I reached Pushpam's house at around two in the afternoon to find her sitting in her courtyard with a couple of her friends, chatting with them over a cup of tea and finishing her pending stitching work. She is a tailor by profession. Her husband is a truck driver and she has two children, a girl and a boy. She told me that she earns around Rs.9,000 from her tailoring business every month. Her husband adds another Rs.11,000 to the family income.
She is two installments away from having repaid the whole of the microcredit. Before the construction of her own private sanitation facilities, she and her family used to travel a kilometer, one-way, to the open field every time they had to relieve themselves. This caused them great distress as they couldn't endure the distance at odd hours, in addition to the threat of acquiring diseases. The loan amount has enabled her family to enjoy a greater sense of dignity and privacy.
Pushpam and her newly built toilet
Pushpam and her newly built toilet
