Page 180 - The Power to Change Anything

Find Strength in Numbers 169

“I’ve got it!” Damini suggests. “I would like to make puffed
rice. It takes very little money, and I’ve heard that many women
in nearby villages are now doing well with similar ventures.”
“That’s the problem,” Tanika says. “Too many people are
in that business, and profits could drop.”
“Then what do you think will work?” Damini asks Tanika.
Tanika makes her move. “I think I have a plan that will
make money, even for a beginning person like me. You all
know that I have earned money in the past by collecting hair
from the local barber shops and making wigs.”
“Yes, and they’re beautiful,” Sankul responds. “But you
haven’t been able to live off of that.”
Tanika remains undeterred. The circumstances she faces
are far too desperate for her to back away at the first sign of dis-
couragement. Three months earlier when her husband sold his
rice crop for far less than he expected, he came home one
evening screaming obscenities, beat her, accused her of drag-
ging him into poverty, called her ugly, and threw her and their
three daughters into the street. Under normal circumstances
in her village, a divorce such as this would have been a death
sentence for Tanika and her children.
But these weren’t normal circumstances. One day as Tanika
sat in her tiny hut, worrying about her family’s next meal, her
neighbor Sankul approached her with wonderful news. A
group of people from the city was starting to loan money to
women such as her as a means of helping them start new
businesses.
“It’s our turn!” Sankul had said. “It’s our turn to help lift
ourselves out of poverty.” Tanika liked the idea but had to admit
that the radical words sounded like something Sankul must
have heard from one of the strangers from the city. What did
they know that she didn’t?
“Who would loan money to a nearly starved woman of no
means?” Tanika had wondered. “How will I be able to come up
with an idea for a successful business?”