Income-generating projects in Mhaskal

SHAMA WELL loans || Sewing school || Farming || Other

A wide variety of programs have been instituted in Mhaskal Village since 2002, providing the means for generating income or subsistence. Some have taught villagers new skills, some have given the means to farm, and some new homes give shelter. These projects have attracted the attention of people from neighboring villages, who have become envious and are now hoping for equally good fortune to fall on them. They have requested to be part of the SHAMA Rural Development work.

SHAMA WELL

SHAMA WELL has given loans to at least a dozen women in Mhaskal. These loans have all been repaid and the money has been loaned to other women, giving many women the opportunity to improve their lot.

Loans in Mhaskal village mostly provided livestock (goats, water buffalo) for farming. One woman's loan allowed her to raise vegetables to sell; another got a machine for embroidery.

For more information about SHAMA WELL and the microloans it offers, click here.

Sewing School

When Jyoti and Pat visited Mhaskal in February 2005, the idea of a sewing school came up at a village meeting. In just two weeks a building was found in the village and prepared to be the school, now called the Rural Training Center. Ten reconditioned treadle sewing machines from SHAMA were installed with a ceremony of ribbon cutting and coconut breaking.

One room in a two-room building is used for the sewing school. It offers daily training classes. The full course lasts for 3 months.

In 2007, 15 women graduated from the sewing class and are sewing the school uniforms of ShamaKids in Mhaskal. They will begin to make the uniforms of the whole school in Mumbai after this initial experience.

Tailoring class

Trying out a sewing machine

Student receiving diploma

Making school uniforms

Farming

Mhaskal village is rural in nature, and successful farming is essential to their lives. Pictures from the area show that it is dry much of the year. SHAMA, Inc. funded a one-and-a-half kilometer pipeline to farms in the village. This provides water to 34 acres of land, helping to double and triple the annual crops. Villagers are now able to multi-crop and to produce high value-added crops such as fruits and vegetables. Vertical farming adds to the land available for planting by training some crops to climb that would normally spread over a wide area.

In 2006, the revenue for them crop was then times the loan given for the SHAMA food cooperative in the village, and part of the loan was paid back, for the money to be recycled to other people.

Farming has been so successful that excess food can be sold outside of the village. The Tempo project was a necessity to transport this food to other villages.

The water source

Installing the pipes

Water-proofing pipe

Controls for water system

Vertical gardening

Harvesting lush field

SHAMA, Inc. has also purchased goats and water buffalo for villagers through SHAMA WELL. The goats provide milk to drink and selland sometimes meat, and the water buffalos provide labor too.

Other new means of generating income include making candles, incense and greeting cards.