Parveen

ARTISAN#: 03

Meet Parveen. She is a twenty-eight year old mother of two living in the Kadapa District of Andhra Pradesh, India. When she was young, she was pulled out of school at Grade 5. Her parents sold her books to educate her younger brother. She was a good student but her parents decided that her brother deserved an education more than she did. She used to work in the fields earning 15 rupees a day, working 10 hour days of hard manual labor. Her family was struggling to survive when she came to Vijay Foundation Trust four years ago for work and training. She was one of the first to be trained and suffered a great deal of social persecution because of her choice to empower herself. In her village, women are usually not permitted out of the home and Parveen’s act caused turmoil among the villagers. Everyday on her walk to work she was verbally berated by the villagers, who accused her of selling herself and committing a sin. Yet, she persisted.

Now Parveen has become a true agent of change and female role model in a village where none existed before. She said that the villagers that had once berated her now come to her for loans and assistance. She used to ask herself why she was born a woman but now, she feels proud to be a woman. She has inspired many women in her village to change their own lives and to stop accepting the poverty in which they live in. With the fair wages she earns, she has enough money saved up to build her own house and is very excited to start construction. She says that her work as a One Thread Fair Trade artisan has not only given her financial security, but has gifted her with a community of fellow women that she can share her feelings and life problems with. She believes in opportunity and wants to help many more women like her. In India, it is tradition for the wife to make her husband tea. With a laugh, Parveen told us “Now, my husband makes me tea!” She is an inspiration to all of us.

FUN FACT: Parveen’s nickname in the textile unit is Tiger, because she is a strong woman and not afraid to speak up!