P ICTURE THIS: You live in a quiet village in Yavatmal. Just when you have found a place on a field to poo, a group of young chil dren starts blowing whistles and singing insulting songs.

Villagers from a small tribal pocket in Tipeshwar encourage this among their kids.

The village went "open defecationfree" three months ago after a nearly two-year struggle by four girls.

"It was embarrassing when the kids start teasing people. People didn't take kindly to the girls encouraging them and telling people what to do. The girls faced a lot of criticism but continued their work. The village is better off because of them," said Shambudev Shedmare, a farmer.

The girls, who were trained in a workshop by local non-governmental organisations, not only convinced the villagers to build indoor toilets and collected fines from people defecating in open, but also trained children to tease villagers caught in the act.

Besides maintaining hygiene and ridding the village of diarrhoea, the girls had a different agenda to construct the indoor toilets.

"Our village is three hours off the main road. People get here through a ghat which is extremely dangerous. We need roads. Children meet with accidents while going to school and even the health centre is far away We . need these services but can't build them ourselves," said 22-year-old village girl Aruna Sabde. "We learnt at a workshop by local groups and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) that if we make our village defecation-free we would be nominated for some award."

The girls contended that if they could manage to win the award, the villagers would be in a better position to demand for services from the authorities.

"People rarely visit here, at least this way we would grab their attention. It's a long bet but worth trying out, we felt. Anyway toilets were needed, people would go to defecate in open and get bitten by snakes. This is a forest area so there is fear of wild animals like tigers. Besides, there was widespread diarrhoea because of human faeces getting mixed with the water, and many women had vaginal infections," said 16-year-old Manisha Edme.

The biggest obstacle for toilet construction was funds.

Allaying the villagers' fear that constructing toilets is an expensive business, the girls managed to do it for just Rs 200 each.

"We requested the gramsevak to provide us the toilet seats and septic tank. The structure is made up of leftover field products and caked mud. We just bought paint worth Rs 200 to make it look good," said Kavita Atmaram (16).

Pleased with the efforts of the girls, the villagers have imposed a cleanliness code on themselves: fine for dirtying the village is Rs 151 per offence.

"The village has become litter free, dustbins have been put up in places. Leftover tobacco products are collected in separate bins. Besides, people don't bathe in the open and water isn't allowed to stagnate. The mindset of the people has changed," said local gramsevak D.P. Tanmanhe.

Next on the girl's agenda is to help the local authorities open a small garden.

"We want to do as much as possible to become a model village," said Class 8 student Varsha Miti.

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