Lakshmi


“Education is the best investment. It is better than gold.”
Lakshmi is proud to be helping all three of her children to pursue higher education.
Her older son is in medical school while her daughter and younger son are working
on undergraduate degrees.
She recalls how it was before Samuha.
“We had some land, but it was not irrigated and we depended on rains. My husband and
I were running a small kirana shop, but there was not much profit in it. It would have
been impossible to educate three children based on those profits.”
Then Samuha opened a small door.
“Samuha encouraged women to form self-help groups. We could see that many groups had
already formed. So we also started a savings group, and I became the president. We started
with small amounts, and gradually started saving more and more. At some point, I realized
my husband and I would need more income if we wanted to help our children get a good
education. So I decided to take a loan from the group to improve our shop.”
Lakshmi took a 4000 rupee loan to improve the shop and then an 8000 rupee
loan to buy more supplies. She became more confident when the shop’s increased
profits allowed her to repay the loans. Through a series of incremental loans, she
and her husband made many improvements to the shop and expanded their scope
of business. Today, the shop has a turnover of 4000 rupees per day.
When the time came, Lakshmi was confident about taking a 30,000 rupee loan from
the group to pay for medical school. She reflects on the many personal changes she
sees in herself and other women in the group:
“Instead of remaining confined to the house, I went out and learnt so many things. Before
these groups came, we women were always just at home. But now we have learnt many new
things, and our views are being heard by others.”