Story of one of the beneficiaries of Shoshana sewing centre - Gannavaram.

Ø              My name is Rebeca Rani. I was a student at Shoshana sewing centre Gannavaram. I come                from a tribal backward community. I was in the very first group of women who completed                    the tailoring course  in the year 2023.  I am married and I have two children. Coming to my                    family situation –

My husband is a waste picker and sewage cleaning worker. He is very irresponsible and not taking care of my family needs. Most of the time he is drunk and out of work. My health is also not well so I couldn’t go out for work as a daily worker. I couldn’t feed my children properly as well as send them to school.

Knowing my situation, Shoshana gave me an opportunity to join the free sewing class.  After finishing the class, they provided me with a sewing machine as well as the necessary equipment to start my own shop.   

With their encouragement, I started a tailoring shop in my village called Indupalli.  Government provided me with a temporary shelter to set up the shop. It is almost a year now working as a tailor. I am very happy to be financially independent and to be able to support my family and to give my children a better life. All this is possible because of Shoshana and Martha Madam I thank all the donors who are supporting many women like me to have a better life.

 

Want to share with you all the testimony of one of the beneficiaries of Shoshana sewing centre - Giripuram, Vijayawada.

Ø  My name is Martha. 28yrs old. I am a school dropout. I am married and I have two daughters. My husband was an auto driver. He was an alcoholic and was not taking care of the family responsibilities. I use to work as a domestic helper. My children are still small kids and I couldn’t leave them alone and go to work.

 Because of his bad habits, my husband got paralyzed and is bedridden. All the family burdens fell on me. Besides that, I had to take care of my husband’s medical expenses which is extremely difficult for me. I was depressed and even thought of ending my life.

In this situation Ms. Hemima, instructor at Shoshana sewing centre, Giripuram, Vijayawada heard my story and encouraged me to join the sewing class. With her support I was able to finish the class and Shoshana provided me with a sewing machine to start working immediately after finishing the tailoring course.

 I opened my own shop at home and started working. Slowly my income started growing. I am able to earn 300 to 500 rupees per day depending on my orders. Since I am working at home it is convenient for me to take care of my kids as well as attend my husband.

My children started going to school and I am able to give them a decent life.

 

All thanks to my instructor Ms. Hemima and Martha Madam for providing me with an opportunity to change my distressed life into a more self-reliant and meaning ful life. Whole hearted thanks to all the donors of Shoshana for helping many needy women like me.

 

 NEW SEWING PROJECT AT RAAVIPADU, NARASARAOPET

Happy to start a new Sewing project at Raavi padu, Narasaraopet. One more addition to our Shoshana family. We have our medical centre in this area for the last eight years giving first aid help to all the needy people.  Now we have both the Medical and Sewing projects in the same area.

Many women have been asking for a sewing class for the last couple of years. Finally it is possible for us to start a sewing class. Majority of the women come from backward communities having an agricultural background. This would be an alternate earning source for them besides their regular work. Our aim is to give them a self reliant and a better future.

Sharing some of the pictures from the first day of the sewing class:

I would like to share some more pics of these ladies in my upcoming blogs.

 

CDS - Shoshana sewing project - Pedanandipadu

Sharing some pics from Pedanandipadu sewing project - Guntur district

Twelve girls - Five from Anaparru village and Seven from Pedanandipadu village. Most of the women are married and from agricultural backgrounds. Some are housewives and some are daily workers in fields.

Both the groups started their stitching classes in the months of September and October-2024 

They will finish the tailoring course in a period of  minimum  nine months.

After finishing the class they will be given equipment assistance to start their own work.

Besides running free training classes for the women the instructor Mrs. Sivakumari has a tailoring shop where she gives employment to the former students.

 CDS-Shoshana Sewing Centre, Nagaralu, Guntur.

Sharing a few pics from a new group of women who started the sewing class at our Shoshana sewing project, Nagaralu, Guntur.

New group has four women, two of them are daily workers and two are housewives whose husbands also are daily wage workers. Middle aged women who has two children each. Some of them are married and some are students. 

Income earned by the men is not sufficient to run their families so they want to support the families. Since they are interested to learn stitching they want to finish the sewing class and start working from at home. The class started in July-2024 and they still have 6  months more to finish their class. 

These women are requesting for a sewing machine so they can practice more at home while learning and also stitch small samples. 

 Opening of new Sewing Project at Auto nagar Gate, Vijayawada

Sewing Project for Waste picker women.  Around 30 waste picker families are living in Auto nagar Gate area. Each family consisting of minimum 5 members. They are living in temporary shelters beside the main road. Main occupation for them is drainage cleaning and waste picking. 

Drug abuse and alcoholism is mainly seen in men and as we observed majority of women are single parents. School drop outs and early marriages are quite common here.

In order to give these women another opportunity to earn their living, Shoshana started a sewing project with four women as a group. Sewing training started from the 1st of August. After finishing the course ( 8- 9 ) months, these women will be provided with a sewing machine and other tools so that they can start working on their own at their convenience.

Sharing a few pics from the project

Instructor Ms. Hemima with the group

 CDS-SHOSHANA SEWING CENTRE - GADDIPADU, GUNTUR.

 Five needy women beneficiaries under this project are taught sewing skills.

During this training period of 8 to 10 months, the beneficiaries will learn skills in making school uniforms, saree blouses, skirts, chudidhars etc

Sewing training will provide them self employment at homes, can give them a daily income, help them to buy necessary household goods and send their children  to better schools.

Shoshana aims to improve economic status of the needy women through education and business skills. In the last 20 years, Shoshana provided training to more than 500 women from this project.

 CDS-Shoshana Medical Centre - Dasaripalem-Guntur

Would like to share a few pics showing the surroundings of Dasari palem and the area where we have our medical project.

Shoshana was founded in the year 2000 by a German based group with a vision of health for all especially in areas where  there is no access to basic medical help working on various projects in different districts of Andhra Pradesh involving basic first aid help to the needy and women empowerment programs.

One such areas is the one in Chandra Rajeswari rao nagar, Dasaripalem where most of the population are daily workers. Majority of the women are chilli pickers and agricultural labourers and men are auto rickshaw drivers etc

Shoshana started medical help in this area in the year 2018 to provide free check-ups like Blood pressure and sugar tests and supporting the needy with basic medication.