Kadam Stories
Kadam Stories
Nirupama has a M.A in Political Science from F.M University, Balasore.
One day in 2006, she showed up at our KADAM office in Kolkata with her mother for support. The misfortunes she had faced left her unable to manage even one square meal a day.
One day in 2006, she showed up at our KADAM office in Kolkata with her mother for support. The misfortunes she had faced left her unable to manage even one square meal a day.
Since that day, Kadam took her under its wing and today she has the strength to stand on her feet and fight the social evils that she was riddled with for years.
She Aspires to build a home of her own one day & educating her 2 daughters just the way her father had educated her. She Started with 2 craftswomen and today runs the show managing a crew of 115 craftswomen. As more and more women join her cluster, she continues to strengthen and empower the many women she has taken under her wing.
- Nirupama Patra CLUSTER HEAD - BALIAPAL, ODISHA
With three years in this organization, we never felt alone. Everyone is there to guide us, help us, and uplift us. I thought my life is restricted to the farms and cattle and in the four walls of the house, but life had more to show. With Kadam and working with 12-13 women, we have seen a transition in our journey. The work started with nervousness and for now, it’s just my happiness. I have learned everything from designing to working with help of hand looms and now I declare that I’m a winner
I have started living my life of dreams, working with Kadam has made my life so productive that I have started believing in utopia. I work in 2 blocks with the cooperation of 70-80 women, we have seen how women now prefer to work with our organisation instead of farming. We have made roti baskets, towel baskets, and have also learned the organic dyeing techniques with 10-15 days of training. We have learned how to work smart under the guidance of Debashish sir.
Living in a place full of social evils is never easy. Women have barriers to enter into the workforce, as there is not everyone who supports you. The same was my case. My life at the beginning was nothing but a challenge but three years in the line changed everything drastically. I receive appreciation and support from everyone and that makes everything seem even more beautiful. I have learned a lot from this place, starting from making a basket with color variations to interacting with the unknown people, made me more confident.
14 years in this organisation, I have seen myself grow as an entrepreneur. Solving riddles with learning and educating others simultaneously, we in our area started with 3 craftswomen, we now form a group of 80 with every woman earning an abundant amount of money for their survival.