COVID-19 pandemic has been a blow to many entrepreneurs, particularly those involved in small businesses. A large number of them have shut down, or are on the brink of closing down due to the financial difficulties inflicted by subsequent lockdowns.
There are also others, who keep on fighting and are exploring more avenues when one door gets shut.???
33-year-old Mira Devi, a native of Kelo, a tribal village in Khunti district Jharkhand, is one such enterprising woman who is refusing to give up.
Mira, who belongs to the Santhali tribe, had been a regular attendee in handicraft fairs across Jharkhand is now planning to open her own handicrafts shop in Khunti as regular craft exhibitions have come to a halt due to the pandemic.
Over a period of time, she has become more confident than what she was three years ago - when her life was confined to the village surrounded by forest.
Like most of the community, Mira and her family too depended on non timber forest produce collections from the forest like Lac, Chironji, Mahua, bamboo etc. to earn a living.
The only other income the family had was what her husband Birsa Manji earned in occasional masonry work which was around Rs 7,000-8,000/- per month.
Like other women, she has the responsibility of domestic household chores and rearing children as a housewife but they faced difficulties as one person's income was insufficient for the household to meet their requirements due to irregularity of masonry work in the locality.
That is when an opportunity came knocking on her doors, in the form of a skill development training.
The life-changing moment came in the form of training in bamboo handicrafts by a local NGO called Torpa Rural Development Society for Women (TRDSW) and EdelGive Foundation.
Like most tribal women in her village, Devi too had the basic knowledge on working with bamboo, but nothing beyond it.
In February 2018, when Mira participated in the one month bamboo handicraft training and she learnt how to enhances her skills and turn the bamboos into pieces of handicrafts.
Determined to make the most out of what she learnt, Devi took the initiative and followed it up with more training where she learnt some decorative and creative antique design-making with bamboo.
The mother of two's confidence in herself and her bamboo art increased and using local bamboo she prepared antique bamboo handicraft designs such as an assortment of globes, pen stands, boxes, lanterns, etc. in order to compete with market products.
In the same year, Mira got her first break, when she was given the opportunity to participate in SARAS MELA 2018 in Ranchi by TRDSW to showcase her handicrafts.
By next year, Mira became a regular attendee in such fairs and her bamboo handicrafts became a hit wherever she went.
This has had a positive impact on the family's fortunes as well.
¡°Earlier, my husband's income was barely enough to meet the household requirements. Now I earn more than what my husband earned earlier. I can now meet all the requirements of the household and I am thinking of an expansion of Bamboo Handicraft art as well as I intend to establish my own shop," Mira said.
¡°Earlier I was living within my own constraints in the community, but Mahila Vikas Kendra opened the space of opportunity to explore my desire.¡± she added.
The housewife-turned entrepreneur is also giving back to the society in her own ways.?
Now, she has turned into a master trainer of bamboo handicraft art and gives gainful employment opportunities to other women whose financial condition is not good and who struggle to meet their household requirements.?
As a master trainer she conducted bamboo handicraft trainings for tribal women in other districts of Jharkhand such as Bokaro, Ranchi and Dumka.?
She is also providing jobs to eight tribal women from her village who also work along with her in making more bamboo handicraft products and designs.?
Like many others, the past one-and-a-half years was challenging for Mira as well. With the melas not happening due to COVID-9, she has been struggling to sell her handicraft items. But she is in no mood to give up.?
¡°In this challenging pandemic time where there is no (Saras Mela) trade fair organized in the districts of Jharkhand, I dream of having my own bamboo handicraft shop,¡± Mira said.