Moina Mondal, 38, wakes up at 6am, completes her household chores, cooks for the family and sets out at 9am.
She walks for almost 45 minutes to reach her destination, a tailoring centre at a village on Bali island in the Sunderbans.
Moina is one of the 20 women who are undergoing tailoring training, and like the others in her group, she hopes to make some money by learning how to stitch and design.
The women have started on their mission to be self-reliant by making school uniforms for pre-primary children.
“I joined this centre because they train for free. I cannot afford to pay and learn,” said Moina.
Her husband grows paddy and barely makes enough for the family of four.
Moina’s elder son is appearing for the higher secondary exams and younger son is in Class IX.
“Expenses are going up by the day and educating children means paying for books and tuition,” she said.
Moina had to quit school after Class IX because her parents decided to get her married.
The centre, on Bali island, is an initiative of Prayatna Foundation, which aims to empower women through skill training.
Project Mama, the name given by the organisation to the skill-development drive, trains women in making products like kurtis, T-shirts, night dresses and bags.
“Our financial condition is bad, and with one earning member it becomes difficult to run the family. I now do some alteration work on readymade dresses to earn some money,” said Aparna Mondal, another trainee at Project Mama.
Aparna leaves a three year-old at home to get trained.
“It is not enough to train them. We have to find a market for their products, too. Their village cannot provide them that kind of market “ said Archana Roy, programme manager, Prayatna Foundation.
“We have taken representatives of a company from Kolkata to the centre. They have given raw materials to make bags. After seeing the finished products, they will decide whether to place bulk orders,” said Roy.
The training session is held from 10am to 1pm every day. Those who cannot make it to the morning session come in the evening.
“We have to give them an option because they have family responsibilities to attend to,” said Saifuddin Moulik, a trainer.
