Just over a year ago, in Christmas 2019, we began to collaborate with Please Sound Onlus to support labor empowerment of women in the region of Tamil Nadu, in India. From this collaboration was born Feel Blue Tailoring, a workshop with 30 sewing machines, where vocational training programs are held that have so far involved more than 100 women.

This training is embedded in a larger context, the Kalanjiam Community Banking Program of DHAN Foundation, whose ultimate goal is to combat poverty in rural India. DHAN aims to provide the poorest sections of India’s population with the following The knowledge, skills and tools to be autonomous in managing personal and family finances: be aware of the value of money, learn how to save money, plan expenses, invest in one's professional training, and run one's own business. Feel Blue Tariloring fits into the latter part of the program, contributing through spaces, machinery and training courses operated by Please Sound Onlus.

One year later we received the testimonies of three women, Selvi, Chellakilli and Thavamani, who participated in the Feel Blue Tailoring program and now independently manage small tailoring business that provide peace of mind and economic stability for their families. Selvi, Chellakilli and Thavami were able to leave heavy, very low-paying jobs that often kept them away from the family, to successfully start tailoring businesses in their respective villages.

Selvi and her husband Aandi live in the village of Melnilavur and have three young children. Every year, from January to May, they were forced to migrate to work on plantations. During their absence, they had to drop off children In government hostels.

Chellakilli and her husband Venkatraman were in a very similar situation. From their recounting emerge poor working conditions, without security measures or enough food.

Thavamani, on the other hand, is widow, lives in the village of Innandu and, to support his daughter, he used to make any kind of work, changing every day and without no certainty For the next day.

All three of these women took part in the Kalanjiam Program and, along with a hundred others like them, attended the training course in the Feel Blue Tailoring workshop. At the end of the course they obtained a vocational training certificate recognized by the government and were able to borrow To open their own business.