No words to describe
India is a country where superlatives seem inadequate. Words fail to convey the enormity of any particular dimension. The streets, buses and footpaths aren't just crowded; they are extremely crowded, teeming with people. The traffic isn't just chaotic; it’s maddening and terrifying chaos. The dust, rubble and haphazard buildings with random wiring aren't just everywhere; they are inescapably so, the most haphazard landscape of this most haphazard country.
And the poor are so very poor. Unimaginably so to a westerner. Today we visited a slum south of Delhi. In terms of the physical conditions, it was all I imagined and more. Single-room houses, built with the barest minimum of brick, concrete and tin. Each house (that seems to be the wrong word - maybe shack?) is smack right up next to its neighbour. Narrow, sometimes one-person-wide, dusty paths separate the rows of homes. An open canal of running water/sewage runs along the path, right under each home's open doorway, with stepping stones precariously positioned over. People and flies are everywhere, especially at the 'children's playground' - a couple of swings placed around a large dug-out area in which a large pile of rubbish sits.
The presence of a 'playground,' which was full of children, not to mention the 'infrastructure' of the canal and the electricity that seemed to be connected to each dwelling, indicates a functioning community in the midst of such poverty. It also points to the tenacity of India's poor. The slum we visited is not 'official' - it is not recognised as an area for residential dwelling. No NGOs work there, no government services are provided. The residents are literally eking an existence out of nothing. This is where people living on less than $2 a day live.
In 2008, Opportunity International Australia, through its Indian subsidiary - Dia Vikas Capital, gave capital to a local microfinance start-up, Shikhar. Shikhar's intrepid and indefatigable founder is Satyavir Chakrapani or ‘Satya’, who began his work riding a motor bike around Delhi looking for people to help. He came upon this slum where no one else was providing assistance. He started talking to the women there. Many of them were trapped in extreme poverty by crushing debt. The only way families in this 'unauthorized area' could borrow money was from the village money lender, who was charging 800% interest. One of the women he met had taken out a loan for 5000 rupees ($100). Due to the interest rate and how the repayment was structured, she had paid back 7000 rupees ($140) and not even touched the principal. This was debt she would never escape. Satya had found the first group of five women to whom Shikhar would loan money.
Today we met 10 women, each time in groups of five inside one of the hardscrabble dwellings. The buildings are immaculately clean and incredibly, compactly organised. We sat on rugs on the cement floor: Satya, Opportunity's CEO Robert Dunn and Marketing & Communications Director Helen Merrick, Dia Vikas' Managing Director Ranjani, Shikar's Branch Director Nittan, me, and five women. In the second house, Rob and Satya had to wait outside. There wasn't enough room. Yet it was home to a family of 7.
Again, superlatives fail. To say these women were confident in their business skills or optimistic about their futures is an understatement. They needed little invitation to tell us how microfinance has changed, and is changing, their lives.
Before Shikhar, many of these women were indebted to the village money lender. They didn’t earn money, and their husbands would work when they could. Their children didn’t attend school. They had no savings. Some of them, literally, had no official identity. The first time they saw their name in print was on the loan papers.
But from these dire circumstances, so much has changed - and with microfinance, these women are making the positive changes for themselves.
One woman has put a roof on her home and built a second room. She now rents it out for a steady income. She has five children. She tells me that she is using the income to pay for ‘private tuition‘ for her children. In a school system where teachers only show up part of the time, private tutoring is the only way to guarantee a consistent education.
One woman started a juice shop, and then a second business, a mobile juice stall. Now she's employing others.
We visited an egg shop run by an older woman. She buys eggs at 2 rupees each, hard boils them, and sells them for 5 rupees each. She took Ranjani and I to the back of her shop to tell us that she makes 250 rupees ($5) a day. She says to us "I am making so much money!" and points out all the new inventory she now sells - tea and some snacks. Then she hugged us both.
A few houses later I climb up a bamboo ladder to a room built on top of a dwelling. It’s about the size of an Australian suburban bathroom. Inside is one woman, one sewing machine and hundreds of pieces of woven plastic sheeting. She is sewing them up in order to hold sugar, salt and other commodities.
She tells me she started with one customer. Now she has six, a second location and seven employees. She says she felt very proud that she is creating jobs for others.
One of the women, a mother of five, had opened a very tiny, but successful general store wedged in between two dwellings and in the shadow of piles of shipping containers. I asked her whether her neighbours had noticed the changes in her family and if they were wanting to get microfinance for themselves. She said, "Oh yes, they see my kids have better clothes, better food and go to school. We are ambassadors for microfinance in this community."
They are ambassadors for microfinance. They are also ambassadors for hope. Superlatives fail me again in describing how amazing these women are. So inspiring, positive, confident, creative, powerful, purposeful, and so very hard-working. I was awed in their presence.
Today Shikhar has 13 branch offices, and 14,000 active borrowers. From those first five women in 2008, today Shikhar is bringing microfinance - very small loans and insurance - to thousands families living in poverty. But more than that, Shikhar – and Opportunity’s other microfinance partners – is opening a door to an opportunity for a better future. And the women we met - and thousands more - are walking through that door, creating a future for themselves and their families. What better ambassadors could there be for living with hope and optimism?
Kristina Keneally, MP
Opportunity International Australia Ambassador
www.opportunity.org.au
@OpportunityAUS
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