Empowering India's Rural Poor through Poultry

Meet Hari - he's just 5 years old and his mother has recently been told that he has a hole in his heart. Without an operation his life expectancy will be greatly reduced.  Hari lives with his parents, grandparents and his older brother in the village of Shankal, about 50kms from Kolkata.  The family are very poor and the cost of the life saving surgery Hari needs is way beyond their means.  But through Shivia and the donations from our supporters, Hari now has the chance of getting some medicines which will increase his life expectancy a little further.  This is how.....

Two years ago, Hari's grandmother Shefali registered with Shivia for our Poultry Development Services and received her first toolkit of 10 chicks and started our six month training programme.  She has been selling the eggs and birds at the local market and has slowly increased her income and managed to save money.  She used some of her savings to buy two goat kids which will bring in a healthy profit when she comes to sell them.  Shefali has also bought a weaving machine which her daughter, Hari's mother, uses to make saris.  So from her initial investment of 450 rupees (about $6.50) for her initial poultry toolkit, she has managed to significantly increase the family's income.  The next stage was to pay for Hari's visits to the doctor and his prescription medicines which are helping his heart condition.  For this, Shefali has taken out a small microfinance loan.  She is managing to repay the loan with the money the family is making from the poultry enterprise with Shivia, plus the other enterprises they have embarked upon since then.

As you can see from these photos, Hari is a happy little boy who loves looking after the chickens and collecting the eggs. We all hope and trust that his family will continue to succeed with their enterprises which are helping to pay for his life changing medicines.

Thank you for supporting Shivia.  Your contribution, however small, will make a big impact on the lives of very poor families in the rural villages near Kolkata.