCD last year successfully applied those lessons in the community. After returning from Dumka, they encouraged and taught the community about the importance of latrines for every family. The community was convinced, and each family started building a latrine for themselves. By the time we visited in April 2024, most families had made beautiful, bamboo thatched latrines. Moreover, the community has announced that unless a family has their own latrine, they won’t give their daughters to that family in marriage. This was a most pleasing transformation to see, and we hope that in the coming days the community will follow more TCD lessons to bring changes to their community.

Furthering the cause of TCD work, four community leaders of the Purnia area who had received TCD training in September 2023, formed committees in their respective villages. We had planned to bring all the committee members of the four villages in one place for committee training, but we could not do so due to several reasons. Sometimes it was their harvesting time; sometimes they were busy sowing and working. Finally, in May we were able to conduct training in Purnia. This training was attended by 26 people, and it was an eye opener for them. It was the first time they were given the opportunity to find solutions to community problems. In the words of participants, “We not only learned about eating a balanced diet, but we also learned about how to find and solve the problems within. So far, we would think about who would come and help us to develop, but now we know that only we can help ourselves.”

Thank you,