Support and give hope to Village Women in Bihar

Hello friends and supporters,

My name is Surya Kumari (name changed according to privacy protection policy) and I live in the village of Piani in Jharkhand in India. Our village is far from the main road and has no electricity and no doctor but it does have a school run by People First.

In the school building there is our sewing centre and its very popular, it is one of the lights of our village and over 30 women come to the centre every day from Monday to Friday after our chores are completed to learn sewing so we can after some time get a loan for our own machine and make a little money for the first time in our lives to use ourselves.

We have eight machines in our centre and we need more as we have to take it in turns to use the machines, can you help us buy another one?   

When people ask me what I like about my centre is that it is a centre for women to meet and that is so important to us, so important, even women who have their own machines come back to help teach and we all enjoy a cup of tea together and share our woes and joys.

Thank you so much for all your help for us, everybody here wants to send their thanks to you

Surya

(Translated from Hindi but is unedited )

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Hello Everyone,

I am Naresh Sir, and I am the Director of the sewing centre programme under our overall adult and child education programmes. You have heard directly in previous reports from beneficiaries of the programme who have explained what it means to them but I thought I would put the programme a little bit in context regarding the situation in Bihar.

According to the 2011 census Bihar is the only remain Indian state in the 2011 census where less than 65% of the population are literate. It is also only one of two states where less than 75% of the male population are literate and only one of two states where less than 55% of the female population was literate.

Of crimes recorded in Bihar against women, the maximum numbers were recorded under Section 366 of the IPC, related to kidnapping of women to compel them for marriage. As many as 4,641 cases were recorded under this head in the state in 2014.

We welcome the progress made in the state both in law and order and an increase in literacy rates, but Bihar has miles and miles to go before it can even be considered as a developed state.

In contrast to the impressive data on Bihar’s improved finances, the poverty is more damning. Since 2010, the state government cited its own surveys to report that below poverty line (BPL) families were nearly 70% of the population.

The per capita income of Bihar in 2012-13 was Rs 30,930, the survey presented by the Minister in-charge Vijay Chaudhary said. The ratio of Bihar's per capita income to All India has increased to 41.18 per cent in 2012-13 over 37.18 per cent in 2011-12, it said. Feb 14, 2014. This is just $460.00 USD per year, or $39 a week. In Qatar the corresponding figure is $105,000.

In the USA it is over $53,000 (2013)

Sometimes it is difficult to believe any progress can be achieved, it is well known at government level development aid funds are often misused and wasted on a massive scale, and despite millions of dollars spent poverty persists.

But this project ,as many projects  on Global Giving do, offers a chance to help individuals and their families directly, it may not change the world but it will mean the world to a family desperately trying to improve their lives through earning, and independent income for a woman in the villages of Bihar is a life changing thing.

As one of the women told me recently, “a simple sewing machine and some thread has meant I no longer have to worry about my children’s clothing and with the income I earn, putting food on the table is no longer the concern it once was, thank you so much for your help”.

The price of a new machine is $150

Yes, thank you indeed for your kindness.

And have a great New Year,

Naresh

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