How RGMVP Changed My Life!

Asha Devi is a married woman with two children. She lives in Rasoi village of Jhansi district. Over a year back, her life revolved around waking up early in the morning, cooking food for her family, sending her husband to work, working in the farm till evening and then returning home to cook again. This was her life, day in and day out. She didn’t step out of the house for anything else. She didn’t speak to any strangers.

One day, a group of women from a very different region visited her village and knocked on her door. She opened it. They came in and asked her to listen to them for a while. She didn’t pay any heed to them. But they were persistent and so she reluctantly agreed. They took out some chart papers and explained to her the state of rural women in India today and what they could possibly do about it. Their concepts and ideas of organizing the poor to save money and solve problems really impressed Asha. She asked her husband to let her form a ‘samooh’ or self-help group. He didn’t find her plan worthy of any attention and argued that it’s a waste of time. Later, however, she did manage to convince him and formed a small group with women from her neighbourhood. Gradually, they found solace and solutions for all their problems in their weekly meetings. As they started openly discussing various aspects of women’s development, their inferiority started fading away and they felt more and more confident and empowered!

Things started to change for Asha. She borrowed a sum of Rs.600/- from her self-help group and bought a bicycle for her husband, who used to travel to work as a labourer, in a town 6 kms away from their place. Till date, she has borrowed Rs.35000/- and paid it all back. She has used the money to take care of her family’s health, children’s education, food and also to generate income by investing in buffaloes and growing cucumbers. She has also travelled to Andhra Pradesh twice- to see the condition of rural women there, observe how they fought

poverty from within their community and to get trained to become a Community Resource Person.

Today, a year and half later, Asha is a woman who confidently and fearlessly speaks to representatives of her area to solve local village issues and problems. She mobilises women from various groups and encourages them to lead better lives! She’s a known name in her village- not only as a good leader, but also as some one who wants to inspire other women to be good leaders!