Healthy community through access to safe drinking water

A resident of Peren district, Thiuziuwiliu comes from a very humble family of eight, with a great passion to give back to society; she is a social worker who strives to bring about desirable changes in her community. Thiuziuwiliu (39) now works with Siolen, an SHG, formed in 2012 with the very principle of bringing about economic stability and to address social issues within the community.

In July 2018 Thiuziuwiliu came to know about the important role safe drinking water contributes towards the health and wellbeing at household and community level through an awareness camp conducted by the Entrepreneurs Associate (EA) a partner of NEIDA. In order to make safe drinking water accessible at a reasonable cost especially in remote rural areas EA and NEIDA wanted to partner with Siolen SHG to sell Point of Use (PoU) water filters at a subsidized rate in their locality. Seeing it as a great opportunity to not only generate income but also to contribute in spreading awareness on safe drinking water in their community, the SHG members agreed to participate for which Thiuziuwiliu was nominated to be the nodal person for the village.

Thiuziuwiliu has sold over 195 units and generating a profit of Rs. 39,000/- for herself and the SHG. The group also received help from NEIDA and EA to organize various awareness programmes in the village.

With the commendable success in selling the water filters and the various actions taken up to promote awareness of safe drinking water, Thiuziuwiliu has become more confident and more importantly, she feels that she has gained a lot of knowledge and experience and believes that she is contributing in ensuring health and wellbeing in her village.