Radha's story

I am 18 years old and live with my mother, older sister and brother in a small two-roomed house in a Bangalore slum (see the photo above).  My father died five years ago because he drank too much.  We had to leave school then.  My mother works as a maid in a house nearby.  
Water is available twice a day from a standpipe which serves 40 families.  I have to fill three pots for the day’s use before I leave for work.  
Then Oasis, a charity that works in our area, offered my sister the chance to learn tailoring.  Now she earns twice my mother’s salary.  Later I did the course too and I earn the same amount sewing dolls clothes for East-West Education.  I pay my younger brother’s school fees. (Many children locally do not attend school as their parents cannot afford it.)

During our 10-month tailoring course we received free lunch and a travel stipend.  Besides learning how to cut out patterns and sew on a treadle machine – the electricity is unreliable – we also had classes in English, healthcare and life skills.  After a short apprenticeship, we started making the dolls clothes.  It is not easy to sew the tiny sleeves and I often had to redo them! Besides the sewing, we also make the accessories and do the packaging.I enjoy working with eight other girls and the new set of trainees.  Most of the girls are from our slum and dropped out of school like me.  We have periodic visits from a doctor and dentist and continue with our English classes.
All of us are grateful to East-West Education for teaching us a worthwhile skill.  We now earn a good salary in a comfortable situation with the promise of help getting a job later when the trainees move into our place.