Shilpa Ugherjia, a class IV drop-out from Margao was earning a meagre Rs 3,000 per month as counter staff working in a small shop, 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
Today, thanks to the newly formed Benaulim based NGO Khusi Hona (Be Happy in Hindi), she is earning Rs 4,000 making necklaces and bracelets from beads and semi-precious stones working largely from her home.
This is the kind of transformation, Khusi Hona is attempting to bring into the lives of women in the Benaulim area of South Goa. Registered as a charitable trust in Goa, Khusi Hona is the brainchild of American national Matthew Van Rooyen and Indian national Geet Sharma. The basic thrust of the NGO is women’s empowerment and the duo of Geet and Matthew are constantly thinking up newer and more innovative ways to achieve their goals.
Walking into the plush office of Khusi Hona a few days back, one was pleasantly surprised to see that the ground plus one structure was air-conditioned. The ground floor housed the tailoring department and had a total of thirteen sewing machines, while the first floor was occupied by the jewellery section. “This is not a sweat shop. We want to provide a good, clean working environment,” Matthew said.
The origins of Khusi Hona can be traced to Matthew’s visit to India a couple years back. Matthew was researching the social sector with the clear objective of lending a helping hand. He soon realised that it was women who needed the most help in India. “My travels across rural India made me realise that it was the Indian women who were working harder than the men and still getting very little for their efforts. I felt that if these same women were provided with job oriented training and education, they could achieve wonders,” Matthew said.
Coincidentally, Matthew met Geet around the same time. Geet, a photographer who created photo stories to help in the process of fund raising was working with the NGO, Tara Trust. Matthew’s research showed that Goa as a state was getting far less NGO funds as compared to larger states like Odisha and Bihar. This convinced the duo to begin operations in Goa.
Khusi Hona decided to begin operations with two departments, namely tailoring and jewellery, as the duo envisaged more enterprise opportunities for women in these fields. Today, there are about seven young women, who are being imparted training in tailoring. The women work from 11 am to 3 pm on four days and are being tutored by Nazima Sayed, a lady teacher. The first batch is expected to pass out very soon. Khusi Hona plans to keep in touch with the young women and would like to collaborate with them in the production of cloth items.
Says Nazima, “My students are very intelligent and hard working. It takes about six months to teach people basic tailoring. We have taught the girls to take measurements, stitch children’s clothes and cloth bags.” According to Geet, Khusi Hona supplies recyclable cloth bags to wine stores and five star hotels. “We also make shoulder bags and tote bags from cloth,” Geet added.
Similarly in the jewellery section, women are taught how to make necklaces and bracelets using beads and semi-precious stones. According to Matthew, the necklaces find a market in the many yoga studios and artefact shops that dot the state of Goa and other tourist locations across India. There is far greater flexibility in the jewellery department, where the women are able to work from home and get paid for every item they produce. “On an average, the women working in this department earn between Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000 every month,” Geet said.
However, Khusi Hona has not just stopped at empowering young women by teaching them two distinct crafts. They also fund and support the education of needy girl students. While one such student is pursuing her class XII, the other is pursuing her first year BA course in a prominent local college.
Presently, Matthew and Geet are examining ways to upscale their operations in Goa.
For more details visit: www.khusihona.org
