India - The Sewing Center has been a ray of hope for many girls in India. When the school was closed during the lockdown, many girls had to leave their courses before completion. But when the government gave us permission to reopen the centers, we quickly went to the slum to give the good news. Everyone was happy to hear this and we met many new families who had moved here during the lockdown period. Many of these families were migrants who were stopped on their way back home. These families stopped here and are trying to start a new life here.
Among the new students is a woman named Sangeeta. She was travelling with her husband and three children from Amritsar to Bihar. They were travelling with a large group and were attacked by the police near Chandigarh. The police stopped them from going any further and brutally beat them. Sangeeta's husband was beaten. While trying to run he met with an accident and injured his knee badly. He had to get a surgery and was told that he could not work for a year or more.
The responsibility of her husband’s treatment and feeding the whole family came on Sangeeta. Due to her inexperience, she found it very difficult to keep a job as a maid. Eventually, after losing several jobs, she found work in three shops as a cleaner but that was not enough for medical and food expenses.
As a child, her mother had taught her some stitching but with time she forgot all about it. As the other women from the slum told her about the Sewing Center, she was eager to learn stitching and become self-dependent. Now she is learning stitching in our center with a hope that this new skill will help her feed her whole family. While feeding her whole family she’ll also be able to live with dignity and respect.