Rehana: from success to despair to renewed hope

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Back in Kolkata at last!
Yesterday  I went to visit some of our beneficiaries - redoubtable women from the Topsia Squatter camp who are making a success out of lives lived perched over a sewage canal.
With my old friend Rizia




Rehana at home in better days.


Rehana in her godown

Rehana yesterday - in despair
Rehana is one of our star performers: with a tiny loan of about £200 she bought a rickshaw, then 9 more. Sold them all and bought a godown (warehouse) from which she deals in waste, selling on the rubbish collected by ragpickers. All was going well and I expected to be congratulating her. But when she arrived it was clear all was not well. She is sick: thin and pale. She is also pregnant and bleeding constantly. The doctor has told her she must be admitted to hospital immediately - but she doesn’t know who will look after her children. As the conversation proceeds it transpires that the husband has run off with another woman taking the contents of the godown with them. Rehana has lost her valuable stock and doesn’t know how she will repay her loans. She is in despair and doesn’t know which way to turn. Thanks to Tiljala SHED, Rehana was able to consult with our staff. Her loan repayments can be put on hold while she gets back in her feet. A staff member will accompany Rehana to the hospital where Tiljala SHED can cover medical expenses from donations to our Global Giving Project (https://goto.gg/23676).  Rehana’s mother has been called in to stay and look after the children.

Rehana smiled at last. « When I am well again I can continue my business ».

We are so proud of the women empowered by access to small loans through the Global Giving Livelihood Programme (https://goto.gg/21941)

Aware that life’s knocks can completely derail these vulnerable lives we are also relieved that we have the means to step in and prevent a temporary setback becoming a disaster. And she’s probably best off without that husband

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