From Child Labour to College: Support Her Future

Dattatray, 24, comes from the village of Kakadwadi. He is from a very poor family. Dattatray was able to fund his university studies by doing night shift work in a hospital. After completing a Bachelor of the Arts he looked hard for local employment opportunities to support his parents and younger brother. However given the poor employment outlook in the region he was unable to find work. Dattatray described himself as being completely frustrated and depressed.

In September 2014 a worker from the Karuna project was visiting Dattatray’s village to lead a workshop on employment opportunities for young people in the village. Dattatray and other young people at the meeting shared their hopes for the future and their frustrations that much of the skills training courses required by employers were unaffordable. The project worker took the details of those attending and the skills they were interested in developing.

In November of 2014, with encouragement from the project team, Dattatray enrolled in the Digital Photography course. Making the 22km trip each day for three months he applied himself and started to develop his skills as a photographer. He learnt natural photography, passport photos, family and functional photos and event photography.

Following the completion of the course Dattatray searched for a loan to purchase his own camera. After many refusals his uncle loaned Dattatray the money. Using this he bought a second hand camera, a table, chair and rented a small room to start his photography studio. Soon he was earning enough income to live independently.  

Now Dattatray is a confident young man. He has plans for the future to expand his business after he has paid his uncle back fully. He is now supporting his parents and helping to put his younger brother through education. Dattatray is very grateful for the opportunity to start out in his career. None of this would have been possible without the help of the project’s supporters.