Kerala: Women masons build up houses of confidence

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Women also build houses as strong as that built by men.  This has been proved by  Chandrika Kesavan, 62,  and Lizzy Mathai, 60,  who became skilled masons after training. They have built 30 houses so far out of 87 houses for homeless tribals at Piravom and Edakkattuvayal in Ernakulam district. Though aged over  60, Chandrika looks 40,  is  agile and works with a team of masons to construct homes for the tribals.   She  belongs to Paingottur in Ernakulam and worked as unskilled labourer for over  two decades. She along with  Lizzy was trained by the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kalamassery,  Kochi,  on a daily stipend of Rs 125.

“We became skilled masons through training.  But for Kudumbashree, we would have remained  in our village. But now we travel to nearby districts along with six more members in our team,”  said Lizzy. They get work in other districts thanks to Beena Paul, contractor, and  Siny Santhosh, supervisor.  Beena told DC, “these women were apprehensive of getting jobs earlier. But now they are confident after completing 30 houses so far. Each tribal house was constructed with an estimated cost  of Rs 3.5 lakh with 360 sq.ft,”  said Beena Paul.   The women masons are  being given  wages of Rs 400 per day which would be increased eventually. Male masons’ wages are between Rs 850  and  Rs 1,000 per day and a helper gets  Rs 750. Kudumbashree has arranged their trips to the  capital city  where they could share their experiences with the reporters.