By the time Brundavati begins the walk home at five p.m., most people would consider their workday finished. But her day is far from over.
The 25-year-old spends her days tending to children at the Nathama Day Care Centre in eastern India while their parents earn a living. When her shift ends, she returns home to her husband, their four-year-old son, and her in-laws, where another series of responsibilities awaits. She keeps the house and garden in order, and prepares the family’s evening meal. But cooking dinner is not what most people would call typical. After prepping food and gathering cookware, she must walk nearly 500 meters beyond the edge of Nathama village to an outdoor cooking area, cook the meal, and then make the journey home after dark.
For years, that final walk was the hardest part of her day—not because it demanded the most effort, but because it filled her with the most fear.
A Daily Reality for Rural Women
Brundavati’s experience is not unique. Across rural India, millions of women navigate daily challenges shaped by limited infrastructure and unequal access to essential services. While India has made progress in expanding infrastructure over the past several decades, many communities still lack reliable roads, sanitation systems, healthcare facilities, and public safety services. For women especially, these conditions can restrict mobility, limit opportunities, and make even ordinary routines feel uncertain after sunset.
That was life in Nathama. Without streetlights, village roads fell into darkness each evening. Poor visibility increased the risk of accidents, while venomous snakes and other dangerous animals could move unnoticed through the area, emboldened by the cover of night. Families often stayed indoors after sunset, not because they wanted to, but because venturing outside simply wasn’t worth the risk. Brundavati didn’t have that choice. Her day wasn’t over simply because the sun had gone down.
A Community Identifies Its Own Solution
When Outreach International began partnering with Nathama in July 2025, we didn’t arrive with a plan for solving the village’s problems. Instead, we introduced Community-Led Development, our approach that equips communities to identify their own priorities, allows leaders to emerge from within, and creates lasting change. Community members met regularly to discuss the challenges affecting their lives, uncover their root causes, and decide which issue they wanted to address first. Again and again, the conversation returned to the same concern. The village was unsafe at night.
The meetings revealed something else as well. For many women, including Brundavati, it was the first time they had participated in community decision-making or spoken directly with local government officials. As neighbors shared experiences, they realized they were not facing these challenges alone. Individual frustrations became shared priorities, which became collective action.
Turning a Shared Concern into Action
The community organized meetings with the elected head of the local village council, and continued advocating through the local system of self-government called the Panchayat. Rather than waiting for someone else to solve the problem, residents learned how to access government resources that already existed but had never reached Nathama.
Their persistence paid off.
On January 30, 2026, the Panchayat approved the installation of four solar-powered streetlights, funding the project through government resources at a cost of just under $1,000 USD. The lights now illuminate three village roads, making them safer for the approximately 280 residents who use them.
This was a great success and life-changing accomplishment, but the work isn’t finished. Community members are already advocating for lighting along two additional roads that remain dark. For Brundavati, however, the most meaningful change isn’t measured by the number of lights installed. It’s measured by how she feels when she walks home.
Walking Toward the Light
One part of Brundavati’s journey has not changed. Each evening, after preparing dinner, she still walks through an unlit path before reaching the village road. But now the lights soon come into view. She remembers the first evening they were switched on.
“As I entered the village and saw the lights shining, I felt a sense of relief. The walk before reaching the village is still difficult because there are no lights along that path. But once I step into the village, I no longer feel the same fear. Seeing the lights gives me comfort and hope.“
The transformation reaches beyond her own walk home. Children now play outside before bedtime. Neighbors linger to talk after sunset. Families spend time together in spaces that once emptied as darkness fell. For Brundavati, the happiest moment is watching her four-year-old son play beneath the lights without the fear that once accompanied every evening.
“The happiest moment for me is seeing my son play safely under the lights. Even though I still have to walk through the dark before reaching the village, I know that once I enter Nathama, there is light, safety, and a sense of peace.”
More Than Four Streetlights
Before this project, many women in Nathama had never participated in decisions affecting their community or approached local government to advocate for change. Today, they know they can. Reflecting on that transformation, Brundavati said:
“Earlier, we felt helpless in the darkness. Today, we feel safe and confident. We are proud because we achieved this through unity. We learned how to raise our voices and bring change to our village.”
The four solar streetlights have made Nathama safer. They have given families more freedom after sunset and made everyday routines less uncertain. But their greatest impact cannot be measured in meters of illuminated road.
Every evening, Brundavati still walks through darkness before she reaches her village. The difference is that she now knows what waits for her at the end of the path. Not only light. The confidence that comes from knowing her community created it together.
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Written and edited by Chris Conti
How to Help
Read more inspiring stories about Outreach’s work, like a community in India gaining access to water, and a woman in Malawi growing a business out of her garden. And, visit our website to learn more about how you can help build a world beyond poverty.
