Meet Dileshwari, our June 2023 featured student for Stories of Empowerment. Dileshwari lives in Balangir with her child and husband, who works as a laborer for daily wages. Due to the nature of his job, it is oftentimes difficult for him to find work, placing Dileshwari’s family in a very difficult financial situation. A naturally ambitious individual, Dileshwari had always wanted to help support her family so that the sole responsibility to provide isn’t just on the husband.
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Meet Beauty, our April 2023 featured student for Stories of Empowerment.
Beauty currently lives in Balangir with her mother, father, and daughter, but she used to live in Tamil Nadu with her husband and his family. Beauty’s husband would give all the money he earned to his father and didn’t use any of it on Beauty or her needs. “I had to live by suppressing my desires,” Beauty explains. Whenever Beauty would communicate her feelings to her husband, he would fight and argue with her, and she could never get her point across. When she gave birth to her daughter, she expected the quarreling with her husband to stop, but it only escalated.
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Meet our March 2023 featured student for Stories of Empowerment, Nitu. Nitu is from the Beherapali village in Odisha, India. She lives with her mother, father, and brother. Nitu’s father is the only earning member of the family, and he works at the local aluminium factory. Due to Nitu’s brother’s studies and her mother’s health, all the money the father brings in is quickly exhausted, and there is not a single penny left. Nitu says that this would cause her to experience a lot of anxiety, as she was not able to help her family financially in any way.
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Meet our February 2023 featured tailoring student for Stories of Empowerment, Reena. Reena is from the Behera Pali village in Balangir. She lives with her young daughter, Siddhi, and her husband, who works at a grocery store. When Reena heard that she could learn how to stitch for free at the One Life Movement tailoring classes, she went to ask her husband’s opinion. He was completely onboard and excited for her to start the classes. “No knowledge is wasted,” he said. “We don’t know when certain skills will be useful to us.” Needless to say, she enrolled in class immediately!
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Meet our first Stories of Empowerment featured student of 2023, Deepangali. Deepangali lives in the Behera Pali village in Odisha. There are a total of four members in her family. Her father is the sole provider for their family, and he does a lot of manual labor, mostly hauling soil. Because of the nature of the father’s work, the family doesn’t bring in any money during the rainy season. Money becomes very tight during these few months, and Deepangali and her family members are unable to buy some of the things they need.
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Meet our December 2022 featured student for Stories of Empowerment, Rebati. Rebati is from the Behera Pali village in Balangir, Odisha, and she has six members in her family, including her four children. Rebati and her husband had differing views about how they should support their children. Although her husband was out working hard to provide for their family, he suggested that Rebati stay home and not work. However, she is naturally a hard worker and has always had the desire to work.
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Suprabha lives in Behera Pali, Odisha with her family of six. Although her husband works as a rickshaw driver, it is extremely difficult for them to manage their expenses on only his income. All of their earnings go towards buying groceries for the family, sending the kids to school, and other necessities. Besides the items that are needed for daily living, they are unable to even consider saving any more money for their kids.
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Meet Rashmi, our October 2022 Story of Empowerment. Rashmi is a student at our tailoring center in Balangir, Odisha. She is from the Beherapali village in Balangir and lives with her husband, who paints buildings for a living. She stays at home to manage the house and take care of the rest of their family members. Rashmi’s husband is the only earning member of the family, so it is very difficult for them to manage even basic living expenses.
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Meet Santosini Sika, our September 2022 Story of Empowerment. Santosini lives in Behera Pali, Odisha with her husband, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law. Her husband is a painter and works as the sole provider for the family. Day-to-day, Santosini’s family struggles to get by. She says that she lives in constant tension worrying about how they will make ends meet for yet another day. Life isn’t easy for Santosini.
Read MoreMeet Saudamini Bibhar, our August Story of Empowerment. Saudamini is from the Behera Pali village in Odisha, India, and has six members in her family. Her husband works as a delivery boy and is the sole breadwinner. Since no one else supports the family financially except her husband, it’s difficult for them to provide even basic needs for their family.
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