Sumitha’s success made her socially responsible
Sumitha Vincent turned her life around and is supporting her family by starting her own tailoring unit through the facilitation of SSP. Beyond fulfilling her personal needs, Sumitha’s successful struggle has made her socially responsible. She intends to impart free tailoring lessons to women in order to equip women from similar backward settings to defeat their hurdles and experience the same sense of accomplishment.
Sumitha Vincent, a dressmaker living in Kottathara, Wayanad, and her family of five seemed to have hit rock bottom due to overwhelming financial constraints, with Sumitha’s tailoring services and husband’s wage labor barely sufficient to support their family and educate their children. Matters got worse in 2018 when Kerala was hit by severe floods, causing damage to their living conditions since the location of their house is particularly prone to water-logging, forcing them to relocate to shelters and temporary camps. As a consequence of the large-scale economic damage caused by the floods, Sumitha’s husband lost his work, which took a heavy toll on their income.
During her time of crisis, Sumitha applied for and received a loan of Rs. 1,75,000 through the Community Resilience Fund (CRF) an initiative of SSP. She set up a tailoring shop with this capital and even hired two people to run home deliveries. In addition to bringing some economic stability, managing this venture was a major confidence boost for Sumitha, as she became financially independent and a decision-maker, both within the household and the community.
Sumitha’s most impressive achievement lies in the way she was able to bounce back from a setback when business was halted by the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic. She capitalized on the increased demand during local festivals to ramp up home delivery of garments. She upgraded her tailoring unit to include readymade material, along with the use of Micro-ATM’s to provide easy banking services.
Sumitha Vincent’s quality of living has seen a definite improvement thanks to her perseverance in front of countless disheartening situations and the negative opinions of some community members. Today, Sumitha has rented a new and better space for her garments store and purchased additional machines to upgrade her business. She was also able to afford and provide smartphones for her children in order to access online classes during the lockdown period.
Swayam Shikshan Prayog
15th March, 2022