Nineteen-year-old Ashu is the daughter of late Rajpal, and lives with her mother, sister, and two brothers in district Mahendergarh, Haryana.
Ashu’s father died in her childhood, and since then, her mother worked hard as the government school’s mid day meal cook and maintained the family on about INR 3,500 per month.
In 2019, Ashu undertook the six month course on stitching and tailoring implemented by S M Sehgal Foundation in her village. With this skill, she began sewing women’s clothing at her home, through which she earns about INR 9,000 per month. This capacity has made Ashu self assured, and she says, “I am particularly concerned about the future of my brothers and my mother who is getting older. For this I need to develop my abilities further, so I have enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts course in Baijnath Government College for Women were I am now in the second year. Upon returning home from there, I engage myself with stitching.”
Authors: Naveen Pratap Singh and Ellora Mubashir
(Naveen is program lead, Agricultural Development and Ellora is communications specialist, Partnerships, at S M Sehgal Foundation)
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