Dear Supporters,

Thank you for your contributions! With your help, we were able to set up vocational training for over 120 people in Belgaum. Here is a Milaap Fellow’s account of the inauguration ceremony.  

“I am Pragya Banka, a Milaap fellow. On November 10, Sitavva Jodati, CEO of MASS and I visited Hoskoti village to attend the inauguration of the tailoring institute. Field Officer Rukmavva Pandappa Metri organised the event. She was helped by a group of girls from the village. Once the vice president of the village panchayat arrived, the ceremony began with a welcome prayer and lighting of the lamp.

The first batch of 10 girls are daughters of ex-devadasis. They will be given a 4-month tailoring course for 2 hours everyday. Savitri Metri, an ex-devadasi and a master tailor herself will be teaching them. Many of the girls are school dropouts and vocational training will make sure their future livelihood is secure. 

The girls sat in a circle, as Sitavva gave a talk. She began by thanking The Better India and Milaap. She then spoke about the importance of these girls becoming self-reliant in their lives. The inauguration was to include not just opening of the centre but also their first tailoring class. 

After invoking the gods of learning, Savitri instructed the girls to take their seats and officially start their training. The formality of the proceedings gave significance and excitement to the moment. As they set their foot on the paddle, the girls were brimming with delight. This day was the first step in them moving from being school dropouts to successes.

 

Another tailoring training session was started in Bagewadi village of Hukkedi taluka on November 14. Parallelly five training sessions on bookkeeping were conducted in the villages Athani, Mudalgi, Shivapur, Byakuda and Morab. In total, 119 people (including self-help group women, teenagers and some men) were taught basic concepts of bookkeeping.

The December sessions on bookkeeping will be planned in the upcoming staff meeting of MASS. Till then, they are focusing on strengthening new SHGs in remote locations of Belgaum.”

Team Milaap

Pragya Banka, our fellow with MASS interacted with the CEO and project coordinators of MASS:

As I reached the office of MASS in Ghatprabha, I could see parts of sewing machine piled over each other. The employees of MASS helped me understand that the machines are getting repaired for the tailoring training to begin next week. 

MASS has 10 Tailoring machines which they got from EveryChild few years back. Now the same machines would be set up in the villages of Hoskoti and Bagewadi. One teacher would teach the skill of sewing to a batch of 10 women belonging to underprivileged section. It will be a four months long training after which the same would be repeated in some other village.

"The women are ecstatic about this opportunity because this is a chance for them to learn how to lead an independent life", shared Ms. Sittavva, CEO, MASS.

"Milaap and The Better India have been very supportive to us. We certainly cannot thank them enough. Also, we feel humbled for the kind of faith and trust that Milaap has shown in us.",said Ms. Sabera ( Lead, Accounting and Administration at MASS ).