Mothers of Mercy: Life of ASHA workers during the pandemic
World Health Organisation (WHO) recently honoured ASHA volunteers for their crucial role in the pandemic. Here's a tribute to India's one million, all-women ASHA volunteers who, through the pandemic, knocked on the doors of cramped urban jhuggis and isolated rural villages on foot to educate, vaccinate, and save lives as if they were their own
By: Madhu Kapparath
Matilda Kullu’s day begins at 5am, preparing lunch for her family of four and feeding the cattle at Gargadbahal village of Odisha’s Sundargarh district. Then Kullu hops on her cycle for door-to-door visits among the 964 people, mostly tribal, in her role as an ASHA worker. It took years for Kullu to educate the villagers who would rather perform black magic to treat an illness than visit a doctor or hospital. Even worse, as a Scheduled tribe herself, Kullu had to face casteism and untouchability on her door to door visits. November 24, 2021. (To know more about Kullu's story click here)
