Thomas Doe
Social WorkerNulla totam rem metus nunc hendrerit ex voluptatum deleniti laboris, assumenda suspendisse, maecenas malesuada morbi a voluptate massa! Hendrerit, egestas.
Nulla totam rem metus nunc hendrerit ex voluptatum deleniti laboris, assumenda suspendisse, maecenas malesuada morbi a voluptate massa! Hendrerit, egestas.
Mahima Majhi
"I teach other group members how to use the phone to make calls, save contacts, use various applications like YouTube, WhatsApp. etc. I also teach them how to use the PoP application properly in order to help them learn to cultivate better."
Mahima lives in the Khampur village of the Sundargarh district of Odisha with her husband and two daughters who are now eleven and five years old respectively. For the longest time now, the responsibility of running the household finances has been Mahima’s responsibility. Her husband not only used to migrate out of the village for work as a daily wage labourer, but was never able to help his family financially. He struggled with his own problems – alcoholism and anger management. Needless to say, Mahima’s marriage was a disturbed one.
When Trickle Up started working in Khampur in partnership with TATA Communications, Mahima was selected as an ultra-poor participant in 2015. She was desperate to change her situation and took to the opportunity like fish to water. When a smartphone was handed over to her as a part of the project, she was the fastest in her village to learn how to use it well.
“Very soon I was chosen as the Smart Sakhi (digital coach) for the other participants of my village. I started using the Package of Practices (PoP) application developed by Trickle Up to learn more about agriculture and crops and that has helped me a lot. As a Smart Sakhi, I teach other group members how to use the phone to make calls, save contacts, use various applications like YouTube, WhatsApp. etc. I also teach them how to use the PoP application properly in order to help them learn to cultivate better,” says Mahima.
Mahima uses the phone in various ways herself. From keeping in touch with her family, to organising meetings between the participants and the field staff to taking advice from the field staff, she makes sure she utilises her smartphone optimally.
With the help of the trainings she received and the constant pocket coach in the PoP application, she started growing long beans, tomato and bitter gourd to sell in the local market. Since she now knows the techniques and best practices of farming, her crops give a higher yield and don’t go bad anymore. With the help of the Self Help Group in her village, Mahima has also been able to get her bank account opened, her labour card, job card and ration card created. She also got her pucca house under the Indira Awas Yojana scheme of the government.
Today, she is able to feed her children well. The field staff have held multiple counselling sessions with her husband, trying to help him manage his temper, and convincing him to stay back in the village to help his wife with her business as a vegetable vendor. With the business earning those profits, it has been easier to convince him to consider the options.
“I am very sure about what I want to do with the profits I make from my business. I will ensure that my girls complete their education. I never want them to grow up and be dependent on anyone. They should stand on their own feet and build their futures themselves. I have faced a lot of struggles and I will do whatever I can to make sure that my daughters don’t have to,” Mahima is determined.
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