JOIN USHow an ASHA worker made her way to elite power list
ASHA worker Matilda Kullu's day starts at 5 am every morning. After finishing the household chores, preparing lunch for her husband and two children, and feeding the cattle, she pins her crisp blue sari in place and starts her door-to-door visits on her cycle. Kullu returns home anytime between 4-11 pm, sometimes even later.
Kullu came into the limelight in November 2021, when she appeared in the "Forbes India W-Power 2021" list along with Amazon head Aparna Purohit and banker Arundhati Bhattacharya. It was the first time that the list featured an ASHA worker.
Kullu was appointed as an ASHA for Gargadbahal village, in Baragaon tehsil of Odisha's Sundargarh district 15 years ago. Hailing from the same village, she looks after 956 people, who are predominantly tribal, and refer to Kullu as "ASHA Didi".
Earlier in 2020, just a few months into the Covid-19 pandemic, she was felicitated by the local administration for her exemplary services in the fight against the pandemic. More recently, in December 2021, she received a certificate of appreciation from the Mission Director, National Health Mission, Government of Odisha.
In 2005 the government launched the National Rural Health Mission and recruited Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers to connect vulnerable communities to health care. As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 9,05,423 ASHA workers in India.
Talking about the difficulties she faced in her journey, Kullu, who belongs to the Kharia tribe, mentioned that she had to battle many superstitions and casteism to get to where she is today.
"Many people were so superstitious that they thought it was because of me visiting their house that they fell ill," she said. "After several years, I could make them understand that they need to visit a doctor instead of the local witch doctor for 'jhaad-phook'. Although the old generation of people still follows untouchability, it doesn't bother me anymore," said the 46-year-old Kullu while speaking to DH.
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, Kullu and thousands of other ASHA workers were given the Herculean task of making the villagers aware of the disease and convincing them to take the vaccine.
"Villagers care more about their societal image than a disease. When they were diagnosed with the coronavirus, many of them were ostracised. In the beginning, I, being an ASHA worker, was the only support they had," said Kullu. "Also, initially, many of them thought that the vaccine was a hoax. They were afraid of dying after getting the vaccine! However, over time, I was able to convince them to get the vaccine."
Furthermore, even after being infected with the coronavirus during the second wave, Kullu resumed her duties after a fortnight and did not hesitate to work for additional hours.
Being someone who meets many rural women daily, Kullu emphasized that one of the main problems they face at present is a lack of any source of income.
"I believe that every woman must have some source of income so that they can look after their family. In my village, even the men don't have employment. This forces many of them into alcoholism, which is a big problem. If the government pays even little attention to the villages, these problems can be solved."
A problem that Kullu faces personally is that she gets a meagre salary of INR 4,500, which isn't enough to make ends meet for her family. Her husband doesn't have any stable source of income, and she does some tailoring work on the side to sustain herself.
"An ASHA worker's income can somehow help run a family. But it isn't necessarily enough for the education of my children. I should have supported them a bit more in education, but that couldn't happen," she said.
(Kartikeya is a journalist from Delhi who is passionate about covering culture, politics, conflict, food, and human interest stories)