Meet Ramesh
Dream:To repay high-interest wedding loans
Ramesh lives with his mother and four sisters. A farmer who lost his father when he was barely a child, the responsibility of looking after his younger sisters and their very small piece of land for agriculture fell upon his young shoulders.His mother started working with Sahaj as a beadwork artisan, and also took on more work at people’s homes.
Inspite of so much responsibility, Ramesh completed his educationwith the help of his mother’s earnings and started helping his mother in agriculture too. All the four sisters got married but the weddings incurred a huge debt. For many years, all his earnings were spend on repayment of the loans which he had taken to get his sisters married.
This big interest free loan amount which Ramesh got helped him repay all his debts. The mother and son find it unbelievable that someone can actually give an interest-free loan and take them out of the vicious circle of high-interest loan payment.
Meet Pushpa
Dream: To try new concepts in farming to support family
Pushpa lives a hardworking life asa very lively artisan and as a farmer. Both agriculture and craft are important to her. She and her husband have stability in life due to off-farm earnings and that’s why they decided to invest more into agriculture. They have tried new crop ofsoyabean for the first time. The family was not very positive about trying something new because with such a high rate of interest; if something new fails, the risk involved is too huge for them.
Soybean needs less care and gives good return, but being a relatively new concept for indigenous communities, most of them are scared to invest into.
With the help of Dreams Foundation, their dream comes true. She hopes for a good return.
Meet Lalita
Dream: To ensure her family safety, health and nutrition
She is an artisan working on fine embroidery. Her husband is differently abled but it was only after her marriage that she discovered that his condition which should have been disclosed much earlier. They have one son, who could not go to school due to problems in the family. She prayed hard and visited every shrine possible but help did not seem to come her way. She, as the only earning member of the family, looks after all his needs, medical and otherwise. Her parents-in-law have washed their hands off and categorically said that it was her destiny and that she would have to help herself.
Due to the cash crunch, she sent her 14-year-old son to Ahmedabad with some relatives for labor work. Unfortunately, during the course of the construction work, he fell from the 6th floor and was seriously injured. Without any compensation, the contractor sent him back home, in a very critical condition.
She finally decided to concentrate on her small agricultural land.Apart from earning from the craft work, she manages to grow grain for the year and that is a major assurance that her family will not go hungry. Her other expenses, such as medicines for her son, are met from her earnings from her craft.
Meet Lata
Dream: To repay her loan as the sole provider for her family
Lata, master trainer in crafts, learnt craft skill from her mother who used to work with Sahaj. She has been working from a young age. Her husband had been unemployed from a long time and she was the backbone of her family and taken the mantel of supporting them financially. During her childbirth, her family had to take a loan to pay her medical bills. She was worried because she was also paying a very high interest rate. With the help of Dreams Foundation, she was able to repay this amount. She is happy that she is out of debt and can concentrate on her work without any tension.
Meet Rekha
Dream: To repay her loan and retrieve her gold from the moneylender
Rekha lives with a supportive family and works as an artisan earning around ₹ 4000 - 5000 every month. She had a difficult pregnancy after 10 years of marriage and which medical expenses were too steep for her, but her family helped her. With limited income, she had to pawn her gold chain to receive a loan of ₹ 20,000 on interest of 10% every month to meet the expenses.
Almost half of her income was spent on interest every month and capital remained same for more than a year.
With the help of Dreams foundation, she paid her loan back. She is happy to have her only piece of jewelry, her gold chain, back without the burden of the gradually increasing sum of interest.
She is thankful for this help from Dreams foundation.