Pinki Devi invested in her family's business

Pinki Devi's house was silent when I entered. The walls were painted a soothing blue. She came out of the kitchen and gestured that she would be with me in a minute. I soon understood the reason behind the quiet in her house. An elderly couple was sleeping on two cots in the open-roof living room. Medicines and steel glasses cluttered their bedside tables. "They're my husband's parents. They have both been sick for a while now," said Pinki as we walked back to the porch."I do a little sewing work. I mainly stitch lehengas," she said. She manages to make 3,000 to 4,000 rupees every month from her sewing business. "But since they fell sick, I haven't had the time to work. There's no one but me to take care of them," she said of her parents-in-law. Her husband and son, she said, have to run a vehicle cleaning business nearby. And recently, they had to buy new equipment for the business. "But we didn't have enough money," she said. Hence, she used the loan she took from Apani Sahakari Sewa Samiti, Milaap's field partner, to buy cleaners, hoses, brushes, and more. As she walked me out to the gate, she said that though she couldn't use the loan to buy threads and cloth materials for her sewing business, she will save up and purchase them soon. "Right now, I'm happy that our family business is running smoothly. It's our main source of income," she smiled.