Choolala, a project by social entrepreneur Lakshmi Menon, is empowering a group of visually challenged women in Kerala to create artisanal brooms. Choolala is a broom-making project to help women get back on their feet with a steady income. Lakshmi provides the 20 women at the centre with fronds, and they make the brooms and create the covering. “they use the basic nada (cotton strips) to stretch it around a metal frame and interlace the broomsticks around it. They can also add embellishments to give it different looks. Initially, Lakshmi was worried about the women using a knife, but in one hour, they made six brooms and surprised Lakshmi,” she says. She has employed three other women for the finishing work, after which it’s wrapped around the broom. The broom is packaged in Kerala fabric and includes leaflets on the concept. Here’s a brilliant take. What’s heartbreaking, the social entrepreneur says, is that the women cannot see the beauty they have created, even though they have done it with all their heart and soul.