I am a SEWA member since the last 7 years. Widowed at the age of 20, I am the sole supporter of my family of 5 children. With very little income and no support I was in a hapless and desperate state. I worked as a laborer in cotton fields, and in the government works and relief sites. This was the only work I knew. In order to earn more money, I moved to Ishwarnagar in Halvad, where I worked in farms and in the saltpans. However working was a challenge in itself.I had no house and lived in temporary bamboo and cloth shelters.

I had to leave my children unguarded and unattended for long periods of time. As a woman living alone with young children, many a times I had to ward off unwanted and unsolicited male attention. Despite all my efforts I was still unable to feed my children with a single proper meal a day.My salvation came during one of my visits to my hometown. In one such visit, I met a few SEWA agewans (team leaders) who informed me that SEWA could help me to earn a living in a dignified manner. I was excited at the prospect. Although I had the basic skills it had been a long time since I had done any embroidery.

I started to learn the intricacies of traditional embroidery from the agewans. However, as the quality of my work was not as per the desired standards, my work was assigned a lower grade or rejected which in turn resulted in lower wages.

I got a chance to be a part of the Crafts Training Program organized by SEWA. I am already in the third month of the 6-month long training program and I can already see major improvement in the quality of my work. Earlier I earned Rs.1000-1200 due to the low quality of my work but now with this training opportunity I am looking forward to achieving higher quality standards that will increase my earnings”