I reached Rukmani's house, located in Musiri Town Panchayat some 45 kilometers from Tiruchirappalli, at around 11 o'clock on a hot Friday morning. Kavitha, the leader of the group wasn't home and so, Rukmani was kind enough to spare some time to talk to me. Her husband, an auto driver by profession, was also at home. She has two children, two girls and one boy, all studying in government schools. She is a housewife, who also does some tailoring work in her spare time.
She told me that the group's last installment is due next month. It's been around a year since she's constructed a toilet and a bathroom in her house with the help of the loan amount. In the absence of such sanitation facilities she and her family had to travel half a kilometer, one-way, to access the nearest public lavatory system. Till two years ago she didn't know about Guardian and that they'd provide microcredit for the purpose of building sanitation facilities. As soon as she found out she applied for the loan, primarily, to make life easier for her children. Every morning they'd have to wait in line for their turn to use the public toilets and bathrooms. As a result, they'd invariably be late to school. There was also the issue of not being able to use them at night as there is threat of being mugged or molested. They'd always have to be accompanied by an older male. Now that they have built such facilities at their own house, it has made their life much better. They enjoy a greater sense of privacy and cleanliness. I asked her if her family faced any difficulty in repaying the loan amount, to which she replied, "My family's monthly income is more or less Rs.15,000, and the installment amount is Rs.650. It isn't that difficult to set apart that much money. Also, it has added great value to our lives in terms of the time it saves us and also for hygiene purposes. The loan has been worth it."
Rukmani with her husband
Rukmani with her husband
