Kattu Malli (Flower of the Forest)

Today I visited another Growing Opportunity client Group: Kattu Malli. It’s Joy of Giving week in India and Growing Opportunity is a part of it. As part of their community awareness program, they are encouraging each client group to give a tree. Today, Lam and I visited the Kattu Malli group and watched them plant their tree.


Though Kattu Malli has around 16 members, only three were there today. We watched them as they planted their tree and then we sat and talked for a while. The three women were extremely gracious with their time and patient with our questions. They are in their third cycle and they have been clients of Growing Opportunity for three years. Here I am with them (along with my fellow Global Fellow, Lam) where they usually have their group meeting (by a coconut stall):



The three women that we met all work their own stall in Pondy Bazaar. One has that coconut stand, another has a fruit stand, and the last has a flower stand.

The coconut lady prepared a coconut for me by first slicing off the top:


and inserting a straw:


for me to sip the juice:



Finally, she cust it in half and prepared tender coconut meat so that I could eat it:


Yum!