When the project for cleaning service women was initiated under the name Reconstruction, the realization of the big challenge ahead was deeply felt by the team at Samarth Bharat Vyaspeeth. The goal was never to set up a scrap business or establish a recycling industry. The aim was to bring cleaning service women into the economic, social, cultural, and national mainstream. Keeping this goal in mind, the foundation for the Reconstruction project was laid.
For the past twelve years, Samarth Bharat Vyaspeeth has been trying to manage the humanity behind waste management, breaking the so-called conventional frameworks of waste management. The project, however, was not limited to an institutional level but was shaped into a family under the name Project Reconstruction. This way, the project stood firmly with the cleaning service women in their happiness and sorrow. When gas and electricity connections were brought into their homes, the joy of seeing their homes light up was felt by over one lakh members of this family. Bringing them into the banking mainstream, providing them with monthly health check-ups, and educating their children through Signal School, all gave them a sense of responsibility in their lives.
All family members involved in the Project Reconstruction have contributed physically, mentally, and financially, providing their visible contributions to the project until now.
The cleaning service women recently went on a trip. That day, instead of drops of water falling from a leaking roof, they felt the gentle mist from a water park showering over them. Mothers and sisters, who had experienced the struggles of life, for the first time, felt the joy even in the slips and falls. Having seen a buffet of pain, poverty, and worries for years, they now relished a buffet at a resort, tasting the sweetness of life. Many of them had their first journey in a tuk-tuk, covering the distance from Hari Om Nagar dumping ground to Thane railway station. A generation spent covering just one kilometer. For them, this journey was like Reconstruction, a new beginning.
That day, as they left their homes, they adorned themselves and stepped out with a resolve to dive into deep waters and leave their hardships behind. Their happiness index has risen, and the true meaning of reconstruction is now gradually becoming a reality.
May this transformation towards joy continue, and we pray to the Motherland for its success.