Dwarka, the second biggest district of Asia, in New Delhi. is named after the legendary Dwarika Kingdom. Gurugram is very close. Dwarka Sector 21 metro station connects to the Connaught Place area in 10 minutes through Airport Express Line.
Dwarka has small villages around and one of the villages is Shahbad Mohammadpur, adjacent to the Sector 8 metro station. It is behind the International Indira Gandhi Airport of Delhi. In fact, many employees who serve at the airport for many supporting jobs stay in Shahbad Mohammadpur because of their convenience reaching to the airport at mid-night for shift duties.
While constructing the metro line and expansion of the boundary of the airport, land has been acquired by the villagers, as per the villagers of Shahbad Mohammadpur. One can experience the vibrations while in the village when the metro passes from the underground and can hear the loud voice of landing and taking off the multiple flights from the airport, day and night.
READ India opened a Community Library and Resource Center in Shahbad Mohammadpur in 2013. The house which was taken for opening the READ Library was from a family who stayed in this village after the 1947 Independence and the elders of the family moved from the village in 2013 to stay in Dwarka city which is less than 3 kms away from the village. Much of the families are migrated from various States of India as their husbands either work at the airport or nearby factory areas.
When the READ Community Library and Resource Center was opened, the response of the Community was overwhelming because the women, young girls, children and elders got an opportunity at their doorsteps to learn the skills or share their skills with others. Three generations visited the READ Centre either for training other women on crochet, embroidery or knitting, or learning the other skills like sewing and stitching, digital literacy, special courses like Health Workers, Technology Empowering Girls, Tally an accounting software, cookery classes, teachers training and so on. This READ Center not only created job opportunities for women at the Center but also helped many for getting suitable employability or initiating their own micro-enterprise.
READ India started a pre-school wherein the small children from 3 to 6 years, are studying on Montessori pattern of learning. These children are from the families who cannot afford the exorbitant fee in the private schools. During COVID 19, these children were approached by the local teachers with age-appropriate e-content on a regular basis.
This Center has been a hub of many programs, touching the lives of more than 10000 people in the past 8 years, and the visitors from India and abroad, Ministries, Corporates and other Civil Society Organizations, visited many a time to see how strong the community engagement turning to community transformation is happening. Such examples are reflected from various stories of change. The READ Center is still continuing and managed by the local women leaders who transformed their lives and are now mentoring others to bring change in themselves.
Savita is 36 years old woman who has her residence in Shahbad Mohammadpur village near Dwarka sector- 8 metro station. She is associated with the READ India center for the past 8 years.
In 2013, she came to know about Read India from one of her neighbors. She always had this zeal of doing something by herself but found a lack of opportunities in her community. As she got to know about the opening of the center she visited there to know more about it and thought to give an interview for the stitching instructor position. She cleared that interview and started teaching Stitching and Sewing at the READ India center. To date, she has taught more than 2000 ladies from her village. Among these 2000, more than half are now financially independent. Alongside her trainings, she also started a production unit at the center where items like laptop bags, specks cover, files, folders, etc. were made. In the production unit, the beneficiaries were also involved from where they started earning money.
Ms. Savita never left her house before joining the READ India center, she uses to do all the household chores and stay indoors. She took all the capacity-building trainings organized by READ India like life skills, leadership, mental health, etc. Now, she feels so confident while speaking to people, while taking classes, and is managing the center well now.
Ms. Savita made her identity in the village, earlier people used to recognize her by her spouse’s name but now community people address her as mam.
She is very proud of herself and her work and is thankful to READ India for helping her grow.
Ms. Nagina Begum is from Agra and is residing in Delhi for the past 20 years. She is a mother of a college-going boy and a school-going girl. She is associated with READ India for 6 years now. Nagina joined READ India for learning Stitching and Sewing. She polished her skills of stitching and later joined the production unit, which helped her to earn and support her family.
Unfortunately, she lost her spouse during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As her husband was the mere source of income, Nagina’s family experienced serious economic crises after her husband’s death. During this difficult phase of her life, she started working at the READ India Dwarka center and worked hard to survive the basic expense.
After achieving mastery in Stitching and Sewing training and then being a part of the production unit, Nagina then enrolled for the Online Selling training with an intention of growing herself with the evolving times during COVID-19.
She is grateful to READ India for bringing such trainings that help community people to be independent.
Ms. Suman is 35 years old woman who lives in Shahabad Mohammadpur. One of her friends from the community told her about the READ India center a couple of years back. She started visiting the center. She started with her first training in Stitching and Sewing and felt that she achieved a lot in her life. As she brushed up her skills in stitching, she wanted to learn more and enhance herself like others in her class. After that, she got herself into the production unit at Dwarka center.
She is now more independent and is living her dreams. She is also supporting her children to do the things they want. From being a housewife to being an independent woman, her journey is inspiring. She actively participated in multiple trainings conducted by READ India and motivated others to join them, too. She is now financially supporting her husband.
She is also equipped in online selling and considering to running her own business.
Anjana is 26 years old. She was born just like any other normal child and went to school till 10th standard. After her 10th board exams, Anjana was down with a fever which affected her body and soon her legs got paralyzed. Due to this reason and other family issues, she could not continue with her studies. From 16 years of age till 25 years she did not step out of her house.
In one of the health camps organized by READ India, READ staff met her and enrolled her in TAG (tech age girls). She learned ICT skills, like how to book a cab, transfer money using apps, typing, working on excel sheets etc. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, READ India continued the trainings using the digital platform.
Anjana enrolled in another program of Social Media Marketing where she learned how to use social media in a useful and more productive way. She gained knowledge of how to earn money and fame through Facebook, YouTube, and other such apps. She is well aware of the different features of WhatsApp and how it can be used for business purposes. During her training in Social Media Marketing, she shared her thoughts on how she is planning to start her own business in which she can stitch clothes and at this time mask and sell them online. Her words are- “If she is not able to walk, it does not matter, she can still run her own enterprise and earn her livelihood, she is no more a burden on the family”.
Today Anjana is a confident girl and has gained the trust of her family. Now she has started going for therapy alone. She has started contributing in family decisions and her family respects her. They have accepted her again after a long time.
