Laltleipuii Pachuau lives in Luangmual village, about twenty-five to thirty kilometers away from Aizawl. It takes around one-and-a-half to two hours to reach Luangmual. I  met her in the afternoon – a time when everyone is generally back from their work in the morning and relaxes in their homes. Laltleipuii and her group were one of the first borrowers when WSDS had started their operations in Luangmual last year. She took a loan of Rs.20,000 in March last year to invest in buying piglets. She also invested the money in buying large stone blocks which would be broken into small stone chips and sold to contractors in the construction business.
Laltleipuii shared that her piggery business was not so successful because her pigs broke their wooden shed that was constructed at the top of the hill. They rolled down the slope and it was very difficult to get them back in their shed and repair it. She had to slaughter the pigs early and cut her losses. She now has a female pig that is pregnant. Laltleipuii hopes to sell the piglets and earn a decent sum that will offset  their earlier rough start to some extent. She says that while overall they couldn’t benefit from the loan as they had hoped, the stone crushing business did help her earn some profits . She and her group members have finished their loan cycle, and she shared that most of them do not plan on taking up a second loan. Laltleipuii’s husband works as a carpenter and also has a workshop on the ground floor of their house. His profits currently serve as the main source of income for the family. They have four children, two boys and two girls, all of them are teenagers. The children are studying and plan to take up different jobs in the city once they finish their studies.
Laltleipuii poses with the female pig which is pregnant
