Stocking Up in Calicut

January 17, 2014
| 309 Comments
| Center of Development, Empowering Women, Tailoring Training Program

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I’m sitting in a jeep, bumping and twisting along the roads on the way out of Valad. I sit and listen to 4 of the women from the tailoring center chatter excitedly in Malayalam as the village disappears behind us. Where are we headed? We are off to Calicut to meet some vendors and stock up on materials.

We are all excited as this marks a big day for the tailoring center as they become more self reliant. We make our way down the ghats, twisting and turning. The women’s initial excitement has turned to a mixture of carsickness and sleepiness. As our heads bob up and down, half asleep we wake up to find ourselves in Calicut. We find our first shop and jump out of the jeep. The women adjust their sarees and their hair and we walk in to the first shop, Rex-o- Rexine.

At first the women are a bit shy and stand offish. Slowly, they become more comfortable and begin feeling all the materials, discussing which nylon is best for the inside of the padded wallets, which sponge is best for the weekender bag? They discuss the price with the vendors ensuring to get the wholesale rate. They tell the vendors about the work they are doing with Profugo. I can see the sense of pride in their faces as they explain their work.

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I was especially proud when the oldest of our tailors, Savitri-chechi, made sure to ask each vendor for their business cards, putting all of them in a special pocket in her bag. With each vendor we visited the women’s confidence grew. We walked in the pervasive heat, lugging heavy bags of nylon, zippers, sponge, poplin through the streets of Calicut intent on reaching our goal, to buy everything on the list compiled by our teacher, Mary. Along with the vendors I have found in the past few months, the women managed to find a few more important shops with the necessary materials needed at a lower cost than the original vendors.

Just as the women’s confidence grew, so did mine. I know the women are one step closer to being self-sufficient. As we made our way back up the ghats, everyone exhausted, a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment was in the air. Next visit to Calicut I think the women are ready to make the bumpy trip on their own, they have the confidence, now they just need to take the leap and fly.

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