Inspiration:83 Homes and Counting: Retired Teacher Gifts the Homeless What They Need Most

57-year-old Dr MS Sunil distinctly recalls the day she visited her student Asha's house. It was 2005, and the now-retired zoology teacher was then in-charge of National service scheme programme at Pathanamthitta Catholicate college.In this middle of a purampokku land (piece of land common to all), stood a makeshift plastic shed that Asha called home.After she lost her parents, her grandmother struggled to raise Asha and make ends meet."The first thing I noticed about the shed was there was no door. An old and thin dupatta hung from the top to cover the entrance. I was moved to tears," says Dr Sunil.It was at the time she decided to build Asha a home. While the Panchayat agreed to give Dr Sunil three cents of land, she actively started raising funds through family, friends, teachers and students. At the time the house cost her Rs one lakh.

"Today Asha is working as a teacher. She married an army man. She bought a car that she drives to school every day and her daughter is studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya," says Dr Sunil.One turn of events not only changed Asha's life but also Dr Sunil's.There was no going back after 2005. Till date, she has successfully constructed and handed over 83 houses to people living in deplorable conditions.

Those she has helped include 55-year-old Susheela, who spent nights under an umbrella as a shelter, cooking food, despite having a diploma in Civil Engineering, or Athirunkal's Udayabhanu, whose leg bones were shattered after a tree fell on him. While his wife was bedridden, his daughter was undergoing treatment for brain cancer.

Sunil pulled hundreds of families out of the deep abyss of poverty by providing them with a roof over their heads.Helping people less privileged had always been a crucial part of Sunil's formative years. As a student, she would deliver food from the hostel canteen to children begging at the seashore.When she retired after years of teaching last year, she decided to completely immerse herself in the upliftment of the underprivileged by building pukka homes for them.Over the last 12 years, Dr Sunil has mastered the art of lending a listening ear to all who come to her for help. But given the fact that she has no functional organisation and limited resources, she consciously selects her beneficiaries on a few parameters.

While most homes are constructed around her own home district Pathanamthitta, three homes, including one house in Kollam district and two more in Alleppey district are under the process of construction.........

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