Dalit Freedom Network Canada

November marked both endings and beginnings at the KTB Tailoring Centre. One group of students completed their six months of training and were honoured with certificates at a formal graduation ceremony. Simultaneously, a new group of women started their training. In order to ensure that all women in the KTB area are able to benefit from the training, the Centre relocated to an adjacent village; now an entirely new group of women is able to acquire practical skills to help lift their families out of poverty.

11 women are enrolled in the current session of the six-month course. The women and their families are thrilled about this opportunity, particularly as it is so close to home. Like most women in KTB, these ladies are largely unskilled, illiterate, and struggling to provide for their families. In these circumstances, the chance to learn a marketable skill brings incredible hope to entire families. In the next six months these women will acquire not only knowledge, but also confidence. This is how transformation begins. 

DFN Champion and Lia Sophia Jewellery consultant Donna Yakubowski recently hosted a jewellery party in her home. Passionate about India's Dalit women, Donna donated the proceeds from the party to purchase two treadle sewing machine for DFN's tailoring initiative. These sewing machines will be used at the DFN training centres to give Dalit women a marketable skill so that they can provide for their families.

Thank you Donna for your generous heart and thank you to all the women whose purchases contributed to the donation. It is inspiring to see Canadian women bringing hope to India’s Dalit women.

Susheela is 30 years old and lives with her husband and children. Her husband is a daily labor and his wage is not sufficient for their daily needs.  Since childhood, Susheela has been interested in tailoring but because of her financial situation, she has never been able to go study in tailoring. Through one of her friends, she came to know about our tailoring centre and joined the class. She completed her six month course and has already purchased a sewing machine. She started a tailoring business and stitches blouses, frocks and other clothing items. She is so thankful for her training that she teaches other women just as she learned.

Six treadle sewing machines have been delivered to the new BND tailoring centre. They received quite a welcome, as village women, dressed in their finest, gathered to celebrate.

Pushban, a young woman living near Amitpur village, was nearly at full-term in her pregnancy. She knew that if she was able to get to a hospital, she would be much more likely to have a healthy delivery for herself and her baby. Simply increasing the number of deliveries in a hospital dramatically decreases the rate of maternal and infant deaths in rural India. However, Pushban knew she had no way to get to a hospital.

A member of the local DFN self-help group, Pushban meets routinely with a group of women who are learning to save money. She approached the group to request a loan; when her labour began, she was ready. She was able to hire an auto-rickshaw to drive her the 10km to the nearest hospital. Pushban gave birth to a healthy baby and was able to pay back her loan. Thanks to her membership in the self-help group, she had access to high-quality healthcare when she needed it.
 

Dalit women face inconceivable obstacles as they are subject to abuse both for their status as untouchables and because they are women. Dalit Freedom Network seeks freedom for these women through economic empowerment. We have 73 vocational training centres across India where women are given skills which equip them for permanent, dignified employment. We provide financial assistance to women to help them start their own small businesses, thereby lifting themselves and their families out of poverty. We also operate thousands of self-help groups, where women gather to collectively save money and learn about their rights.

It is these women who will gather, by the hundreds and thousands, for International Women’s Day programs across India on March 8. Having encountered freedom, they join with their sisters to celebrate what once they cursed: being female. Self-help groups arrive in matching saris, unspeakably proud of their accomplishments. DFN Canada has this year provided funds for the largest gathering, in Tamil Nadu, which last year saw more than 3000 women. The program includes skits, speeches, presentation of loans, inauguration of new groups, and fellowship.

In honour of International Women’s Day, we wish to recognize the incredible strength, beauty, and courage shown by Dalit women every day. They are our inspiration.

There are very few options for young women in UHL village. Many are illiterate, but even manual labour work is scarce. As most of their families are poor, these young girls are expected to earn money in order to save up for their wedding dowries, which are often exorbitantly priced. The UHL Tailoring Centre was started to help girls in exactly these circumstances. A dozen young women at a time spend six months learning basic tailoring and embroidery skills, skills that then allow them to earn a steady, respectable income. This employment lightens the load carried by entire families as they struggle to support their children. Learning to sew frees these young women from back-breaking labour or unendurable poverty. As the girls in the UHL program say laughingly, “We are learning tailoring – now we can do anything!”

This month, in lieu of writing a Project update we are inviting you to share your thoughts, opinions, and stories. We are asking you to write a comment on this page telling us and other readers why you support this particular project. What is it about sewing machines that interests you? What made you decide to get involved?

The staff of DFN Canada truly believes that you are as much a part of what is happening in India as we are. We are very thankful to have you as part of the team.

Let us know why this cause caught your attention!

Treadle sewing machines are used in all our vocational training centres as they can run without electricity. This allows women living in rural villages to work regardless of a nearby electricity connection. Providing a centre with a sewing machine means more women can be trained and thus freed from either unemployment or degrading and demanding physical labour. 

The third batch of students has just completed training at NGP’s tailoring centre. The eleven young women now hope to use their new sewing skills to supplement their income from working labour jobs. The girls learned to make paper patters, to sew by hand, and also to use a sewing machine to make a vast number of different clothing items. Some of these girls will bring much-needed income to their struggling families, therefore decreasing the burden their parents bear. The tailoring teacher reports that the graduates are all more confident now that they have a viable skill and can contribute to their family’s well-being.

At PLK school in the state of Andhra Pradesh, there is a somewhat unique element to the tailoring trailing centre: after each six-month class finishes, the centre is relocated to a new village. In this way they are offering vocational training to women in many different communities who may not have the time or finances to commute to a permanent centre. There are currently sixteen students receiving tailoring instruction; they are the third group to be trained. 

Last week THN school in Tamil Nadu inaugurated its new tailoring centre. The centre is located in a nearby village, making it very accessible to rural women. The first batch of students will be starting immediately. When the women finish this program they will be able to apply for a loan to purchase their own machine and start their own small tailoring business. This program is running all over India and is empowering thousands of women with skills and giving them the dignity of providing for their families. 

DFN has started many tailoring centres across India that have trained thousands of men and women in tailoring. One centre meets on the top floor of AGS school in North India. The villagers living near the school primarily work in agriculture, but as the area is prone to flooding this can be an inconsistent means of income. This tailoring center provides training to people from the local community, giving them new skills and an opportunity to earn additional income for their families, thus elevating many families out of poverty. The tailoring program is also beneficial for the school, as the center stitches all the uniforms for the students. This partnership is having a great impact on the area. 

 UDM school is doing a remarkable job offering vocational training to villagers, particularly in the area of tailoring. They have trained 550 women in their four-month program. Most of these women were previously working as labourers, either doing farming or construction work, which was physically taxing and inconsistent. Now they have a marketable skill and the dignity that comes from earning a stable income. Once the women have completed the training, the UDM staff helps them find a job. UDM has its own tailoring shop where many of the women are now employed. In addition to sewing items requested by other villagers, the women at the UDM shop stitch 1000 to 1500 DFN school uniforms each month. These uniforms are then distributed to many DFN schools across India. This partnership therefore benefits the schools as well as the newly empowered women.

Mrs. Kasturi is a member of a Self Help Group. Learning tailoring from her childhood, she wanted to start a tailoring Institute, training women to stand on their own. She had no money, and so applied for a loan of Rs.7,000/-. With that loan, she bought a sewing machine and started tailoring classes in her house. To develop her Institute and purchase more sewing machines, she received another loan for Rs.20,000/-. Now in her tailoring classes, 20 local women are getting training. She earns Rs.4,000/- per month now and is able to give a better education to her two daughters. She is happy and enjoying her life today.