"After growing up with a toilet, it was very uncomfortable to live without one

Imagine you grew up with a proper bathroom in your home and then, after you were married, you moved into your husband’s home that didn’t even have a toilet. What was once as routine as eating breakfast in the morning would suddenly become an inconvenient and even shameful task. This is the story that Shanthi, who I met in her village of Poiyamani, told me about. Shanthi, along with a group led by Neelavathi, took out a loan from Milaap’s field partner GUARDIAN in order to construct the toilet. I met with her on a sunny Monday afternoon to see how this loan affected her. Shanthi first told me about her family business. She and her husband owned a cool drinks and tea store in Kulithalai, a nearby town. She proudly poured me a glass of orange soda that she brought home from the shop earlier that day – it was an extremely kind gesture on such a hot and dry day. As I sipped on my cool drink, she told me about how their shop has grown and now employs a few other local people as well. Next, she told me about how she when she first moved to Poiyamani, the transition was difficult because her new husband didn’t have a toilet. She now had to use open spaces to relieve herself. She wasn’t happy that when she had children, they would have to grow up without proper sanitation too. “After growing up with a toilet, it was very uncomfortable to live without one,” she explained. That’s why when Shanthi heard about GUARDIAN’s sanitation loans, she eagerly took one out and built a toilet for her family. Shanthi is very happy that she now has access to what she considers a basic comfort. She told me about her three kids who are all studying. Her 16-year-old daughter is in Class 10 and her 20 and 22-year-old sons are in college in the local cities of Trichy and Coimbatore. She is very happy that she’s been able to provide for them, and that her loan helped her improve all of their lifestyles.