When COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdown led to the loss of jobs and financial crisis in many homes, USHA, skilled women in mask making which not only supported their families, making them sole bread winners, but also opened income opportunities for their learners as well. Teaching women about mask making during the pandemic not only benefitted the women to create items to protect themselves from coronavirus and their families but also it generated some income for them and their students during the crisis. Kalawati Sharma from Kahalgaon town of Bhagalpur district, Bihar is one such woman.
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Ms Sharma's Silai School was among few places that worked nonstop during coronavirus outbreak, stitching masks. Mary Rupa Tete, Vice President, Usha Social Services said,
The Silai School women, played a very vital role during the pandemic. One of course, was the fact that they were able to sustain their own households because they could earn the livelihood, sitting at home. A lot of women were involved in making mask and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits, which kept their household running and when most of their family members lost their jobs. Other than this, the Silai School entrepreneur network is a very strengthening network and these women are looked upon as role models in their communities. Many of them, supported the NGOs in information, disinformation about the pandemic, which was about the sanitation measures, social distancing, uses of masks and many other such issues.
According to Ms Sharma, during the time of the coronavirus outbreak induced lockdown, women who were working with her were forced to stay at home for about five days as there were no orders, no work. They began to fear for their future. She said that after getting an order from the village head, her Silai School women got work and started earning. But, they were told to arrange for the raw material themselves. As all shops were closed, it was difficult for them to access the required raw material easily. Ms Sharma went to the homes of shopkeepers and requested them to provide the material. She further said,
Once we got the material, all 35 of us got together and started making masks. The village head, ward commissioner, people from the Bandhan Bank and the general manager of NTPC also bought masks from us. The demand for masks continued. Then we were asked for cotton masks, and we started selling them even at lower prices, because my co-workers requested me to keep getting orders even at lower prices so that they could keep buying vegetables and milk for their children. Shop owners were scared of the police, so I requested them to deliver the material when the police stopped patrolling. They would drop off the material at my house and tell me to work in secret. Then we saw on the news that making masks was allowed, but we had to observe social distancing. I arranged for machines, used them to cut the material and provide to women in their houses. In this manner, those who were not earning got some work during the lockdown, and it was the women and the girls who took charge of earning in their household.
Ms Sharma said that it was the economic distress that led her to take the orders during the lockdown period. Women and girls working with her were more than willing to work during the pandemic to earn money because the other people in their families lost their source of livelihood. Ms Sharma said,
They used the income they made there to keep the kitchen running at home as most of the men were out of work and wages.
Ms Sharma highlighted that during the pandemic, women worked very hard and earned around Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 1,500 each per day.
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