Mark Balla told us about his journey in Rotary, building toilets in India. He is proud to be known as Mr Toilet or the Toilet Man. His main role in life now is to enable women in India ( and other countries) to be able to live a life in which they are able to live healthy, prosperous and fulfilling lives. This begins with the most basic of needs - adequate sanitation.
With the "We Can't Wait" foundation which Mark established, he has and continues to improve the lives of young girls and women in India. He seeks partnerships with like minds, and those who wish to add value to schools and slums, in order to enable women to live in safety and in a healthy environment. He produced specifics during his presentation - he saw schools where there were many boys, but very few adolescent girls. In 2015, 55 percent of schools had functioning toilets. By 2017, through the work of the Indian government and the Foundation this had increased significantly but the actual number of toilets in many schools is very limited (sometimes one toilet for 600 pupils). Toilets need to be maintained and cleaned. As Mark stated, "just because people are poor, they do not need to put up with it".
With the assistance of Rotary grants and funds from other partners the Foundation has extended its work to other parts of the world including East Timor. The Foundation is estimated to have reached 30000 children in four and a half 2 years.
Girls , with the opportunity to have toilets, able to continuously attend school, marry later in life and consequently, participate in the workforce. In short, sanitation takes people away from the path to abject poverty. Mark's enthusiasm is infectious and his solid contribution to the well-being of girls and women in India is substantial. He continues to work assiduously to meet his goals.