From the reporting for Saris on Scooters
The women
Between 2001 and 2008, Sheila made repeated trips to village India to report on women using microcredit to break the cycle of poverty. These are some of the women she met there — and a few she met in China.
New to microcredit? Small loans, mostly to women, with no collateral needed.
What it is, and the organizations in the book →SEWA · Gujarat
Self-Employed Women’s Association
Started by Ela Bhatt in Gujarat, SEWA now has one million members.
Ela Bhatt
In the state of Gujarat, Ela Bhatt started the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), which now has one million members.
Puriben
Master embroiderer Puriben of SEWA helped start a village-based embroidery company that has drawn families out of poverty.
Kaliwada embroiderers
SEWA embroiderers in Kaliwada village work together.
Rajiben
Vegetable vendor Rajiben collected money so SEWA women could start their own bank.
Rajiben at market
Rajiben sells produce at a market in the city of Ahmedabad.
Shantaben Pakmar
A vegetable vendor leader who had to fight police harassment of vendors on the streets of Ahmedabad.
Manekchowk market
SEWA street vendors intend to buy land and start malls that sell organic produce from SEWA farm women.
Rachiata
A group of SEWA construction workers have started a construction company called Rachiata.
Ramilaben
The leader of Rachiata.
DDS · Andhra Pradesh
Deccan Development Society
A society of 5,000 Dalit women.
Anjamma
Seedkeeper Anjamma made the deserts bloom by taking microcredit loans for organic farming.
Anusuyamma
Runs a tree-planting project involving women in 28 villages.
Narsamma
Runs a village radio station emphasizing social and economic developments.
Shammamma
Heads a women’s collective that has built a factory pressing oil from neem seeds for sale as an organic pesticide.
A village self-help group
Cherlapatelguda
Lakshamamma
Headed a village self-help group where women took loans. Now she is mayor of Cherlapatelguda.
Laxshmamma
Took a loan to open a village phone service.
Sugunamma
Leads a farm improvement group.
Gram Abhyudaya Mandali
Dairies and co-operatives
15,000 women have started their own dairy through this NGO.
Poorova
Milk buffalo owner Poorova is one of 15,000 women who have started their own dairy through Gram Abhyudaya Mandali.
Korukpally
Women bring their milk to the village collection centre.
A new dairy
Women cow owners are shareholders in their new dairy.
Alivelu, Lakshmi and Saraswati
Gram co-operatives made up mostly of Dalit women took a lease to run a municipal sand pit and made money.
Swayam Krishi Sangham
SKS Microfinance
Punnemma
Once a day labourer, she now runs a mini-farm under SKS Microfinance.
Meerabai
Started by taking loans for a tea stall.
Meerabai and Yadav Rao
Now she and her husband run a lucrative recycling business.
Shandebee
Runs a village kiosk.
Back to school
Girl child labourers attend a special 10-month school that prepares them to enter the regular system.
Sheila in a sari
Sheila wears a sari to celebrate the opening of a school for girl child labourers.
IKP · Andhra Pradesh
Indira Kranthi Patham
A government-run microcredit program with 10 million borrowers.
Eluru market
Women run their own market under Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP).
Surya Kumara
Heads a federation of lace co-operatives linked to IKP.
Lace artisans
Very poor lace artisans earn only 50 cents a day making cushion covers for IKEA.
Darbharevu
The village where the lace artisans work.
Nagamma
In a fishing village struck by the tsunami, Nagamma took a loan to repair her husband’s fishing net.
Village reporters
Village journalists put out a social-issue newspaper.
Andhra Pradesh and the Himalayas
Elsewhere in India
Ankuram Sangamam Poram
Women meet to discuss taking loans under the NGO, which has 80,000 women in 1,500 villages in Andhra Pradesh.
Kista
A local organization helped Kista join a microcredit group. She took loans to develop farmland.
Narvada Purohit
She prepares to descend the mountain to work on her land.
University of Pennsylvania China Team · Sichuan
China
Amy Liu
China Team leader Amy Liu talks to the leader of a Sichuan NGO that will start a microcredit program with a start-up fund from the students.
The China Team
University of Pennsylvania China Team.
A self-help group
Women from a self-help group want loans to start a kindergarten and an old people’s home.
