Rajeshwari lives in one of the largest slum communities in north Mumbai. Her husband is the sole breadwinner of their five-member family.
In 2019, our community officer often approached Rajeshwari to be a part of Vision Rescue’s vocational training courses so that she could upskill herself and supplement her husband’s income, but Rajeshwari was reluctant to join.
In March 2020, the pandemic hit India leading to nation-wide lockdowns. Families in slum communities that were dependent on daily wages to fill their stomachs began to starve. Many of our children’s parents found it hard to sustain their families as they lost their jobs overnight.
Seeing the immense need Vision Rescue began sending emergency grocery kits to those in need in slum communities across India. Our community champions helped distribute these groceries door to door.
As help began to reach her community, Rajeshwari was moved to volunteer with us. She joined our Community Champions in grocery distribution. She even went the extra mile and started meeting the pregnant women in her community, to help them with their struggles.
As part of our Community Champions Development Program, Rajeshwari attended a meeting online where she learned about ‘Pradhan Mantri Bima Yojana’, a government scheme that enabled women in poverty like her to open bank accounts. The awareness session was conducted by our partner Justice Ventures International.
Within a few days, Rajeshwari, along with other women from the community, visited the nearest bank to open their accounts under this scheme. At the bank, Rajeshwari realized that she was privileged to be able to leave her home in the slum community and come all the way to the bank to open an account.
There were numerous other women in her neighborhood who didn’t have that freedom from their house-hold responsibilities.
Rajeshwari went up to the bank’s branch manager and made a brave request. She asked if the bank would be willing to send a few officials to her community to help the others with their open accounts.
To her surprise, the manager agreed!
Rajeshwari even helped provide a place for the bank officials to meet people in her community. Rajeshwari’s efforts enabled 93 people in her community open bank accounts in December 2020 and 74 others in February 2021.
We salute Rajeshwari for empowering 167 families in her slum community!
