Edwina Patterson is a nearly 4 year Laborer from Moundsview, Minnesota. She decided to come to India when she saw our first outreach flyer at the Women Build Nations Conference last April. She was moved by the picture of the woman working with a baby in a sling on her back. Here is Edwina with workers at a naka. Below are some of her thoughts early in our trip.

So, as I walk down the street while in India I see a ton of construction but I don’t see much for PPE. All I can think about is every time an inspector says where’s your hard hat, or where are your safety glasses, or my Foreman looks and notices I don’t have ear plugs in, and I get attitude and I roll my eyes but I still go get whatever PPE I need. I see these people working in sandals, some with no shoes on at all, no hard hat, no safety glasses, no work boots. Then I all I can think about is having an attitude because I have to put in earplugs. Wow…it is so intense when we are hit with a reality check and have to grow up…..we need OSHA, we need regulation, we need employers that care…..guess my world’s not so bad after all.

–Edwina Patterson, Laborers Local 563, Minnesota