www.mumbaistreetstories.wordpress.com Editorial The 14 students in the The Bank that is Cross-Cultural Workshop at XIC have done an Life’s Savings: outstanding job to produce this newsletter in such a Mahila Milan short time. In less than SATYA KANDALA AND “Sometimes, people would two weeks, they have sat SHRUTI NAGBHUSHAN through ten lectures and swear at us, calling n the 1980’s, banks us greedy thieves spent more than 15 hours refused to let the working for fair- in Mankhurd and Byculla pavement dwellers open skinned people,” with pavement dwellers. I an account. Today the women Banoo recounts This is the product of their of Mahila Milan have come a disdainfully. But labour and talent. long way and are financially soon a small I hope they have all self-sufficient. revolution began become more sensitive This took dedication, on the pavements focus and empathy, both of Water Street, to the world of the individually and collectively. Byculla. disadvantaged. Indu and This group of women is “Big sums I couldn’t have asked for a like no other. They are the of money are a better group to work with. erstwhile pavement dwellers problem. But for If they are successful in who fought for their right someone who earns their careers as journalists, to decent housing for almost a hundred rupees the effort will have been 30 years and won the battle. a day, saving five worth every minute! They did not stop there. or ten rupees is Saving for progress -A passbook with entries of deposits and withdrawals Today, they are financially possible. It was cautiously before. If they any male member wants to Julian Crandall Hollick self sufficient and the group hard, but we kept at it and needed thousand, they make a withdrawal from the (Workshop Director) has enough money to give its made it happen. We wanted would take only thousand. savings it requires the woman Street Wise Writers: members loans in times of money of our own to help They were scared of the of the house to be present as need. us out in times of need. Who repayment and were anxious well. “Women are prudent. Nathaniel Da Costa The women recall that else would care?” to get it done with as soon as They withdraw as much as Tanvi Deshpande while they were petitioning True. In a nation where possible. But today, people is necessary or even less. and meeting different poverty stares out of every take up to one lakh or so Men are spendthrifts; they Anusha Iyer government officials for street corner, there aren’t without even thinking twice,” waste all the money saved on Shahid Judge pucca housing, the thought many who would help out in Banoo beams as she points getting drunk. So we make of ‘saving’ entered their the time of need. “By mid- at the column in her savings sure that the women are there Satya Kandala head. “If we don’t save, 1980’s we were 536 families. book that reads one lakh. to balance the mens’ claim Sanika Kanekar what will we eat?” Jaitunbi All of us had but one goal; to The women talk about this and to make sure that their Supriya Kapoor reasons as she pockets the rise above the pavement of big sum of money with a savings are safe,”Jaitunbi stray ten rupee note that she troubles and being financially certain pride in their voice, adds with a knowing smile. Amruta Lakhe gets back as change for her independent is a part of this.” as if to show the world that Lopez, an accountant at Shruti Nagbhushan ‘paan’. But the women recall And soon there came a time they have risen above the Byculla’s SPARC office states how difficult it was in the when the collection would petty sums expected of the that the Byculla centre alone Nishant Parekh beginning to convince people be around thirty thousand pavement. has 22,000 accounts. Anyone Veda Ramaswamy to part with their money and rupees or more each month. Talking about the interest could walk in and start a come save at SPARC/Mahila Then the group started Kasturi Roy on the loan, the women savings account with daily Milan. For people who didn’t giving out loans to the keep it simple. They call the deposits starting as small as Newton Sequeira have much, the idea of saving members of their community 2% charged levied, a two five rupees. Every person Prachi Shailendra was alien. Banoo, who was in who needed to revive their rupees ‘service charge’ on who has an account at the charge of collecting money, business, educate their son every hundred rupees. Their centre has their own book Layout Editor: would return empty handed or marry off their daughter. recovery process is simple of records, which are later Shahid Judge on most occasions. “People used to borrow too. The women visit the computerized. Speaking of house of the loan defaulter. the knowledge these women Masthead Design: If it looks like they really are had about saving, Lopez said, Nathaniel Da Costa in no position to return the “They are the real experts. loan, they give them another They remember every Edited by: loan to get them back on account and deposit without Julian Crandall Hollick their feet and ensure that with even making a note. They are the second loan the family the pioneers who started the Indu Agarwal stays afloat. If the man of movement and lead the way. Special Thanks: the house dies or is suddenly We are just following them.” bedridden with sickness, they He says this as he walks Maria Lobo, SPARC, write off the loan. These towards a large board that Mahila Milan, and NSDF women, who have seen more reads ‘Monthly Turnover’ Product of: than enough of their share of and enters a five digit figure- grief, are quick to empathise 5,90,464, just from the Cross Cultural Workshop, and act. Byculla centre. From just Rs. Xavier Institute of The loan is sanctioned 5 to a whooping five-digit Communications in the name of the woman figure, success seems most Turnover chart of Mahila Milan’s Byculla centre of the household. And if inevitable for Mahila Milan! April 2013 2 Going Global Eleven ordinary women from the streets of Mumbai sparked a revolution in 1986, and shifted from the streets to pucca houses. They Globetrotters, (L-R) Jaitunbi, Banoo, Mustari and Zahida went a step ahead, and made this a global tell us the story behind Mahila Milan movement. This is their story. AMRUTA LAKHE AND SHAHID JUDGE twenty years. Studying the street dwellers have moved they invited us to inaugurate living conditions of the poor into their own pucca houses, the land. They all have their our women sit at in other countries helped thanks to inspiration from own houses now.” the SPARC office them realize that they too had the members of the Milan. The women share another Fin Byculla. Banoo, a right to live with dignity. “The houses they have built exciting incident that dressed in a light, simple They mobilised a movement there are so beautiful! Among occurred when they went pink saree has a proud face in other countries, talking to the street dwellers, they had to help the slum dwellers in and a stern disposition. the authorities and getting engineers and architects, so Kenya, in 1999. The locals Next to her sits Jaitunbi who work started. “We carried they designed the houses very thought the Mahila Milan smiles at us continuously, out extensive surveys in these well. It’s funny, isn’t it? They members were builders who often breaking into fits of countries - how many people are the beggars, but they are had come to demolish their laughter. Mustari sits on stayed in one house, how the engineers and architects homes, hence leading to a the other side of Banoo, many kids they had, where too!” says Mustari giving us a protest. “It took them some quiet throughout, offering their husbands worked. rare smile. time to realize that we were her occasional opinion, There were people living in Their next trip was to one of their own, and were but otherwise observing the slums and on the streets, Sri Lanka. Mustari quietly there to help them,” Banoo the student journalists very just like us. We showed their comments that it is indeed explains. “After that we Lakshmi Naidu, a carefully. Lakshmi is also government how a very poor spent a month there, helping founding member of present, looking graceful in we had taken country, much them build thier own homes, “The people we Mahila Milan, collected a new saree, smiling at us matters into poorer than mixing cement and concrete.” the UN Award on behalf through intelligent, kind eyes. our own hands. visited have all India. “Because The women unanimously of the group Comfortable in each other’s The people then of the 2004 agreed on being treated with presence, they begin to tell us began to work visited us too. When Tsunami, all dignity and respect wherever Mahila Milan won the their story. The extraordinary like us,” Banoo their houses they went. With Sheela didi at they visit India, we United Nations Women’s story of eleven ordinary proudly states. were destroyed. their side, they were sent only Right Award in the year 1995- women, who changed the They spent 22 greet each other People were to the top level officers. “We 96. It was a great honour for world.