Sir: Open defecation is a common practice in rural Sindh. It becomes the cause of several diseases and in the case of women it exposes them to sexual harassment as well. Children usually defecate on the streets. An Umerkot-based NGO, Aware, has conducted a training programme to discourage people from defecating in the open. The trainees were asked to visit fields and sensitize the villagers about the health problems emanating from this practice. After several exercises in which the villagers were shown how faeces are carried by flies and eventually end up in our stomach in the form of bacteria through the food we eat, people began to respond. Within a few days the sensitized villagers constructed more than 170 latrines on their own. This is incredible and if this kind of work is carried out in such an effective way in other parts of Sindh, the practice of open defecation can be drastically reduced. Gulsher Panhwer Johi