JHAPA: A 12-year-old Ashika Rajbanshi of Panchgachhi in Jhapa’s Shivsatakshi Municipality-9 has built a toilet in her home.

After the open defecation free campaign kicked off, Ashika had started thinking about building a latrine. A sixth grader at Janaadarsha Secondary School at Shivgunj, she started fretting over what response she would give if her teachers and friends in the school asked her whether she had a toilet in her house.

Ashika’s house is in a squatter settlement. Her father is too ill to work, while her mother does not have any source of income. “When my neighbours started constructing their toilets, I simply dreamed of having one for my family as well. But as a child I had neither money nor strength to build a toilet,” Ashika recalled.  She remembers her father telling her that they could not afford to build a toilet.

Ashika asked her elders from the neighbourhood to dig a pit while she fetched sand from a stream nearby.  “The toilet was finally built with support of villagers”, a delighted Ashika said.