Rabaniah successfully realizes ODF village

Tanjung, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The figure of Kartini has become an inspiration for women today, such as Rabaniah, the sanitation cadre of Manduin Village, Tabalong District.


She succeeded in realizing Manduin Village as a free from open defecation or ODF since 2018.

"To change bad behavior and habits in society we do little by little," Rabaniah told.

She encouraged awareness of villagers that sanitation is an important thing must be guarded together considering sanitation issues are a challenge in a number of villages along the Tabalong River.

For decades people were used to defecating carelessly and certainly became a threat of infectious diseases in the community.

This condition made Rabaniah moved to make changes. Together with two other Manduin Village cadres, they moved to invite residents to find solutions to alleviate the hereditary problems.

"Through training in the sanitation program by YABN (the Adaro Bangun Negeri Foundation) and the Health Office, I was able to understand the problems regarding latrines and open defecation habits," Rabaniah said.

She actively recorded the homes of residents who do not have toilets and in fact there are still many who defecate in the river.

Evidently there are dozens of latrines every few hundred meters that can be found if we walk down the river. Rabaniah said that initially it was not easy to convince residents of the importance of having a toilet.

Moreover, to build a permanent toilet requires not a small amount of money. Until finally the results of discussion of community leaders and village officials agreed to a communal cooperation as a solution to build toilet.s

"By using the village budget funds, the residents of Manduin Village work together to build a toilet," Rabaniah said