Written by Udhyam Vyapaar x Samuhika Shakti team
Just beyond the boundaries of Bengaluru’s historical and current central market lies the Anandapuram community. Populated by narrow by-lanes lined with snugly fitted homes, the community largely consists of families who work in the informal sector, with many of them operating as waste pickers. Anandapuram is also slowly becoming the home of a budding crochet circle among the community’s women.
Circle of Trust
The women of Anandapuram, many of whom belonged to the waste-picking community, had been taught skills in crocheting as part of Saamuhika Shakti project in the last couple of years. These women however did not know how to take their skills to the next level.
When Udhyam started working with the community as a partner in Phase 2 of Saamuhika Shakti Collective, the first focus of the field team was to build trust and camaraderie with the women. They started making daily trips to Anandapuram, patiently waiting for the women to finish their household chores and for an opportunity to speak to them about the livelihood initiative.
Among these were 36-year-old Ammu and 34-year-old Mageshwari.
Both Ammu and Mageshwari moved into Anandapuram as young brides in their early 20s and have spent the ensuing years tending to their household and childcare responsibilities. Both of them were denied the opportunity and support to complete their formal school education.
However, none of their life circumstances have stopped them from being dreamers. Mageshwari grew up in Tamil Nadu and had observed the women from her household earn financial security by embellishing sarees. Mageshwari wanted the same for herself.
Ammu too dreamt of being a nurse. However, she had to discontinue her education after the ninth grade. In the short time before their weddings, the women picked up skills on how to keep home and the basics of tailoring from their mothers. With these, the women built a life in Bangalore, nurturing young children and taking care of their households, always hoping that they would get the chance to do something more.
Together, Towards a Bright Future
When Ammu, Mageshwari and a small group of women started meeting with Udhyam, they, together, saw a vision for a brighter future. During the meetings, the women shared with Udhyam’s field workers that they wanted to learn new skills that would help them strengthen their family finances, achieve economic independence, and contribute to the education of their children.
Encouraged by their eagerness, Udhyam drew out plans to support these women in realising their dreams. The first step was establishing the crocheting circle, building a small, reliable sisterhood within the bustling community of Anandapuram.
Unlocking Creativity
The women were introduced to Pinterest – the platform for creative creators. The women were immediately hooked. With Udhyam’s support, they built a joint profile, exploring crocheting patterns and tutorials that helped them create adorable toys, coasters, key chains and other things. The women were also organised into a WhatsApp group to ensure they remained connected and had an exclusive space to share their ideas and thoughts.
As time went on, the women have been able to create and deliver complicated patterns, including, floppy-eared bunnies and cute dolls with detailed work on them. Mageshwari and Ammu say that the women help each other, every step of the way, to ensure that they all learn the patterns well and deliver products of quality.
Building the Market
As part of its initiative to support nano entrepreneurs, Udhyam is going beyond just imparting skills. At Anandapuram, Udhyam is working closely with the women to build their confidence to take charge of every aspect of their budding collective business.
Trips were organised to the nearby wholesale market so that the women could learn to source quality raw materials at low prices. The trips to craft stores, like Bangalore-based Varnaam, gave the women a clear picture of how to enhance the marketability of their products and how to create designs that cater to customers. Ammu says that these trips proved to be eye-openers and have gone a long way in building confidence and expanding the worldview of women who rarely step out of the house on their own.
A Showcase of Skills
Mageshwari shares how they have gotten an opportunity to showcase their products at two local exhibitions and she was able to earn a total of INR 2000 from both of these events. The money, she says, went into supporting her children’s education needs which gave Mageshwari a sense of pride. She now feels she has come closer to realising her once-distant dream of standing on her own two feet.
Ammu too says that she dares to dream now and wants to work, with her crocheting sisters, to create an exclusive workspace for them to work out of and deliver orders across India and all around the world.
Ammu’s and Mageshwari’s crocheting sisterhood sure does want to put Anandapuram on the map!
