For her children's education, she wants to become a whole-seller shop soon

Tombisana has three children. All three of them go to school but she’s paying for only two education. She tells me that it is very hard for her to manage with just the shop she has. Her eldest is a girl in class eleven now at T.G. higher secondary school, she pays her own fees. Tombisana had already informed her eldest daughter before that she would only support her until her class 10 education. The school that her daughter is in right now is a government school so their admission fees are INR 3000 and a few hundred above depending on the number and types of subjects she takes, and she does not have to pay extra school fees. Tombisana paid for the first admission fees but now her eldest will have to manage on her own. She still struggles to pay for her other two children who are in class nine and six. They are enrolled in a private school called Tiny Tots (considered to be among the best schools in Manipur), same as their sister was, and their fees are very expensive. She wants to give her children a good, strong foundation in education so that later on they will not have to fall back behind others. When she was asked about how the loan amount had impacted her, she tells me that she had paid for children’s education but she also used it to invest in her shop as well. When asked about her shop, she lights up and gestures around her saying that all the items that are stacked on the shelves were due to the loan. She was able to keep all the shelves occupied with items because of the loan. She previously used to do mobile recharges a few months back but right now she cannot afford to keep it up. She tells me that her immediate plan is to fix a shutter for her shop, which she hopes to be able to put in a few months. Tombisana stands up and goes to a corner of her shop where a small weighing machine is and says that when she is able to, she will buy a bigger weighing machine and replace the smaller one. Since the shop is their only means of livelihood, she has invested in it partially through the loan she received and also with financial help from her relatives. She hopes to one day be a whole seller shop for grocery items where she can sell bags of rice, dals, beans, etc. If she is able to get more loans, she will invest in her shop as it is their only means of livelihood and her only means of funding her children’s education as well as their everyday needs. She is thankful to her lenders for helping her pay for her children's education and also giving her the opportunity to invest in their only means of income.