They do not Supposed to Drink River Water
Being a cadre means you have to be ready for every consequence. Cadre has to be ready for time wastage because of a lot of activities. However, that does not apply to Ilawati.
Ilawati Ulomina (40), a woman and a cadre, has been starting her career as cadre on integrated health post (posyandu) in 2007 and works as community development cadre (KPM) in 2020. Start from the health concern, Ilawati then decided to join the posyandu and KPM to bring change to the village.
Ilawati admits that to change a clean and healthy habit is hard to be implemented in the village. It becomes a struggle for the villager.
“We are easy to access to water, and every house can have it. Indeed, the water looks very clean and fresh because of the river water, but the challenge comes from our understanding that clean water is healthy and suitable for drinking right away. Meanwhile, this training advised us not to drink untreated water. This means that water has to be boiled first,” said Ilawati after receiving training related to drinking water processing from Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI).
Ilawati continued, "Honestly, because our tongues are used to consuming raw water if we are asked to drink water that has been boiled it will taste different and not fresh anymore. Because I've tried boiling water and the average person at home doesn't like it. "
Ilawati has received training on how to treat clean water into drinking water from WVI through the AIR Project supported by P&G. She saw that the villagers' habit of drinking river water could not be changed instantly. However, Ilawati is optimistic about this change. The training given to her has changed the viewpoint of healthy drinking water for families.
"Luckily, I was able to attend the training today. At least, I will get new knowledge and for sure I will try to do one of the five ways to treat healthy drinking water for the family, one of which is by boiling water for family consumption at home,” she explained excitedly.
Ilawati is committed to starting a change for herself and her family first. Then she will move to provide this knowledge to other villagers.
"Good change must start with us first, and we can bring changes to others. Thank you, Wahana Visi Indonesia," she concluded.
Written by: Midun, Staff of AIR Project Sintang Wahana Visi Indonesia
