The word empowerment means ‘the process of gaining freedom and power to do what you (one) want or to control what happens to you (one)’. In India, it is a privilege for women, which doesn’t come easily!
Today we present the life of a 28-year old mother of three, Kalikunnnisa Meraz Sha. Her three sons aged 8, 7 and 5 respectively are pursuing their education at the BMC School in Shivaji Nagar. Her husband, Meraz Sha is a daily-wage worker who earns around Rs. 100-150 per day, which doesn’t suffice for the need of the 5-member family.
Though Kalikunnisa has dreams of supporting her family, illiteracy is the biggest challenge she faced, which has hindered the growth in every aspect of her life.
Being uneducated Kalikunnisa faced several issues in completing her Vocational Training in Tailoring, which further created problems for her in the community she lived. Her neighbours never supported and looked down upon her owing to the fact she couldn’t read or write. She even faced troubles at her home, specially financially, as her husband didn’t fulfil his responsibilities towards taking care of the family’s needs.
Amidst all the troubles, Kalikunnisa emerged as a true example of women empowerment, who didn’t let her weakness (illiteracy) be the hindrance in the path of her learning.
Rather than falling victim to her troubles, she was determined to finish her vocational training programme she had enrolled for through Pricilla.
