India – Life changing training helps Laxmi to get back on her feet
Living as an Adivasi, the collective name for indigenous people in India, is not an easy life. Although Adivasi make up 104 million or 8.6% of the national population, they face various socio-economic problems because of an embedded culture of social exclusion.
Jesuits work around the India to address these issues and we are proud to be partnered with the Village Reconstruction Organisation (VRO). Since 2019 we have been supporting their Livelihood Learning Promotions Program. This is a program which trains vulnerable Adivasi in new skills to help them find sustainable employment
One aspect of the program focuses on empowering women by carrying out tailoring classes. 100 women have received training on sowing machines and many of those women now are employed to stitch dresses for local school children.
Living as an Adivasi, the collective name for indigenous people in India, is not an easy life. Although Adivasi make up 104 million or 8.6% of the national population, they face various socio-economic problems because of an embedded culture of social exclusion.
Jesuits work around the India
to address these issues and we are proud to be partnered with the Village
Reconstruction Organisation (VRO). Since 2019 we have been supporting their
Livelihood Learning Promotions Program. This is a program which trains
vulnerable Adivasi in new skills to help them find sustainable employment
One aspect of the program focuses on
empowering women by carrying out tailoring classes. 100 women have received
training on sowing machines and many of those women now are employed to stitch
dresses for local school children.
This training made a particular difference to Laxmi from Andhra Pradesh. She grew up in a slum and explains how she has often felt “guilty and shameful of this life”. Her unstable family situation led to depression, and this caused her to discontinue her studies.
“I stayed at home and worked as a domestic worker cleaning vessels. At this point of time, I saw my neighbour going to tailoring training which was started by VRO”. Encouraged by her neighbor, Laxmi enrolled on the Livelihood Learning Promotions Program and despite being nervous at first, she has gone on to benefit greatly from its support.
“The teacher took special care of me in giving special attention in teaching the needed techniques and skills. As the days went by, I developed more interest in the skills and started to relate with others by talking and sharing some jokes.”
The skills training acquired gives recipients an opportunity to find employment but also acts as an intermediate to progress onto further training offered by local government which Laxmi has chosen to do. Laxmi offered her appreciation; “I thank VRO for this skill as well as for the experience of joy in my life thorough this course and I like to thank everyone for the opportunity which gave me new life to live.”
This life changing opportunity through VRO has been possible because of your support. Sign up to our online communications to hear about more inspiring stories like Laxmi’s.
Source: Jesuit Missions
Related Posts:
Stan Swamy Day in Viragalur was a moving tribute to a man who devoted his life to justice and the upliftment of the marginalized.
"INEA was a very conventional school, but at one point, we noticed we were at a "dead end," teaching the same thing everyone else was teaching. Twenty years ago, we realised we had to turn things around and get into thinking, learning, and practising organic farming.
"We don't want to take sides, we simply want to enlighten people through texts and enable them to start talking one day soon"
This reality takes a lot of energy from each of us. Much of our time is spent addressing problems that do not exist in other parts of the world.
On Wednesday, April 10, the European Parliament voted on the European Pact on Asylum and Migration. JRS Europe directors jointly opposed the pact and urged European institutions to reject it: "We cannot support a system that will allow the systematic detention of thousands of people, including children, at the EU external borders."
Despite challenges posed by the current conflict in Southern Lebanon, Joseph Nassar SJ reports that the Ain Ebel Centre, in collaboration with the Order of Malta and the local Municipality, remains faithful to its mission to provide healthcare, humanitarian efforts and agricultural initiatives. Its mobile dispensary serves 30 villages with essential medical services. Comprehensive training programmes promote human development and resilience.
