By Pramila Balasundaram | Founder-Mentor
Although this project is funded we felt we should share our new initiative. The project we posted and for which we received very generous donations was for training mothers of the children in our Center in the education or therapy units .
We have now built on the opportunity provided by the Ministry of Environment which recently announced that use of plastic bags by shops and in general is banned . This was an effort towards making the city of Delhi more environmentally friendly,cleaner with less litter and garbage .So our plan was to identify women , both mothers of the disabled as well as women from the target areas where we work ,who had the time to become involved in our venture.We trained women in cutting and stitching bags of cloth and jute as well as folding and pasting paper bags . We used materials such as newspapers,handmade paper, jute and cloth which could be used for shopping, collecting garbage, carrying cell phones and some embellished with sequins etc for a more jaunty look .Cloth and jute was donated by local tailors and garment manufacturers and newspaper was easily collected from our client families and friends, so there was hardly any expense . We were able to sell these at carnivals and more recently at sale outlets set up for the festival of Diwali or Festival of Lights .
The enthusiasm with which women became involved in this has encouraged us to provide other training such as making pickles and jams and laddoos , a sperical sweet made out of rice or wheat flour and jaggery (molases).
The benefits are that the mothers who were trained are now operating from their own homes and selling them .So they get some income out of this .Their time is flexible and they can cope with house work as well as make the bags and other items if they so desire .They also train new women and mothers of the disabled who come to us now to get involved.
The proof of success came with a mother in law who told us that she never knew that her daughter in law was so clever that she could make bags and pickles and bring in some money.Her husband agreed. A more poignant success was a woman who reported that her husband had stopped physically abusing her. Earning an income had given her the courage and confidence to tell him to stop .He did .
Our goal was to train 1000 women in the low socio-economic area of Dakhsinpuri and we have now trained about 649 women.
By Pramila Balasundaram |
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