Laxmi’s journey to prosperity has begun

Laxmi Das is a struggling woman from Rishipara in Banorgati area of Khulna city. She is the mother of 2 daughters and 1 son. Her mother-in-law is sick and cannot get out of bed. Her husband repairs and sells old shoes. It became impossible for her husband to run a family of 6 including the expenses of three children’s education, buying medicine for sick mother-in-law. Living on a meager income, they often had to spend days half-fed or starving. As a member of women’s groups of Dalit organization, she often participated in various trainings and courtyard meetings. At one point she expressed an interest in learning needlework to cope with her family’s financial crisis. Seeing her interest in learning the work, Dalit organizations arranged for Laxmi to be trained in a 2-month tailoring training course under the Backward Community Life Improvement Project run by the District Social Services Office, Khulna. After the training, Laxmi was also given a sewing machine and some clothes along with other trainees from the social services office. Laxmi started her career with this small capital. She started making dresses for the local people sitting at home. By earning little by little in this way, she started to remove the financial instability of her family. Laxmi now supports her husband with labor and money. Along with her husband, she is also playing an important role in managing all the expenses of the family, including the purchase of medicine for the sick mother-in-law, the education expenses of the children, through the income of the two. Laxmi earns 2000 to 2500 taka per month and is now working to restore her family’s prosperity.