Sugar on your tongue and Ice on your heads....2 stories of hope, belief with Umed-MSRLM....

Sugar on your tongue and Ice on your  heads....2 stories of hope and belief, with Umed-MSRLM....

Every year under the directions of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India ( MoRD, GoI), the respective state rural livelihoods mission make their annual action plan in cohesion with the district teams. It is then submitted for approval to the Empowered Committee. On approval it is discussed again in details with the district teams in a workshop and disseminated for implementation in the financial year.
This year too we had the annual workshop in April. A number of persons had joined in the district and block teams recently. The state team had therefore invited two community resource persons to share their experiences to enable the new recruits understand the strength of the mission and experience the transformation it was bringing in the lives of women.
Two fiesty ladies had come from Wardha to share the story of their growth.
Sangita Hivse , a Wardhini from Wardha spoke first.
Sangita had been living a hand to mouth existence in Wardha. Her husband earned a meagre amount of Rs.800/- per month . She would support him by selling clothes, detergent powder, odds and ends. Life was difficult.
A Sanghatika, one of the mobilisers of Umed MSRLM had come to their village to talk about the MSRLM scheme and she met her. She came to know about self help groups and that women who form SHGs get support from the government. They can be part of the group, save money and become eligible for getting loans to start a small enterprise which they can repay at the rate of 2 percent interest.
She understood the scheme and was quick to form an SHG . She started maintaining books of accounts and soon became the Chairman of the group.
Umed- MSRLM had placed an advertisement for taking the services of Community Resource Persons- CRPs. She checked whether she was eligible and became a CRP. The area where she worked was not good and was frequented by drunkards but with encouragement, support and help of the ladies she was able to show good results. The ladies demonstrated their strength by escorting her through the area and even dropping her home to keep her safe. Soon she was able to make 45 SHGs and 3 Village Organisations.
She also started making tiffins to earn a living. Her children began going to school.
She then decided to join as a Wardhini.
Wardhinis are external CRPs and  have to be away from home and stay in the villages they are allocated  for 15 days to facilitate social inclusion and help in forming of self help groups.
She convinced her family members and children studying in school and joined as a Wardhini. She completed her training which included immersion and induction. Initially she was a very afraid to go out of her own village. She slowly got used to it and made 10 SHGs. She would lead the village gaon pheris, mashaal pheris to create awareness about women empowerment.
During her visits she would explain about Umed MSRLM and the benefits of SHGs. She conducted surveys as and when required and gave information to people. The people whom she interacted were poor and had a lot of problems to which she would listen patiently. She was also able to interact with VIPs during the course of her work. Her training as a Book-keeper enabled her to understand various types of records. She learnt about member register, loan register, minutes book etc. She could also open a bank account, understand bank passbooks and SHG accounts.
Through her efforts she has been able to create a positive atmosphere in the villages and has created over 100 SHGs in about 8 villages.
She says that, "I could not even speak out in my own family, but due to the training and capacity building of Umed, I got so much confidence to speak in public and leave my own village for work as a Wardhini. I feel so good now. " My husband had stopped drinking. She added with aplomb in marathi, " Ataa, Mi je mhaneen te aiktaat" meaning, now my husband listens to what I say.
She glows with pride when she says , one woman, one family and many villages are transformed, thanks to Umed.
Aruna Bahaature from Seloo block in Wardha is a Senior Wardhini. Her family was small, with one boy and girl yet they were so poor that they could not even afford two meals a day. Her husband was a drunkard and indulged in gambling. Being used to a patriarchal set up he also dominated and ill-treated her. She did some tailoring work to make ends meet.
She happened to attend a meeting of women and came to know of SHGs under Umed. Understanding its benefits, she promptly became a member of an SHG. Her quick power to grasp was recognised and she was made the Chairman of the SHG.
By taking a loan from the SHG she purchased a sewing machine with additional features of pico, embroidery etc. She started earning more than Rs.15,000 per month.
She soon beacame a member of the Village Organisation and also a Chairman there.
She is greatly impressed by the Dashasutri, which include regular meetings, savings, internal lending, repayment of loans, book-keeping, health, education, participating in Panchayat Raj Institutions, taking benefits of government schemes and sustainable livelihoods. She feels they are bringing about the real change in the villages. Women from SHGs have been able to take benefits of MGNREGA, tree plantation, water issues, tree plantation, farming and other government schemes due to Dashasutri.
She has worked in 5 districts of
Palghar, Solapur, Osmanabad, Gondiya and her own district Wardha. She has set up over 100 SHGs and 5 Village Organisations.
She loves her association with Umed because it gave her the confidence. She learnt how to speak, convince people, specially women. Her guru mantra is be cool and speak sweetly. In her words, one should keep sugar on the tongue and ice on the head.
Over the years she has grown and become a Wardhini and feels happy to see themselves as group.
She has seen a lot of changes in her family too. She used to be miserable since her husband did not work. He has transformed completely and now works in a poultry and earns upto Rs.300/- per day. The family eats heathy food and is healthy now. Her son has become an engineer. She herself is doing a course in MSW. On hearing this there was long round of applause.
Her words had said it all.
The confidence of both the speakers was motivating. The mission has created many such wonders.
The words they used, their demeanour revealed their confidence and their gratitude. For all of us present there, they were learnings for being committed, to work harder for the cause of social and financial inclusion, sustainable livelihoods and to take more women forward towards new confidence and newer horizons and to build on Umed, Hope....