Quote of the week
'Pani Ba' (the water man) Balaram Karki, Nepal
13 May 09
I feel donating drinking water is better than blood donation and eye donation. Therefore, I started to distribute water free of cost
Muslim Khan, spokesman, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
28 Apr 09
They [foreigners] come and tell us how to make latrines in mosques and homes. I’m sure we can do it ourselves.
Aziza, resident of an IDP camp in north-west Pakistan
24 Nov 08
'We don't go [to the latrines] in the daytime - it's crowded and difficult with the burqa. We go at night with a flashlight.'
Dinesh Gunawardena, Sri Lankan Minister for Urban Development and Sacred Area Development
11 Nov 08
Speaking at the 3rd World Urban Forum in China, Sri Lankan Minister Dinesh Gunawardena says that 'it stretches cruelty' to spend so much on bailing out banks and on war while so many people are unable to meet their basic needs.
Aravind Adiga, writer/journalist, winner 2008 Man Booker Prize
29 Oct 08
Nowadays the poor [in India] may have access to mobile phones, of more fundamental importance to them is that it is now more difficult to get access to drinking water than ten years ago.
Editorial, Daily Star, Bangladesh
27 Oct 08
It amuses us a great deal to see the improvisation - showing, in one case, the use of 122 labourers in fixing a single toilet pan, and in another, a similar number of labourers in another office of the BTCL Khulna division, employed for cleaning shrubs and sewerage line.
Mashqura Begum, sanitation campaigner in West Bengal, India
12 Oct 08
Some women gave and others complained that their husbands beat them up on learning that the money was being given for constructing a toilet
Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, India
07 May 08
From being ostracized by the community to being honored globally, Shushila is an example of how radical a change the Sulabh approach has made in the lives of scavengers.
Rani, inhabitant of Sultanpuri, a slum outside Delhi, India
30 Nov 07
My sister-in-law was sexually attacked when she went out to do her toilet. We would have to go in pairs or in groups to guard each other.
Mohammed Sabur, Director, WaterAid Bangladesh
30 Nov 07
The only company likely to exert pressure for better sanitation here is Unilever, so that they can sell more soap.
