Sowbagya

“I now have a say in all decisions made by my family.”

When Samuha first came to her village to promote self-help groups, Sowbagya’s
husband couldn’t see the point and didn’t allow her to join. But Sowbagya soon
understood that group membership brought real benefits to women members
and their families. She boldly decided to join a group in spite of her husband’s
disapproval.
“In those days, there were only two groups in the village. At first, I took a loan to buy two
buffalos. Two grew to eight buffalos. I sold five of them for a profit, and now I just have
three. I make a good profit from the milk.”
The following year, she took another loan and invested in seeds, fertilizer, and
irrigation for the family’s dry land. Crop yields increased substantially, and her
husband and son were pleased with the improvements. Slowly, her husband’s
attitude changed.
“My husband stopped objecting to my involvement in the group. Now he supports me a lot.
When I am away on training, he even does some of the housework!”
‘Seeing was believing’ for other women and families in the village as well.
”Many women saw that group members had easy access to loans and were [growing their
families’ economic prospects]. More and more women wanted to join. Now there are so
many groups in the village. In fact, I recently asked my daughter-in-law to join a group.”
But Sowbagya and her group have moved beyond simple savings to all sorts of
social outreach.
“We built the community centre and have started tailoring classes there to benefit women.
We help identify people with disabilities [who can benefit from specialized services]. We
help pregnant women [access health services] for safe deliveries. We actively discourage
child marriage. When we came to know of a marriage that was about to happen, we went
and stopped it. We explained that it is harmful for the girl. We even assured the family
that we would take charge of the wedding expenses if they deferred the marriage.”

Sowbagya’s group also goes to other villages to talk to women about the value of
self-help groups and to help in group formation. Even Sowbagya herself is amazed
at the change within her.
“I was totally confined to the house and fields. If anybody visited us, I would run inside
the house. But now, having travelled so much, I have learnt so many new things. I am the
one who negotiates with the bank for our loans. My business understanding has grown. If
any problem arises, I know that we can get together as a group, fight for our rights, and
solve the issue.”