A mother's dream for a brighter education

The peaceful village of Thiruthuraipoondi was buzzing in action as the people were gearing for their harvest festival. When I went to visit Mekala, a 50-year-old married woman, she was busy cleaning her house for Pongal as her newly married daughter is to visit her soon. she happily offered me a chair to sit and told me how the loan amount of Rs.30,000 has helped to improve her living conditions. Her husband works as a mid-meal worker in the nearby government school. She has three kids and is really proud of them as they are good promising students. I could see her beaming with happiness when she talks about her daughter, a school topper and a veterinary doctor. Her daughter wanted to be a Surgeon but due to financial situations, they were not able to get her a medical seat. But the daughter's love for animals made her settle for a veterinary college. Mekala has two more kids, a son studying engineering and a daughter in her 11th grade. She wants to make sure that her younger daughter gets into the medical college and wants to start saving for her. To start saving she bought a cow with the amount she received and with the rest of the money she has set up a small petty shop near her house. Buying a cow has increased her income more as she is selling the milk to the nearest milk co-operative society at a good price. The cow is so dear to her and it is the first cow she has ever bought. It yields 5 liters of milk per day which she sells for Rs.30/L. She feels secure of her kids future as she can now save enough money for her two kid's college. Even though uneducated she knows the importance of education and has struggled all her life to give them a better education. The petty shop near her house is also set from the loan amount and its running well as she expected. She's selling small grocery items like masala products, candies, toiletries etc.. The people in her village have to go out for few kilometers to get these necessaries and her setting a shop has been of great help to them. She now roughly receives a daily income of Rs.500 from milk selling and the petty shop. She is happy and thankful for the lenders as the loan amount has paved her a way to save more for her kid's education.