In India, half a million women work as scavengers removing human wastefrom the streets with only bowls and brooms. Born into the lowest castein society, these women face discrimination, but one non-governmentalorganization is helping them to create better lives while solving theproblem of poor sanitation. VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer hasthe story written by intern Maha Saad.

Continuing an ancienttradition in India, most lower caste women work as scavengers aftermarriage. They simply follow in the footsteps of their female relatives.

LaxmiNanda, a 27-year-old woman from the northwest Indian state ofRajasthan, worked as a scavenger for nine years. Every day she removedthe waste, transporting it in a bowl carried on her head. "It was avery dirty job. We never liked it. We were always suffering from somekind of diseases and things like that-no respect in the society. Andit was very degrading. We never wanted to do that," she said,describing her past life

Indian scavenger women at the UN, 1 Jul 08

With the help of Bindeshwar Pathak, thefounder of the Sulabh International Social Service Organization, one ofIndia's largest NGOs, women like Laxmi no longer do this work. Sulabhretrains the women so they can find other work doing embroidery ormaking noodles and pickles.

A lack of infrastructure forces manypeople, particularly in rural areas, to defecate in public. Thiscontinues the need for women to clean up. But Pathak has developedaffordable and environmentally friendly toilets, distributing more thana million of them across India and freeing many women from scavenging.

"Becauseof the technologies, now they are not required to clean human excretamanually and they have [been] relieved from this occupation. These twotechnologies have brought tremendous change in the Indian society. Nowthey have become self-employed, empowered, [and] they earn their own
livelihood," Pathak said.

He says that these women are now a part of mainstream society holding dignified jobs.

AtSulabh's center, the women are given clean, new blue saris. LaltaNanda, a 32-year-old woman from Alwar, says her sari has given her andother women status. "This blue sari gives us respect in our society.This is the uniform of the center, but it brings on respect in the eyesof the people. This gives off our identity, that we are someone," shesaid.

Pathak says Sulabh has improved sanitation and decreasedsome diseases, installing toilets in homes and public places. "Thetoilets are being built both in urban areas, rural areas, and in publicplaces, tourist places, religious places. When we started, millions ofchildren used to die due to diarrhea, dehydration, cholera. Now thenumber has gone down to half a million."

In addition to its work in India, Sulabh currently has projects in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.