We really wanted to meet some of our oldest loan recipients so we asked Amirthamathi from Guardian to see if she can arrange a meeting. Sure enough, within next hours or so we were on our way to meet Lalitha Nadarajan.

Lalitha Nadarajan, obtained a loan from SanitationForAll three years ago to construct a toilet. Today, the toilet she constructed is a role model for all the houses in her village of Viramanipatti in Trichy district. Viramanipatti is located some 38 Kilometres from the city of Trichy. Lalitha’s house is located a little outside of the village center. Lalitha was playing with her infant daughter and her husband had just returned home when we arrived at their house for a visit. They wasted no time in showing us the toilet and bathroom they had constructed with the help of the loan. One look at the toilet, and we were immediately impressed by the blue ceramic tiles on the floor and blue and white floral tiles on the walls. Lalitha had taken great care to maintain it with the highest standard of cleanliness.

“In addition to causing diseases, it’s deeply embarrassing to relieve ourselves in the surrounding fields,” Lalitha’s husband explained why they opted for a loan to construct a toilet- “A toilet must be a part of every home. The loan amount was only Rs.10,000 (~200USD) but we dipped into our savings to build a well-planned and easy to maintain toilet. Besides, our children must lead healthier lives too,” They have two young children – a boy who is attending lower kindergarten and a little girl just three years old. Water.org funded the installation of their water connection. By constructing a toilet, Lalitha has secured a healthier future for their family.