To give a fishing rod before the fish - how we helped one family's quest for self-sufficiency through a friendly hand and a little initial investment.

 

Chandani from Wadduwa sells brooms, which she buys from people who make them. She gets about 25 rupees (US $0.25) for each broom and sells about 20 brooms a day. She keeps these brooms on her head and walks all day in the hot sun till she has sold all 20 of them, earning Rs 500 (US $5) a day out of which she has to spend Rs 70 for the bus.

Her husband is hearing impaired and physically challenged and is unable to do a regular job. She has four daughters and one son. The whole family survives on just this Rs 430/= that she earns daily; that’s money for food, medicine, schooling, everything.

I first met this woman when she brought brooms to our house and she asked me to buy some school books for the children. I did so and also became friends with her. While chatting, I got to know more about Chandani and found her to be a very hardworking woman. Her slippers had holes in them showing how much she has to walk to sell these brooms. In spite of all her hardships, she is always with a smile.

When talking to her again one day, I asked her why she didn’t make brooms herself and she said she didn’t have the initial investment to buy the equipment and raw materials for the business. I asked her if she would like help starting the business and she was thrilled. So I spoke to the other MagéLanka members and we decided to buy all the necessary materials to start a small cottage business.

On June 30, 2008, my husband Sunil and I went to Wadduwa to buy the materials and equipment for her. First we went to the place where they sell the coir, eakles, nails and plastic pieces, and bought those items. Then we went to a timber shed where they sell the broom sticks. The woman there also had a hard life. She was a tsunami victim with two kids. We went and bought a cutter used to cut tin for the brooms, and then to a place where they made knives. These were all small cottage industries by themselves. So I felt by trying to help one person, indirectly we helped so many others too by giving them business. (See our committment to sustainability).

We returned with the materials to Chandani’s house and helped her and her family set up the equipment. On July 4th we visited her to find out how they were doing with the business. It was such a joy to see the whole family making brooms! Despite her husband’s physical challenge, which prevented him from working in the past, her husband was silently and efficiently making the coir brooms and eakle brooms while the older children were helping.

Chandani can still go about her usual business selling brooms, which she is very good at. At once I felt that we had made the correct decision. They were so very grateful to us for helping them become self-sufficient.

This is a classic example where we have given this family a fishing rod to fish instead of buying fish for them. Yasmin told me that for her birthday, in place of gifts, she asked her family to donate money for this family – that is how we raised this money! It took just Rs 20,000/= (less than US $200) to start up the business and now Chandani is in a position to save some money too. She has opened a bank account and is also fixing the roof of her house. 

 

 

 

We hope to help a series of woman in Sri-Lanka in this way - get them the tools to set up their own business and attain self-sufficiency for themselves and for their families.