Mother Therissa Kalamkari & Arya Work Seva Sangam – INDIA $3,

$3,925 grant

Beneficiaries – 20 poorest women

Income Generating Project - Sari painting, decorating and embroidery

The founder of this NGO came from a poor family and had to leave school at

an early age because of lack of money. She married into a family of 6 people

and her husband was the only one with a job to support them all. So she

began to look for a way to supplement her family’s income. She received

training in sari decorating and became so good at it that she was promoted to

be an instructor. Then she got a job working as an instructor in a government

training center. She decided to begin her own NGO and train other poor

people to do this work and thus be able to make an income for their families.

This is a good business for poor people because they don’t have to be literate

in order to do it and the start-up costs are low.

The beneficiaries of this project will be school dropout girls,

newly married women, domestic workers, handicapped women

and young widows. 95% are from the poorest castes. They

have all already had 3 months training in this work.

The women will borrow between $44 and $220 each depending

on the type of sari decorating they intend to do. They will

repay their loans in monthly installments over 18 months. After

repayments, they expect to make between $43 and $90 per

month.

6 Month Report received November 2014

This project was begun in April 2014 after permission to receive funds from abroad was granted by the Indian

government. The women were trained in their chosen skill – 5 women were trained in hand embroidery, 5 women

were trained in Arya works (a special type of embroidery), and 10 women were trained in Kalam kari (sari

painting). All 20 women were trained on book keeping, savings, loan repayment, and women empowerment issues.

The project has been going well with no problems. The women are repaying their loans faithfully and there have

been no defaulters. 31 new women have received loans from the repaid funds. Some of these women have chosen

to do other types of income-generating projects such as running snack shops or tailoring or agricultural activities.

Stories of Beneficiaries:

Mrs. G. Chanbee is from a very poor family. Her parents worked as

“beedi rollers” (making homemade cigarettes) and earned only Rs.80 per

day ($1.30) on which they had to support their 4 children. When she got

married, her husband also did not make very much money. The Self Help

Group has a program where they collect a small amount of rice from each

person and give it to the poorest among them. Mrs. Chanbee and her

husband were often the recipients of this collection. But then Mrs.

Chanbee was trained in Arya Works and received a loan from the RSWR

grant to begin her own business. Now she earns Rs.4,000 ($65) per

month and also employs 3 other people.

Mrs. P. Rajeswari was born into a poor family. Both of her

parents were agricultural workers. Her husband also works in

agriculture and makes about Rs.100 per day ($1.65). They have two

boys. The oldest one is deaf and dumb and physically handicapped.

She was trained in Kalamkari Work (Sari Painting) and received a

loan from the RSWR grant. Now she makes almost Rs.5,000 per

month ($81). She is able to send her handicapped son to a special

school to help him with his speech and hearing.