She is a widow aged 43 yrs. resident of Devali (Udaipur), lives in a small room with her two children. She has never been to school. She got married at the age of twelve. Kanta’s husband was a security guard in a private agency. His small income was appropriate to live happily. But husband’s untimely death led to disaster, as even in-laws left Kanta without support.

Instead of surrendering to the situation, she decided to live in Udaipur with hope of getting some source of livelihood to sustain her small family with dignity, and continue her children’s education to assure better future for them. She discovered Sadhna by observing some women in her localities who were involved in the handicraft work. She joined Sadhna in October 2007 with the stitching group. She earns 3,500 – 4,000 Indian Rupees per month and also avails many facilities including health insurance schemes, educational scholarship schemes, accidental insurance schemes, provident fund etc. provided by Sadhna. Now she is able to sustain her family life with dignity and continue children’s education. Kanta believes that working with Sadhna has resulted altogether in an improved quality of life for her family. She says “If it were not for Sadhna I would have probably committed suicide”. She sometimes gets sad at the thought of having lost her husband, a loss that is irreplaceable. But at the same time she is happy to have joined Sadhna as now she can bring up her children and provide at least the basic necessities to them. Sadhna gave her strength to move ahead in life. She is illiterate, cannot read or write but today she is confident enough to handle all the complexities of life. She says, the fellow members at Sadhna have been very supportive and she hates to stay back at home on even Sunday. The love and support with financial assistance provided by Sadhna, helps to overcome her grief. You can still feel the pain in her eyes, but at the same time a sense of relief on her face, which expresses how Sadhna helped her come out from a terrible condition. Today Kanta believes that she has emerged as a confident woman and can face any problem with bold decisions. This strength and confidence she attributes to Sadhna.

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Suraj Yadav aged 35 yrs is a resident of Rathaket, Udaipur. She lives in a small one-room kitchen house with her husband and four children- 3 daughters and a son. Being born to a poor family she could not complete education and helped her mother for the daily household chores. At a very ripe age she got married.
Life after marriage was also not too easy for Suraj. Her husband does some labour work under building construction and earns Rs. 100/- per day and this income is inconsistent as work opportunities are less. Suraj knew she would have to do something to make both the ends meet. She came to know about Sadhna through some of her friends in Delwara. She joined Sadhna in 2003 and from then on her journey began.
Initially her husband revolted and resisted the idea of his wife working. Soon, however the financial benefits for the families outweighed any resistance the men may have felt. Suraj noted that her husband was pleased that SADHNA allowed them to work closer to home. She puts in 5-6 hrs of embroidery work everyday. She continues to work till late evenings especially when there are large orders, thus maintaining balance between her routines household chores and her embroidery work.
Seeing her determination she was being given the responsibility of group leader where she handled and solved all the issues pertaining to the artisans who were under her. Today she has emerged as a confident woman and also travels alone to metros like Mumbai and Chennai and conducts exhibition all alone. Its quite commendable as today she is more confident and has never traveled alone. She is happy today as she sends all her four children to school and Sadhna has provided her social security through health insurance and yearly scholarship of Rs.1200/- for two children. She manages to earn a fix monthly income of around 2500/-unlike her husband whose work is restricted. From past few months due to lack of work her husband and the whole family is dependent on Suraj.
Though she herself is not keeping good health today, she still shoulders the responsibilities of her family. Her daughters help her in this craft and together they manage to run the house. She has obtained small loans and strongly believes that the work provided by Sadhna will help to repay them and also accumulate some assets for her family.
Thus working with Sadhna has empowered her as a woman, wife and mother. She has become a confident women and travels to city, where at one time these women were not even allowed to go out of their homes. She believes that working with Sadhna has changed her life totally and has helped her to be important decision maker in the family and society. She puts forth the issues and problems of the artisans working with her and has created a space for the same and has resolved them at her own level.

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One of our handicraft artisan members residing in Delawra Village, around 26 Kms from Udaipur city shares her experiences of working with the organization. Sheila has been a part of SADHNA since last 15 yrs. Sitting with her member friends she recalls how opportunities for financial independence through the organization has helped her gain a respectable position in the family and the society. Seventeen years ago the idea of income generation activity was proposed and suggested to women from the village. A small group of 15 women joined the group and were trained, Sheila being one of them. Initially her husband revolted and resisted the idea of his wife working. Soon, however the financial benefits for the families outweighed any resistance the men may have felt. Sheila and her friends noted that their husbands were pleased that SADHNA allowed them to work closer to home. She puts in 5-6 hrs of embroidery work everyday. She continues to work till late evenings especially when there are large orders, thus maintaing balance between her routines household chores and her embroidery work.
She spends her earnings on family needs, including household items. Children’s education. Moreover she has also opened a saving account and deposits some part of her monthly income as savings.
Thus working with SADHNA has empowered her as a woman, wife and mother. She has become a confident women and travels to city, where at one time these women were not even allowed to go out of their homes.


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Maya being the eldest of the eight children in the family has never gone to school. She was expected to take of her siblings and do the household work. She did not have time to read or write but today she has encouraged all her four children to go to school.
Maya has been working with SADHNA for more than 12 years. She also works as a labourer for daily wages for public work projects. She says though she can earn twice as a labourer she prefers the embroidery work which she can do while at home. Maya’s husband is a mason and earns about 125Rs per day and this income is inconsistent as work opportunities are less.
With the combined income the family has food security and access to other basic amenities. Maya discovered SADHNA by observing the other women in her village who were involved in the handicraft program. Maya believes that working with SADHNA has allowed to improve her life by providing consistent income generation for the past 12yrs though she has restrictions and cannot travel outside the village. She has obtained loans of small amount towards her children’s education and for construction of a room for her family. She strongly believes that the work provided by SADHNA will help her to increase her earning and will allow her to repay her loans and accumulate some assets for her family.
Thus SAHNA aims at working towards the upliftment of women from the rural and tribal area by bringing about a change in their lives and helping them to contribute to the society and nation as a whole. This change will help them to be more confident and independent and help them to be decision makers in the family and society.

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