Diocese of Nagpur Conducts Cleanliness Drive-Cum-Awareness Campaign to Celebrate Independence Day

On the occasion of Independence Day, 15th August 2016, Believers Church Diocese of Nagpur organized a cleanliness drive-cum-awareness campaign in a slum area.

A total of 25 families live in this slum. They are very poor and earn their living by collecting and selling hair. They are uneducated and lived under abysmal sanitary conditions. Due to unhygienic living, they often suffered from various illnesses like typhoid, dengue, malaria, cold, flu, diarrhea and other food, water and viral infections.

The children suffered the most as poor sanitation and impoverished living conditions in the slum took a toll on their health. However, parents could not give them a proper medical treatment as they were unable to afford medical expenses.

Sensing the need to educate them on the importance of hygiene, a Women’s Fellowship team along with a Sisters of Compassion team visited the slum and conducted the awareness program. Twenty slum dwellers attended the program. The team taught the audience on how to keep their houses and surroundings clean and neat and thus keep diseases at bay.

The sisters’ team not only taught them verbally but also showed them practically about how to maintain cleanliness in their daily lives. Right after the awareness class, they held a cleaning program in the slum area. They cleaned the surroundings with brooms, collected and burned garbage. Seeing them work, few of the slum dwellers were also inspired and they joined the team in the cleaning program.

The slum dwellers heartily appreciated and thanked the team for teaching them about cleanliness and voluntarily cleaning their slum premises.

“I learned a lot from this awareness program. We did not care about cleanliness and so, whatever money we earned, we had to use it for paying medical bills. But, today I have taken a decision to keep my house and surroundings clean to help protect my family from diseases”, said Laxmibai Chinchodkar, a slum dweller.