A mason on a mission to build toilets | Fusion - WeRIndia

Kalavati, a 50 year old woman mason who went to home from home to collect money in order to construct toilets in her village all by herself. Now she is on a mission to construct toilets across all slums and lower income neighbourhoods in her city.

At present, the jam-packed Rakhi Mandi shanty is her work site. Until around 2 years ago, there wasn’t even one rest room within the neighborhood – not in homes, not within the community. Drains overflowing with waste and excretory product created extremely unhygienic living conditions. Open excretion was the norm and women and girls, specifically, were extraordinarily prone to ill-health, harassment and even violent assaults.

Taking under consideration the dismal scenario prevailing in Rakhi Mandi, Shramik Bharti, a local non-government organisation that works on sanitation problems, decided to get toilets created within the space with the support of WaterAid, a UK-based charity.

Kalavati needed to do something for her neighbourhood and Shramik Bharti was searching for committed individuals like her who wanted to induce change from inside.

Women like her are unsung heroes leading the sanitation movement that India needs.

Image Reference: Thebetterindia