Savita is a sewing trainer at Satyagyan Foundation. She has enjoyed social work from the beginning of her career. She recognizes that there is a lot of poverty in Indian communities and says that it is important for women to be able to earn an income for themselves in order to ensure a better quality of life.

 

The process of becoming employed as a woman in a community is an essential but difficult process. Savita says often there is no support from the family for a women to come and take a sewing class. 

 

“It takes a while to convince families that sewing can be good for a woman because she’ll be able to earn an income. After a few home visits, in most cases families see the benefit of learning a trade.”

 

Once women are enrolled in sewing classes there is often a new set of challenges that present themselves. Most of the women in the programs come from poor community backgrounds and as a result are illiterate if they enrol in a tailoring course without first completing WLC's literacy course. 

 

“If the women is educated, sewing is easier. Otherwise there are different experiments in learning to help a women understand a task.”

 

Savita’s understanding of the challenges women face enables her to facilitate tailoring training that is relevant to her student's lives, and will keep them motivated to return to class day after day. Savita continues her work because she sees repeatedly that when women have the chance to apply herself in sewing, she is able to give back to her family, community and ultimately feel empowered as an individual.