In the year 2015-16 a project for Good Governance was implemented in Tarikere supported by Manos Unidas was a great experience for all the women of Tarikere Taluk such as attending grama sabha and ward sabha meetings besides visiting the panchayath and government departments. Theresa participated in all the activities and programs conducted by CMSSS and she was able to avail governmental facilities. The confidence of Theresa saw new direction and she decided to be self-reliant. Through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) she constructed a cowshed. She has borrowed a loan of Rs.50,000/- from bank and purchased a cow to support her family. This not only adds extra income to the family but also helps in other ways. Besides selling milk, she prepares curds and ghee for her household. She has repaid a loan of Rs.26, 000/- and is confident to repay the remaining loan. She has a small kitchen garden where she grows vegetables for her household requirements and uses the manure from her cowshed for her kitchen garden. She and her family members have not only found source of income, but a means to cut their expenses and the path to self-reliance.
Towards Self-reliance
Theresa Lasrado is a resident of Mallenahalli Gram panchayath of Tarikere Tq Chikkamagaluru. She lives in a small house with her husband Leo Lasrado and two children Sujith studying in class X and Saniya studying in class IX.Theresa and her husband are daily wage laborers. Their income is meager and there was a perennial challenge of making ends meet for the family. At this juncture in the year 2010 the animator of CMSSS visited her house and introduced the concept of self-help groups. Theresa’s initial reaction was “how do I make time for this, when we are already struggling to earn our daily bread.” Constant visits and motivation helped her to join Sumathi SHG and started with a weekly savings of Rs.25/-. Almost after one unconvinced year and reluctant participation in SHG meets she was in dire need of Rs 2000 for her children’s education. Though her savings in the group was only 1300/- at that time, she was given a loan of Rs.2000/- by her group. This changed the way she looked at her SHG which was till now just a ‘group’ but now she saw the ‘self-help’ aspect of it. She put in her 100% efforts to actively participate in meetings and training of the SHG and was keen in learning things. She started asking questions to the resource person in the training. By 2015 she was elected as the president of the SHG.