One of our local partner organizations in India, Gramalaya, wrote this story of an elderly couple in a rural Indian village where to them, a toilet was everything:
Chinnammal, age 62, and her husband, Kandasamy, age 71. The opportunity to construct a toilet in their home changed their lives.
“Kandasamy, age 71, and Chinnammal, age 62, are an elderly couple living in a rural Indian village called Velayuthampalayam. Chinnammal had developed partial paralysis, and as a result, she was forced to crawl around the house.
Her husband cared for her and all her needs – combing her hair, bathing her, cooking, and changing her clothes – every day. When it came to attending to nature’s call, Chinnammal had to drag herself to her backyard to defecate because they did not have a toilet in their home. Her husband was broken-hearted every time he saw her crawling.
It was around this time that Gramalaya and Water.org were beginning a sanitation program within this village. Kandasamy heard about this and came to meet the staff, interested in what he could do to get a toilet built inside their house. Soon thereafter, with the technical assistance of Gramalaya, Kandasamy initiated the construction process and built a low-cost toilet in his front verandah.
Now Kandasamy is happy to see his wife use the toilet inside the house. She no longer has to go through the unbearable act of crawling through the bush in the backyard of their house.
As the saying goes, “Love endures.” Out of his love, Shahjahan built a memorial – the Taj Mahal – for his wife, Mumtaz Begum. So Kandasamy built a toilet for his wife, Chinnammal, out of his love. Their joy knows no limits.”
