Convincing the community of Mandahazo, Commune of Lazarivo, to abandon the practice of open defecation was a real challenge. There is a belief here that latrines are linked to evil spirits which kill the children.
“Convincing people to use a latrine has been very difficult. When people were asked why they defecated in the open air, they told us that keeping feces between four walls was taboo and was attracting the devil,” says Lambo Jean Mahafetsy, Community Health Agent.
Before ASOTRY, mortality from diarrhea was very high. “Before, the village was very dirty. In many spots of the village, there was always a risk of walking on feces. Yet the water we drank was not far from the area where we defecated. That is why so many children died of diarrhea,” says Jean Rabemananjara, in charge of hygiene.
The ASOTRY project, through AIM – Action Intercoopération Madagascar, implements sanitation and hygiene activities, including CLTS or Community Led Total Sanitation, in this area of the Atsimo Andrefana region.
Project technicians came to the village of Mandahazo to make people aware of the impact of open defecation on health. “We take them to the areas where they defecate, and then we ask them if they would like to eat next to the place, and they start to be disgusted. Then we explain that flies carry microbes from their feces to their food, which is the source of the diseases such as diarrhea that killed their children… this is how we convinced them,” explained Lambo Jean.
As a result of the efforts to change the community’s behavior, they gradually started to build some latrines. Then they cleared the areas of defecation, which became a short time after cassava fields.
“Some projects had already built some latrines, but no one had used them. It was ASOTRY who convinced us to give up our bad practice… Diseases are starting to decrease, “says Lamboharimana Gilbert, another Community Health Agent.
“We encountered some difficulties during the construction of the latrines, because we live on rocky land. Sometimes, we dig only 50cm, and we hit a rock. But it did not discourage us. Finally, our village has today about 40 latrines in total,” says Lamboharimana Gilbert.
After various processes and verifications carried out by the relevant authorities and the ASOTRY Project, Mandahazo village has been certified Open Defecation Free (ODF).
