55 year old Kala from Nagenahalli village in Bengaluru (Karnataka) has had an extremely turbulent life. After her husband’s death a few years ago, she was left all alone to take care of her six children. Her eldest daughter, Bhavani, lost her life as a victim to severe domestic violence. Kala’s second child Loknath was diagnosed mentally ill due to a head injury and hence is unable to function without Kala’s help. She has to spend on his costly medical treatment regularly. Her third son Rama eloped with a girl in his youth.

He returned home years later only to drop off his baby boy in Kala’s care. To this day Kala and her family have no clue about Rama’s whereabouts but leave no stone unturned to take good care of his child. Two other sons, Rajkumar and Senthil mostly stay away from home. Senthil contributes to the family income by doing odd jobs, but was forced to stay away from his family because of the lack of space at home. Kala’s youngest daughter, Selvi, is pursuing an Arts degree and has been independently taking care of her education.

“After my husband's death we had nothing left with us."

"We were almost rendered homeless. The little shack we used to live in was so cramped that we had to take turns to sleep. This started affecting my health and I went into depression. Thanks to Habitat, today we have a house we can call our own. These four walls have not just saved us from embarrassment but have also shielded my family, made us stronger and provided us with social security and status,” says Kala with gratitude.