How the poor are coping with heat in one place with the help of an NGO

With a touch of reflective paint, women in an Ahmedabad slum are beating extreme heat
"The Mahila Housing Trust knows the disproportionate effect of climate change on the city’s poorest residents, and is trying to do something about it.

It is experimenting with reflective paint, insulated ceilings and modular roofs in homes in Ramesh Dutt Colony. These are low-cost options that can bring down indoor temperatures by several degrees, Bhonsale told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Women are also trained in measures such as using fuel-efficient stoves to reduce reliance on firewood, rainwater harvesting, composting, cleaning stormwater drains and planting shrubs to help prevent flash floods.

The trust has installed a warning system in some slums that sounds an alarm during heavy rain, so residents can move documents and food to higher spots in case of flooding, Bhonsale said.

“For poor women, their home is also their workplace, their storehouse. They are much more sensitised to the impact of climate change, and understand the seriousness of it,” she said."