A single mother with a big heart: M.S. Dawngliani

I took the local bus to reach Thuampui on a sunny Wednesday morning. Thuampui is located on the far corner of Aizawl, the capital of the state of Mizoram. After meeting a few borrowers, I headed towards M.S. Dawngliani's house at 4 in the evening. She represents the group called Ruthi group, which consists of five hard working women. She was still on her way back from the market when I reached her house. After half an hour, she reached home apologising for the delay. Dawngliani is a 32-year-old divorcee who has two children living with her. She supports her younger brother and his son, who also live with her. Her brother is a daily wage laborer whose income is irregular. Dawngliani supports her family by supplying vegetables at the main market, selling second hand as well as ready made garments from home. With the Milaap loan, she purchased ready made garments which she sells from home. Her monthly income is about Rs. 13,000. Dawngliani enjoys selling ready made garments as she can exchange it incase there are any defects. I was informed that business has not been going very well for her for the past few months. She said, "Even my friends with shops at the market have not been doing well." Recently, she also got tricked into giving some garments on commission to a lady who never paid her. Ruthi group consists of M.S Dawngliani, Ngurnunmawii, Lalhmangaihzuali, Vanlalruati, and Zonunpari. Together they had taken an enterprise of Rs. 75,000 from Milaap to help them run their own small business such as selling garments and petty shop business. They are proud to say that for the past three months, they have been repaying the loan entirely on their own and are confident that they will be able to repay the entire amount on time.