A year back I didn't know that the food I am making for my family is killing me.

Today I know that may be my lungs which were supposed to be red might have turned black.

All due to the Chula (heatstove) where wooden twigs and branches are used as fuel. The fuel is available for free in the nearby forest area and doesn't hurt our pockets.

I am Mithlesh I am a home maker. Living in Kanchan Kunj slum.  This is not just my story but story of thousands of households like mine.

My perception changed when I became part of the project called Women's Health and Household Air Pollution In Delhi .

I was a user of Chulha.

We did get a cylinder from government sponsored schemes but one needs money to refill month after month and that’s where the scheme fail.

After associating with the project, I am trying to save little by little, though the month and manage a cylinder. So far I have managed to use LPG for cooking food but to make fooder for cattle I still use Chulha.

However all I can do is shift the Chulha out in the open, put a chimney inside. I either use chulha outside in the bylanes or on the roof of my house.

That way I can save myself, my children or family.

I am trying to create this awareness among my peers also.

I must have reached as many as 100 households. I train women, explain to them that the smoke outside their homes can cause more harm them the pollution outside. 

I know money is a constraint but women in my area now use masks and have moved the chulhas outside their homes.