While personal health and hygiene have become top priority during the pandemic for most of us, green crusader Kavita Kajaria also had the wellbeing of the underprivileged in mind. Kavita, who has been actively working for Garbage Free India (GFI), making the city a cleaner and greener haven, decided to start another initiative, Green Pari, right in the middle of the raging pandemic. The project aimed at addressing menstrual health and hygiene issues of underprivileged women and providing economic benefits as well. “Green Pari was conceived during the lockdown, we went to the rescue of the survivors of cyclone Amphan that wreaked havoc in Bengal. I realised that they needed more than just ration and this included basic health and sanitation needs among women. I couldn’t just be a silent observer after hearing firsthand information from my domestic help. Also, I wanted to help the resilient communities hit hard by the loss of jobs,” says Kavita, who has helped impart online training to women on how to make and distribute reusable cotton sanitary pads.
Over the past few months, a substantial number of women have been empowered economically and socially by the Green Pari initiative with over 20,000 pads donated so far. “The free distribution also ensured that they did not have to compromise on their menstrual hygiene, which was at the core of our priority list,” adds Kavita. For seamless operation, over 50 women have been employed at their implementing NGO partner, Lotus Rescue’s centres at Shyamnagar Panpur in Kakinara and Kajaria has nearly doubled her initiative by getting her organisation, GFI on board to help with awareness programmes.
Looking ahead she aspires at scaling up her initiatives to reach out to more women from Bengal‘s rural heartlands. Apart from Green Pari initiative, the enterprising Kavita, who feels passionately for the environment, has joined hands with Give Me Trees Trust, a Delhi-based organisation. She has started collecting plastic packets or bags discarded by e-commerce sites post-delivery, for recycle and reuse. Before signing off, Kavita urges everyone to unite and care for the environment and the less-privileged.