- 1. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AMITA
2. Amita Paramanik lives in a small village on the outskirts of
Mathura, along with her husband and five children. Her husband,
Kishan, is a marginal farmer and earns a mere Rs. 3000 every month.
While she would have wished to send her children to school, feeding
them two square meals a day is closer to reality Every day is a
struggle for her Desperation and frustration are a part of her life
3. Kishans farm productivity is dependent on rainfall as he cannot
save enough to invest in an irrigation system. He also cannot buy
high-yielding seeds to augment production Amita realizes the need
to increase the household income 4. One day, she resolved to do
what it takes to bring about a change Amita is not willing to
accept poverty as a part of human destiny She decided to work from
her house and make moodhas (jute seats) 5. Amita subcontracts work
from a local trader. He supplies her the raw material and sells the
finished goods in the market. He is the only one in the village to
employ women like Amita and they are dependent on him for their
livelihood 6. Every morning, she walks five kilometers to take the
raw material from the trader, who gives her just enough to make one
jute seat. Back home, in between the household chores, she
struggles to complete the job. She must give it back to the trader
by the end of the day 7. Rs. 20 for a days work! If only she had
the money to buy the raw material directly With no collateral to
give, Amita was turned away from the local bank 8. Amita then
approached Vishwas for a small loan of Rs. 4000. With the money,
she was able to buy enough raw material for one week. Now that she
did not need to walk to the trader daily, she could make more jute
seats. At the end of the week, her husband would go to the local
market and sell them directly to the wholesaler, at a better
margin. Amitas daily earning of Rs. 20 now increased to Rs. 100! 9.
Amita often introduces other women to the program, for whom her
group takes joint responsibility. This was, Vishwas does not need
any collateral for extending the loan Every week Amita attends a
Centre Meeting, alongwith twenty other women, which is conducted by
Vishwas As Amita earns on a weekly basis, it is very convenient for
her to repay her loan in 52 small weekly installments at the Centre
Meeting 10. After completing her loan repayment, Amita qualified to
get a bigger second loan of Rs 10,000. With this, she not only
bought a machine for spinning the jute but also employed other
women 11. Amitas story is unique because she has plumbed the depths
of poverty and has been able to emerge with the will to recover her
financial independence, self- confidence and happiness. Do you wish
to see a Amita in every household? Log onto www.myvishwas.org and
make your contribution
