CYSD

A recently conducted Community Monitoring process in Nuagaon village of Boipariguda block in Koraput district reveals that unavailability of designated Anganwadi Centre is depriving the pre-school activity and facilities. For a long time, the Anganwadi Worker runs the AWC on the veranda of her rented house where she is not able to do the required pre-school activity properly. She faces problems in storing the food grains, records and pre-school materials. Situation worsens during rainy season of every year.

Nuagaon Anganwadi Center falls under the Haladikund panchayat of Boipariguda block. It serves a total of sixty beneficiaries. Of the 60 beneficiaries, there are 23 children aged 6 months to 3 years, 25 children between the age group of 3 to 6 years, 2 pregnant women and 10 lactating mothers.

During a Community monitoring process initiated by CYSD at Nuagaon village, it was found that the Anganwadi Centre of the village has got damaged for nearly six years. In absence of a designated place to run the Anganwadi, the Anganwadi Worker runs the centre on her rented house veranda where she is staying. It is very difficult in her part to ensure the safety in keeping the records, registers, food grains and pre-school materials. It is mostly during monsoons, she faces hurdles in running the centre.

As part of Community monitoring, a village level interface was organized between the service providers and service users where Ward Member of that village was also present.  During a plan of action to smoothen the service of Anganwadi Centre, the Anganwadi Worker explained about the difficulties she is passing through in providing the services. However, in the same meeting it was decided by the service users that the mothers will take the issue forward, and the ward member was very enthusiastic to help them out in this regard. Within a week the ward member wrote an application and the mother participants endorsed to take it up to the appropriate authority. Then they submitted the application to the CDPO and BDO of Boipariguda block and continuously made follow up and negotiated with them to sanction a new Anganwadi Center.

Soon, the efforts brought fruition and a new Anganwadi Center was granted for Nuagaon village of Haldikund panchayat. The construction work was started and got completed soon. Now the Anganwadi Centre is functioning hassle-free. Monsoon is no more a hurdle for running the centre.

Darabada Village is located in Gadiseskhal Panchayat under Kolnara Block of Rayagada District. The village consists of sixty-six households with a total population of 245. The major issues of the village include unavailability of drinking water to all households and due to limited sources of water, it becomes difficult for the village people to access use of individual toilets as well.

With the intervention of CYSD in Darabada village, a water sanitation committee was formed in the village. Last year, the VWSC members with the involvement of community and the program management team of CYSD proposed to prepare the water, sanitation and garbage disposal management plan for the village.

The major issues like, water, sanitation and hygiene facilities of the village were identified jointly by the VWSC and the community through social mapping exercise and conducting meetings at  regular intervals. Among the above issues, it was revealed that the village has only four tube-wells including the one situated at the school premises. Out of three community tube-wells, one was found defunct for long time whose water cannot be used for drinking purposes. The village people decided to make it functional by installing a solarised pump set.

Rounds of combined meetings of CYSD team, VWSC and youth group were conducted to arrange resources for bringing a tangible solution to the above issue. The VWSC members and youth group were facilitated to write an application to the Block Development Officer (BDO) through J.E, RWSS for installation of a solarised pump set in the community, thinking the administration would sort out their problem. The VWSC members regularly made follow up with the block administration for the same. Within a short period of time the construction work was started by youth group of the village, with due approval and financial sanction from the concerned BDO for installation of solarised pump-set in the village.

Finally, solarised pump-set got installed with the pipelines. The people of the community were elated with immense joy as the daily burden of fetching water from the bore-well was solved and through pipelines their house would be directly supplied with drinking water. The VWSC members are extremely grateful to the CYSD for their intervention and regular support and facilitation.

“Life is not a bed of roses, it’s a journey adorned by barbs & bristles” and only few people have the courage and will to walk through it. Here is the story of a young girl who not only was a dreamer but had the gut to be the doer too.

Stitha Prajna, a girl from a normal middle class family of Jagatsinghpur district completed her graduation in Agricultural Engineering from OUAT and later Agribusiness Management also. Like all other girls she was also in search of a suitable job and was looking for the opportunities. After some days she also managed to find a kind of work for herself which was suited her skill base i.e. agriculture.

Adjustment and satisfaction are two different things. One pays off and the other fills you with peace and happiness. In the world of competition very few people has the courage to choose the second one. This was the decision of Stitha when she was just 25 years old and she resigned from her job. The reason behind was not to be an entrepreneur but the corporate politics.

Days passed by and her happiness were slowly replaced by tensions and pressure. “One moment while turning the pages of a newspaper my eyes glued at something. It was a column about agri-entrepreneurs & agro-industrialists. I wonder if they can, why can’t me?

That was the moment when her mind struck the idea of doing something different and independent. She started scouting more and more. Her knowledge of agriculture from the time of graduation and experience of job started cultivating ideas of business as livelihood. And finally her idea took the place of dream when she came to know about AC&ABC (Agri clinics & Agribusiness Centres) Scheme by Govt of India through which they can get financial support for their start-ups in Agri allied sectors. She searched websites and advertisements and finally came to know about this scheme from CYSD, a 38 years old organisation which works for the betterment of youth and society, their livelihood and their rights too. The major hurdle in the path of her dream was finance and planning for start-ups and this scheme was the key to her success. She joined the AC&ABC training, came across the resource persons who could guide her throughout her zigzag journey.

After the numerous trenches & crests, she could finally see her dream manifesting into reality. Finally, on 8^th April 2019, she started a joint venture with Mr. Debasis, another trainee from AC&ABC, as “COINAGE Agri Solutions Pvt. Ltd”, a consultancy firm, which gives demonstrations, marketing facilities to FPOs and scientific cultivation of silage. Now their company has 50 large scale farmers directly as their client and many more small scale producers. It did take a rough whole two years and the work is still in progress, but what is here to focus upon is the ‘progress made’. Apart from financial constraints, being a girl, her family was not in favour of doing business. But her spirit and ambitions never took a snap unless she achieved what she yearns for.

Her company got awarded among top 20 start-ups in India. They have been recognised by the Start-up Odisha as “Innovations in Agriculture” and from IIM, Kolkata as “Social Entrepreneurs”. All these keep her growing and dreaming. She is thankful to the entire team of the ACABC for giving her direction at dilemma like a lighthouse.

In the recent past, a community monitoring process was conducted at Gunduliaguda village of Doraguda Gram Panchayat under Boipariguda block of Koraput district. Pre-school education comes within the basket of ICDS which aims to provide an all-round development of children under six years of age including their mothers.  It was revealed during the monitoring process that due to non-functional of Gunduliaguda Anganwadi Center, the pre-school education was practically inactive and nutritional aspect of children was grossly neglected. The issue was further enquired and surprisingly it was found that the Anganwadi Worker neither did attend the AWC nor she got involved in any of such pre-school activities.

As part of the community monitoring process, an interaction was carried out between the service users and service providers to open up the services provided for maternal and child health, supplementary nutrition along with pre-school education. During the interaction with the service users, especially pregnant women and lactating mothers, it was came out that, the Anganwadi Worker neither attends AWC nor is involved in any kind of pre-school activity. The AWW confessed that she attends the AWC at irregular intervals as she remains busy in other official works and traveling to different places, like sector office, block office and doing personal household chores. The mothers of pre-school children voiced out their concerns regarding their children are being deprived of the pre-school activities, like singing, oration, drawing and playing which ensure children’s cognitive development in the first five years of their life.

However, this issue was taken very seriously by the Ward Member and other members of the village. A robust plan of action was drawn by the villagers of Gunduliaguda against the existing problem. As a result, first they consulted with the concerned AWW and even they discussed with the Sarpanch of Doraguda panchayat. After two rounds of discussions with the AWW, finally she was able to realize her responsibility and role as a front line service provider and agreed to resume the work enthusiastically at the Anganwadi Centre on regular basis.

As a result of this community vigilance process, the pre-school activity and nutrition services of Gunduliaguda village were resumed and regularized. The children, at the receiving end, are too elated and their mothers are forever grateful to the CYSD for helping out to regularize the AWC.

“Just after completion of 12^th Standard, I became the life partner of Kshirod Chandra Mohanta of Sialijoda village in Saharapada block in the year 2002. With a bunch of dreams, I entered to my in-law’s house. With a small income of my husband & father-in-law we tried to manage the family. But, the increased family members from four to seven within 6 years worsened our family condition. When I blessed with two daughters, the family, especially mother-in-law demanded a male child. But, the God’s wish was something different! When I gave birth another girl child, it was too difficult on my part to tolerate the regular tortures of my mother-in-law. But, after getting capacity building training, being a SHG member, the whole situation changed in my life,” shared Ranaji Mohant, a 35-year woman.

Managing a 7-membered family with the meagre income was quite difficult. There was no alternative source of income except the backyard farming. In the year 2011, with the initiative of CYSD’s Child Development Project, in Sialijoda village a Self-Help Group, namely ‘Om Shanti’ was formed consisting of 12 women and Rajani was fortunate to become a member of the group. From very beginning Rajani was a sincere member of the group. Due to her educational back ground, she was liked by all the members. Her active and regular participation in all the meetings of SHG helped her to improve the knowledge base.

With the Group’s recommendation, Rajani could get an opportunity to participate in a training-cum-exposure programme on Saving and Credit with Entrepreneurship Development organized by CYSD at its Rural Livelihood Training Centre (RLTC), Kapundi. The exposure trip enthused her to become an independent entrepreneur and to supplement her family’s regular income.

Where there is a will there is a way.  Coming out of the four-walls and observing the local market demand, Rajani made up her mind to initiate duck rearing at her courtyard.  Initially, taking a loan of Rs. 5000/- from the SHG, she started the enterprise. Mere duck rearing could not satisfy her, she   added poultry farming near the house with 500 chicks getting a long of Rs. 20,000 from the SHG. Within two years of time, the strength of poultry farm increased to 2000 birds in every 40 days. Now, she earns a monthly income of Rs.6000. Besides, earning a suitable income, she has established a sense of dignity in her community and in the locality too. 

Rajani’s hard struggle for existence has come to an end. She has been supplementing to her husband’s income to a great extent. Her sincere effort made the poultry farm a stable one of worth 2 lakhs rupees. With the profit amount, she has built up a pucca shed for chick rearing with cost of about Rs. 5.0 lakh and has dug a small pond of 30 cent of land for duck rearing. Besides, she has developed a horticulture garden, exclusively cashew plantation in 2 acres of land from which she fetches Rs. 80,000 annually.

Life and livelihood of Ranjani’s family has got changed. For better movement and marketing, she has purchased a new motor cycle for her husband. Her entire family members are covered under Life Insurance. She is having a fixed deposit of 1,50,000/- to meet the emergency requirements of the family. She has given utmost importance to education and enrolled her elder daughter (Kusumanjali) in Adarsha Vidyalaya run by the Govt. of Odisha and two younger daughters (Kunjan and Srutirekha) in Saraswati Shishu Bidya Mandir for which she spends around 8000/- per month.

Rajani is now a busy entrepreneur. She uses her time very judiciously for the growth of her family & village consisting of 175 households. Her husband too provides support in each step of her business. Being the Secretary of SHG, she attends SHG meetings regularly and documents the proceeding, updates cash book and ledger and actively takes part in decision making.

According to Rajani, “SHG is formed not to give and take loan only, it is the right platform for empowering women. There is no need of going outside in search of a job. One can be able manage her family with one-acre of land, if taken care of appropriately”. Rajani enlightens the group members about the issues of the village. Once it was impossible for women to participate in the male dominated meetings of a tribal society but Rajani has broken this cycle of superstitious believe. She believes that men and women are two sides of the same coin. Without the involvement of women, the village problems cannot be resolved. She could make the people aware through this SHG platform. She encouraged them to do vegetable cultivation, plantation in upland, initiate entrepreneurship activities as per their capacity and most importantly to give education to their children, etc. Besides, she gives more emphasis on regular habit of savings, timely repayment of loans and active participation in various trainings. Her role during this Covid-19 pandemic in terms joining hands with CYSD and organizing campaigns on hand wash practice, wearing facemask and keeping the community environment clean are really praiseworthy.

Her hard work, self-confidence and efficiency have made her work easy. She has become a role model for others. Presently 20 landless women adopted her path & started their individual ventures to supplement their family’s income. They feel very proud being self-dependent. Living in a male dominated society, the women SHG members of Sialikoda village are getting enough co-operation from their male counter parts which is definitely a boon for them.

“The capacity building training imparted by CYSD has brought transformation my life from a mere homemaker to a successful entrepreneur. I have been able to build my confidence level to interact with Bankers and other dignitaries. More importantly, I have given right education to my children. I am quite happy that my elder daughter has successfully completed her High School Certification Examination securing 72% marks this year. I am praised by my mother-in-law the most now-a-days”, Rajani acknowledges proudly.

The whole world is witnessing impact of COVID-19 pandemic and its effect is evident across all parts of the country irrespective of the location and reach. Similarly, the district of Malkangiri or Malyabantagiri is affected by the horrors of Corona both economically and socially.  The district is dominated by scheduled tribe (ST) consisting of more than 50% of population mostly by two PVTGs – Bonda & Didai. The population has been struggling since long to recover not only from the left wing dominance but also from high rate of MMR / IMR because of malnourishment, anaemia, early marriage, blind belief and non-availing of basic facilities & rights. Even though the district is blessed with huge natural resources, the villagers still strive to earn a dignified life owing to three major causes i.e. lack of awareness & skill to utilise the existed resources, exploitation by vested interest groups; and unresponsive executives in the district administration.

The pandemic and the lockdown coupled together, has added to their hardships. It has been observed that the impact in the rural areas is unimaginable and villagers have been struggling hard to make their ends meet. Sources says, in Malkangiri district approximately 30 to 40 migrants from each village have returned from other places due to the pandemic. They are frightened to go outside for labour work, but living life from the govt donations in terms of PDS or financial support. These situations may lead to hunger, mal-nutrition, anaemia and death at the end.

Looking at the scenario,CYSD has stepped up to join hands with the local government to accomplish multiple objectives, like generating incomes of effected households, especially migrants due to lock down / shutdown and to curb the likelihood of mal-nutrition and anaemic conditions among vulnerable family members by promoting Nutrition Kitchen Garden under MGNREGS in the villages of three blocks of the district namely, Mathili, Khairput and Korukonda. To reach the objectives, the programme team of CYSD had strategically involved with the Gram Panchayat to identify those migrants, facilitate families to avail job cards and make functional of their bank accounts. The organization has planned for engagement of around 1000 families under MGNREGS, generate 30 to 40   person-days’ work and wage demand of Rs. 7245,000 by the end of August 2020. As a result, 375 families have already prepared beds for nutrition garden, 218 families provided with different varieties of seeds, more than 300 families received orientation on kitchen garden with the help of Odisha Livelihood Mission. Apart from the above engagement, CYSD has also been disseminating among people the COVID–19 advisories to remain safe & secure. The villagers are very much hopeful to tackle the financial crunch at their household level and overcome the chaos / hopelessness situation caused due to the pandemic.

Here is a real life example of an adolescent girl, Rasmita Pangi, age-17 of Siripeta colony of Parkanmala GP.  Being an active member of the village Adolescent Group she has motivated people in her vicinity to work on kitchen garden and cultivate the crops and plants having dual objectives – to earn money and have nutritious vegetables to deal with anaemic of her neighbouring brothers and sisters. “I know very well that it is a hard task for a father to look after a 10-members family from agriculture based income. I am hopeful, the nutritional garden can bring change in their life and livelihoods”, says Rasmita.

Now she has been a key player in her village to promote kitchen garden revolution during this  Corona epidemic.

It has been clearly visible that in many states of the country, the migrant labours are flowing to urban pockets in search of employment. While the spread of the virus has stabilised in large cities, unexpected lockdowns in rural pockets to control the pandemic have affected their travel to cities. Migrant workers were hoping that they would find jobs closer home but that has not materialised.

In the meantime, remittances from labour hubs like Madurai, Surat, Jaipur, Faridabad, Jamshedpur, and Lucknow have seen a surge, with flows nearly back to levels seen before the pandemic. That is likely reflective of a return to normality in several geographies with significant economic impact. This is an indicator of revival in the migrant economy, which means the labour crisis that peaked during April and May is slowly easing.

In Odisha, especially in Ganjam district migrant workers returning to their workplaces due to lack of livelihood options, though the district administration has tightened rules to check the trend. Following a directive from the administration, officials in various blocks of the district are keeping a strict watch on buses that are being used to transport migrant workers back to their workplaces. As per the new norms, migrant workers now need permission from authorities at their workplace and the local administration for return.

After the lockdown, over four lakh migrant workers had returned to their native places in Ganjam from different States. However, many workers have started returning to their places of work in the absence of employment opportunities.

Surprisingly, though the administration has sealed all entry points to the district due to the spike in Covid-19 cases, hundreds of migrants have managed to leave for Surat and Chennai in buses. The returnees are supposed to register themselves in the labour office and apply for their return. But no such applications have been received so far.

It is well known fact that, most of the skilled migrant workers used to earn around Rs 1,000 per day by working in spinning mills and tile factories. In Ganjam, the work available hardly fetches them Rs 200 in a day.  Owing to which despite restrictions by the administration, some migrant workers are leaving for their workplaces clandestinely. Even, the workers now trying to reach Bhubaneswar from where they are taking trains to reach their work place.

Bharat Chandra Mohanta, aged about 31 years hails from Gojapathar village of Damahuda Panchayat, Saharapada Block, Keonjhar. His family consists of his parents, wife, 3 years daughter and one unmarried brother. He has opened a garage at his home. His brother works in a poultry company in Hyderabad and earns about Rs.15000 per month.

A couple of years ago the family’s income was not sound though they own some land for cultivation. They were sheltered in a small mud house with thatched roof. Those days Bharat and his brother were studying in college. They had been encountering hardships for the daily conveyance cost to attend college as well as buying books and study materials. Because of such stress, Bharat had to stop his higher studies after the 12^th examination. His brother was being supported as a sponsored child by CYSD-Plan project since then.    So Bharat on request was selected for vocational training on ‘Two-wheel Repairing’ back in 2010.  He underwent extensive vehicle repairing training in ‘Rabi Garage’, Thakurmunda. He was very regular and sincere in learning the technical knowledge from the Trainer. He was supported with tool kits to start up his own garage.

Immediately post – training, Bharat opted to open an automobile workshop in his own house. However, owing to financial deficit of buying the spare parts and other accessories of repairing, his mother, a member of Padmalaya SHG, Gojapathar helped him a lot. His mother applied for a loan of Rs10,000 from the SHG and repaid the amount in installments as soon as  Bharat started earning from the garage. Now, on average he earns Rs.400 per daily. In order to make little additions to his income, he also runs a vehicle repairing shop in Damahuda weekly market. Usually the customers of nearby 7 villages of Damahuda Panchayat come to him. He renders services, like puncture repairing, tyre pressure checking, spark plug cleaning, greasing, servicing, etc. for bikes as well as bicycles.

Later on, his parents arranged his marriage with a beautiful bride and now he is the father of a three years daughter. His wife is also a member of Laxmi Narayan SHG of Gojapthar. In order to expand the stock of spare parts in the shop, she had also borrowed Rs 15,000.  Besides this garage work, Bharat has been helping his father in paddy farming. With the support of

sampling support from CYSD, they have initiated lemon and cashew plantation. This year, the family could earn Rs.20, 900/- from lemon and Rs. 5000 from cashew farming.

“Being self-reliant, I am planning to expand my enterprise by shifting it to comparatively a bigger locality like Machhagarh or Damahuda to cater more number of customers and deploy one/two helpers to assist me in garage work”, said Bharat.

“Unlike a stunted bonsai plant, I aspire to become a redwood”, says Jasmita Mohanta, a 32 year old inspiring woman,  hails from Khuntakata village which is apparently 15 km away from the Thakurmunda block of Mayurbhanj district in north Odisha. After receiving a basic education, she got married to Patel Chandra Mohanta of Khuntaposai in 2008 and together, they are a family of four! The family was left to survive on their own from the meagre income that they earn from their 1.5 acres of land through paddy cultivation. Sadly, the yield was too low to afford the educational facilities for her two children. However, these tragedies were never enough to let down Jasmita’s spirit. Being a self-taught woman, having experience in vegetable cultivation, she was confident on her own ideas to be self-employed in order to extend a lending hand to her family but not just support her children’s education.

Jasmita’s voluntary participation in a meeting of the village Producer Group brought a turning point in her life when she listened the hard work of members, their positive attitude and determination to try something new and getting success. This could motivate her and soon she convinced her husband to get involved in the Producer Group and bring innovation in cultivation.  Here, the role of her husband cannot be ignored. He delightedly allowed Jasmita to be a member of the village producer group.

Having agricultural roots and lot of experience in vegetable cultivation, Jasmita became a member of Maa Budhipat Producer Group, Khuntakata village which was being promoted by CYSD. Soon she got chances to participate in four orientation programmes along with other members that includes vegetable cultivation, NPM preparation, BDP development and leadership training. Her enthusiasm also led her to participate in a leadership training & exposure visit to Baripada to gain knowledge on Role of Producer Group.

Being an active member of Maa Mangala SHG, Jasmita availed a loan of Rs. 20,000 in the year 2018 from the SHG to start Agri-enterprise and from then she never looked back! In the very first year of her entrepreneurship, she started with the highly demanded vegetable cultivation, like brinjal, tomato, cauliflower and chilly. After earning a suitable profit of Rs. 45000, she was motivated to try something more. Then she continued cultivating watermelon in the same plot of land and gained more than Rs. 20000 within four months’ time! The combined gain was enough to save her family from the debt and poverty cycle they earlier faced. She repaid back the loan borrowed from the SHG.

The unexpected success of Jasmita impressed her husband Patel, who continued to support & cooperate in her initiatives. After success in vegetable cultivation, the couple decided to take up Banana cultivation in one acre of land. Now banana crop is in growing stage and production will come in 3 months’ time.  “We expect an estimated profit of Rs. 60,000/- from the banana cultivation this year. If the weather condition favours we will expand this cultivation to three acres more on lease with the available suckers”, said Jasmita.

Not only did Jasmita succeed in agriculture but also she initiated animal rearing.  In between, investing some amount from the profit she has started livestock rearing. Now, she has been able to acquire 10 goats, 60 ducks and 50 country layer bird which will cost around Rs. 90,000.

Today, Jasmita has stood as a successful entrepreneur changing her role from housewife. She is blessed with her own bank account in Odisha Gramya Bank and sportively taking her own decisions in terms of family expenses and her business. She aspires to provide her children with better higher education. Her determination to achieve something, backed by CYSD, has helped her to come out of the shackle of poverty. Her story has not only touched the lives of local people, but  also12 members have actively shown interest in action to adopt her path and take guidance to yield better in their cultivation refraining from seasonal migration.

Jasmita proudly flaunts by saying, “There is absolutely no need of providing rice with a price of Rs. 2.00 per Kg by the Government, but only timely support from the banks or financial institutions and guidance will help for economic growth of a person”.

Shantilata Mohanta, a resident of Daradara village of Toramora Panchayat under Thakurmunda block of  Mayurbhanj district, is educationally 12^th Std. pass out. Her family comprises of 5 members – her husband Baidhar Mohanta, two children and mother in-law. Chandan, her son is a sponsored child under CYSD-Plan Project for past 10 years. Her children are academically active – daughter is pursuing higher secondary education (+2 Arts) and son studies in Dumuriya Residential High School.

Being blessed with a stable family is not enough! The economic crisis of her family was soaring higher with each passing day. They own a very small landholding that was insufficient for the year round subsistence, that too for six members. Earlier, they had been cultivating paddy with meager production. Her miseries doesn’t end here! Due to misfortune, her husband has been suffering with epileptic attacks since eight years for now. They, however, had tired their level best in consulting to the nearby health institutions as well the SCB medical college at Cuttack. The family spent a lot for his treatment and medication, but he is not fully cured and still remains in a deteriorating condition. Sometimes he gets recurrent fits and his situation gets even more precarious. He is as sick as he is incompetent to carry out his own hygiene and care, for which Shanti and her mother-in-law have been devoting a lot of their time.

With this miserable condition, Shantilata had applied for a Tailoring Training course in 2015 which was organized by CYSD. Being the mother of a sponsored child and visualizing her poor economic background, CYSD programme team selected her as one of the trainees for Vocational Training on Tailoring. Shantilata underwent the training at Karanjia for two months and sincerely learnt the skills of measurements, cutting and stitching of ladies garments. She had also been supported with stitching materials and a sewing machine with 50% cost contribution from her side.

Today, she has managed to take a rented room for Tailoring Workshop in Mahuldiha market and has been stitching the garments as per order of the ladies customers. Currently she owns two sewing machines, one is at workshop and the other one at home in order to maintain timely delivery of orders and to satisfy the customers. Out of tailoring business she is now able to earn around Rs.6000 to Rs.7000 per month. This income has categorically helped to support her children’s higher education. Shantilata says, “My children very much understand the family situation and unlike the fashionable adolescents of the present day, they have never demanded luxuries. Through this little earning I am able to manage the family expenses”.

She has planned to expand her endeavor engaging two full time assistants and showcasing the shop with cabinets and accessories. Not only that, she also desires to install an electric sewing machine with PICO and other stitching designers that will attract more customers to her shop. In this process some stitching/sewing materials like clothes, lining materials, designer items etc. will be also procured and used in stitching to meet the customers’ demands.

 “I have struggled a lot in my life. However that acute phase of adversity is going away gradually. My main aim is to make my children better qualified for getting suitable jobs. All depends upon God’s grace”. I am thankful to CYSD for supporting me during my crisis and empowering me to become self-employed in tailoring profession”, shared happy Shantilata.