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Pentakatha ACT Project – Day 16

Chinese philosophy states the existence of Yin and Yang: two polar opposites that exist in life. Today was the epitome of the very same thing. At one hand, our day was widely invigorating as we YEP’s met and interacted with UNICEF and UNDP officials at Bhubaneswar and at the other hand, grossly appalling and disgusting as Dmitry and Inge walked into the existing sanitation units at the school.

Dmitry described the experience as “disturbing” and “upsetting” as the entrance was a sick mixture of horrible odors and human feces strewn on the floor. Clearly, the indifference of the school authorities towards the students’ hygiene chilled him to the bone. What shocked us even more was the fact that the school lacks soap, a basic necessity without which the task of hand washing becomes futile.

Despite these disappointments, our day at the city was one step towards rectifying the current situation as Orissa Sanitation representatives have agreed to conduct a workshop for the students on Wednesday under the guidelines of School Sanitation and Health Education (SSHE) Program.

Tomorrow, we go back to the school but the students won’t be there because they have a holiday. In their absence we hope to get the school organized for the workshop on Wednesday.

With 5 days left to get our work done, we’re excited to finish what we’ve started to the best of our abilities. 🙂

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