Paving way for more awareness and sensitivity towards the issue of providing a toilet for every women and making them feel more safe for their needs, a Guntur woman has become a person to look up to. "I never had access to a toilet in my father's home, nor in my in-laws' home," Shamsun, a resident of Bollavaram village in Guntur. She proved to be an ideal mother in law to her son's wife when she made sure she builds a toilet for her as a gift to spare her from going out for her needs. "I cannot even talk about the monsoon months and the hardships that the season represented for us women - to answer nature's call."
Shamsun once felt particularly humiliated when a Dubai-based relative of hers refused to visit her home because it didn't have a toilet. Shamsun decided to have one built before her son's wedding. She pooled together a government incentive with Rs. 4,000 of her own money to finance its construction. Her entire family now uses the facility. "I do not want to put her health at risk," Shamshun is quoted as saying about her daughter-in-law - Shalma - who is now pregnant. She also plans to ask Shalma's family to build a toilet, for their daughter's sake and for their own. This is one huge step forward to make India open defecation free very soon.
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