Santhom slum in Kerala, India, has approximately 116 homes, This project will have a long term impact on the entire community, and an indirect impact on the surrounding community of Cochin. The focus points will be providing sanitary eco-toilets, carrying out home improvements to improve the standards and safety of shelter, offering vocational training skills and providing a small livestock farm to create a small supplementary but sustainable income.
Santhom slum has outdoor and shared toilets that back onto a canal which is also a washing and fishing site. The homes themselves are basic, with supports made of low quality materials (katcha) which offer a low level of safety, sanitation and comfort. Many families are left widowed due to alcoholism, jail, or violence. The majority of homes have a woman as the main income earner. Coupled with high debt rates a low income and children not in school the general opportunities are not good.
Improvements will be made on the Katcha houses, including eco-toilets to provide better sanitation, designed to significantly improve quality of live, reduce health and safety issues and improve standards of hygiene. Furthermore, this project means to supplement the low minimum wage in the slum by providing livestock to the community and vocational skills training for women includin workshops for hand-made items, jewellery and handicrafts to be sold at a local shop.
When completed, this project will help towards creating a long term solution towards better health, shelter and sanitation for the inhabitants of Santhom slum. Constant meetings with the community and the houses individually will ensure each member of the community is 100% aware of what is going on, which houses are being worked and why, and why any houses are not being worked on. In total, we should see improvements on 80-90 of the 116 houses in Santhom.
