July 2023
We agreed to participate in the meeting and decided the time and date. As per schedule, I reached the venue 10 minutes before the meeting started. I saw some are already there but others are on the way. Everyone seemed so excited.
At the meeting, Sangeeta discussed with us the meaning of ultra-poor, poor, medium-poor, and rich. She explained to us the difference between poor and rich. It was not that I was unknown of the concept of rich and poor before, but the way she explained it made it much more clear. We discussed that the person, who doesn’t have access to land and doesn’t have enough money to fulfill basic needs is considered poor. In contrast, the person, who has access to land can afford a comfortable life, and can send their children to big school, and they are considered rich. After the discussion, she gave us a piece of paper where our own name was written. Then she asked us to put the paper with our name on the board according to our economic status.
As discussed, I thought I belonged to the ultra-poor as I don’t have access to land and it’s hard for me to fulfill the basic needs of my family. At first, I felt so awkward to paste my name in ultra-poor. I thought that other women in the group would laugh at me and will make a joke. But all the women present at the meeting were like me. And Sangeeta also said, that the programme of WAWCAS is for women like us. So, I pasted my name in the ultra-poor group. Likewise, other women also paste their names according to their economic status.
After the Economic status ranking, the trainer told us to make a map of the location of our house. I asked her why we should do this. And she replied that it would be much easier to find the direction of our house by seeing the map. It helps to know the way for others also. Otherwise, people might be confused. So, we started to make a map of our locality.
After the completion of the meeting, the trainer asked me about the meeting. I told her, that the meeting was very useful and gave us important knowledge. Before the meeting, I didn’t know that poverty can be categorized into different levels. Now, I know the reason behind being poor. I also know that I fall in ultra-poor group, but I am determined in my heart that I surely will uplift my economic status one day by doing my business properly.