Learning in time of crisis
Mrs. Susheela Thankachan is a 60-year-old widow, living in Mundar for the last 40 years. Her life was changed when her husband died of lightning in 2004. Bringing up three daughters and running home was very difficult for her. Life has become miserable when she has fallen sick and had difficulties in breathing that requires $30 a month for medicines.
During 2018, when SSP started working with communities in flood response in Mundar, Susheela enrolled for Mason Training and got a certificate. She joined as a woman mason in Mundar Rehabilitation initiatives where she earned around INR 700 ($9) per day. This was very helpful for buying medicines and meeting home expenses. Susheela felt very proud as she became a mason and trained other women in her village.
She also joined in the livelihood support program and received 18 chickens as income generation activity. After taking care of the chicks with proper maintenance and feeding, she earns $1 per day from selling the eggs to market. People are also coming to her house to buy eggs. During the last two months in the COVID crisis, she sold 1100 eggs and earned INR 5000 ($70) as profit.
“I am feeding them thrice a day to maintain good health and produce more eggs”, says Shusheela. She has now become a proud mother of three daughters and independent in addressing her needs. As a leader she inspires many other poor women in her village to start livelihood initiatives.
Editor : Sachin Sebastian