Shanta’s new home – a sustainable housing community project

Please help us to raise money for Shanta's new house !

Shanta is one of the most wonderful babysitters / nannies in Gokulam, Mysore. She has a kind heart and loving, patient nature.
For the last 12 years she has been taking care of loads of children within the yoga community in Mysore, if you’ve been in Gokulam you’ve probably seen her walking with kids of yoga students

Shantha has raised and provided for her children, as well as her husband since he has been in and out of employment his whole adult life, something that is very common among the low income workers in South India.
She married very young and had her first child at 15, (also very common in South India ) their daughter Nitravatti is now 19 years and her son Naviin is 15.

To give her some much deserved support we want to raise money so Shantha and her family can finish the new house which they have begun building.
Shanta, her family as well as her extended family live in an area close to Gokulam, the houses there are very small and cramped (especially to a Western eye). Generally they are constructed quickly, with the cheapest materials available and are therefore very susceptible to the weather, and usually start to crumble within a decade or so.

This was Shantha's situation, the house was literally falling down so they made the difficult decision to demolish it entirely and have moved to a rented apartment a few houses away. They have used the services of
a moneylender to cover the rent as well as the beginning of the new construction. Indian money lenders are unregulated and take advantage of the people with the need for cash. They charge 5% of the loan every month so the interest accumulates quickly. Many people stay indebted their whole lives with no possibility of paying the loan. Often these guys regularly harass the lenders making a big scenes at their homes.Which is obviously invasive and can be traumatic for any children involved.The construction started in March and Shanta, with help of her family has assembled the team of bricklayers, plumbers, and various construction guys, to build the House, but unfortunately now the funds have run out ..so for the moment she can only keep calm , and hope for a break

HERES WHERE YOU CAN HELP - Think of Shanta when next you buy a cup of coffee " and perhaps instead send some love Shantas way....

The next stage of plumbing, pipes and electrical wiring costs Rs 70,000 to install (€900 euros or US$1000)

if we divided that cost by 100 people it comes down to about 18 euros per person - but anything thing you can spare is better than nothing!!!

we will see to it that the money goes directly to her to go towards completing her house!

Check out our pics, we will keep on updating the pics as progress is made!!

This project is meant to give a little back into the community of which every yoga student benefits from when they visit Mysore to study.