Lakshmi is the eldest daughter from a rural farming household in coastal Odisha. Her father owns a small strip of land fit only to grow vegetables, so he works as a daily-wage worker in MNAREGA projects. That does put food into the plates of their family of five people, but everything else seems like a far-fetched dream.
Despite all her odds, Lakshmi completed her higher-secondary. She was determined to help her family come out of abject poverty. Her two younger brothers, and ailing mother, looked up to her for support.
With the coming up of the Wild Lotus factory, Lakshmi found an opportunity to reach her potential. She joined as a trainee, and very soon brushed up her skills to become one of the highly rated employees at the Wild Lotus shop floor. She kept working harder, her work started getting noticed – which finally promoted her into becoming a floor-supervisor.
Today, Lakshmi is the pride of her village. Wild Lotus has not only transformed the life of Lakshmi, but has also brought home hope and prestige to her family.
When Aruna Mallah, a 30-year-old widow from a low-caste fisherman community, lost her job as a mid-day meal cook, she had three mouths to feed at home, and no other skills. Aruna was contemplating shifting to a city, when the Wild lotus Factory came up close to her village.
Referred by a friend, she joined the embroidery shop as a helper, and started learning how to make exquisite patterns on fabrics. Trained by experts, she picked up the weaving skills quite fast, and started enjoying her work. Being mild mannered and always smiling, she became kind of a mentor to other younger employees.
Her youngest daughter was barely two years old, so she put her in the company run creche. The eldest son and her sister have now started going to school, and they keep telling their friends that they will someday make their mother proud.
Aruna is thankful to Wild Lotus for giving her a chance to prove herself, and for helping her raise her kids with dignity.
Pooja was born after three daughters, and as soon as she started gathering her senses, she started feeling unwanted. Their father wanted a son, and was furious to see another daughter arrive.
However, she kept her head steady, and wanted to prove to her father that she can do everything that a son might be doing for the family. She continued with her studies and completed her graduation. When the Wild Lotus Factory became operational in the adjoining district, she decided to join there as a shop assistant. The company recognized her enthusiasm, gave her adequate and apt training, and soon, she was working at the shop floor as a weaver.
Today, Pooja’s father is extremely proud of her daughter, and have started saving money to set-up a small backyard vermicompost unit. He says he has been able to plan this only because Pooja has started contributing to their overall family income.
Today, he keeps telling his friends in the village, ‘Who needs a son when you have a daughter like Pooja?’
Mallika comes from a back-of-the-beyond village of West Odisha where early marriage is the usual norm. As soon as the girls reach puberty, or even before that, their parents marry them off. But Mallika didn’t want that, and decided to continue her studies. Her father was furious, but with help from her mother, Mallika went off to a hostel in coastal Odisha to complete her graduation.
The coming up of the Wild Lotus Factory came as a blessing to Mallika, as she always had a natural inclination towards art and design. Her first job was at the sewing line, but she soon got transferred to the Sampling and CAD section, where her performance was well appreciated by her immediate bosses and the management.
Mallika’s father has now realized his mistake. His daughter stands bright against the morbid tradition of child-marriage, and the parents in her village have started thinking about it. Mallika has become a youth icon in her village, standing firm against discrimination against women and senseless traditions that prevents women from finding their true potential.