Jahera Bibi is 45 years old and she lives with her husband Sahid Khan, also 49 years and their 3 daughters in Sahapur village under Goalpokhor block, West Bengal. She belongs to the Below Poverty Line category. Her husband is a daily laborer and for them it is a hand to mouth existence.

One day an awareness camp for safe sanitation systems was organized in her village under the Sunstruck and SEBA RAHARA NGO MFI jointly. Fortunately she was present there and came to know that SEBA RAHARA is providing the credit support for toilet construction with technical support and technical know how about the model and estimate. She was a member of a SHG Group managed by SEBA RAHARA in Sahapur Village.

Immediately she contacted the credit officer and discussed her problem of having no toilets in her house. She stated that she and her family were forced to resort to open defecation which was risky and resulted in loss of dignity.

Sundari Singha decided to take a loan of Rs 25,000 to build the shop. Sundari keeps her shop open from 5 pm to 9 pm, and on special occasions even later. She sells tea, snacks, Samosa & Paan in the evening. There’s a steady influx of customers as the evening progresses. As a lot of her clientele comprises the elderly, she hopes she can have proper seating in her shop in the future. She currently earns Rs 200 per evening from herself.

Sundari shares how she has been regularly taking loans from SEBA RAHARA for solar lamps and purchasing the Solar lamp from “Sunstruck Trading LLP” —first Accendos, and then Mini Home Lighting Systems. She points to the solar lamp that is hanging in her shop and says, “I have used it for 2 years now and it has been working well. No complaints! After prepaid has come, we have been trying to minimize the usage of electricity.” Earlier she used the Accendo in the shop and the Mini Home Lighting System in the house, but now she has shifted the latter to her shop.