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.
Prafulla Chhatria
“Honestly, I am more grateful for the phone. In cases of emergency with my sick child, getting in touch with the Asha didi or the doctor has become so easy now. I can explain symptoms over the phone and we can take immediate measures to keep my child alright.”
Like most of the families in the small village of Beherabahal of the Bongomunda block, Bolangir district in Odisha, Prafulla Chhatria and her husband too migrated to the village of Raipur for six months every year in order to sustain themselves and survive. In Raipur, both husband and wife worked as daily wage labourers in the fields. They spent the rest of the year in Beherabahal merely surviving on the little bit of farming they did on their land, complementing it with some earnings from working odd jobs.
Prafulla has two sons, one four and the other two years old. Life threw a curveball at her when her younger son started falling sick regularly. He suffers from bouts of fever, hiccups and convulsions and there are hardly a few days in the month when he is well. With such a child, it became difficult for Prafulla and her husband to keep migrating to earn. Needless to say, the financial condition kept worsening as well.
After Trickle Up and TATA Communications started working in their village in 2016, quite a few of Prafulla’s challenges seemed to become manageable. Selected as one of the ultrapoor participants in the project, she received a seed grant of INR 3000 and a mobile phone. Thus began Prafulla’s journey as a farmer. On the small patch of land she owns, she started cultivating long beans, eggplants, tomato and bitter gourd following the instructions on the Package of Practices (PoP) application developed by Trickle Up and preloaded on her phone. The fact that each crop comes with its own set of instructions, and audio-visual guides for participants who cannot read, the PoP has really helped Prafulla grow marketable organic products. Today, her husband is still a wage labourer and works in the farms of others in and around the village, and she is a farmer in her own right.
“The vegetables I grow are consumed by us and I sell some as well. Whatever I earn from selling the vegetables goes towards my younger son’s medical costs. I have to spend at least INR 1000 a week on his medicines as his condition is chronic. If not for the regular source of income I have now, I don’t even know how I would manage such a large sum of money. Honestly, I am more grateful for the phone. In cases of emergency with my sick child, getting in touch with the Asha didi or the doctor has become so easy now. I can explain symptoms over the phone and we can take immediate measures to keep my child alright till we reach them or they reach us. That’s been a boon,” says Prafulla.
Given her child’s health conditions, she has neither been able to invest in other livelihood options, nor has she been able to scale up her produce, as a lot of the money she earns is spent over medical expenses. In the absence of this source of income as a farmer, life would be extremely difficult for her. The Self Help Group she belongs to is called “Nari Shakti” and according to her, this group has been a major mental support during her tough times. They’ve stood by her while she has spent sleepless nights over her child’s health, always lending a helping hand when required or a shoulder to lean on when she felt weak.
“There isn’t much I look forward to now except for my child getting healthier. But I do know that I can do so much more when he gets better. That’s my aim now. Thankfully, I am able to afford his healthcare now. It feels I will soon be on my way to improve my financial condition. I just want my children to have a healthy life. They should never have to face the kind of challenges I struggle with every day. I’m confident that I will be able to do that much for them,” Prafulla signs off.
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