Kusum can now hope to purchase a sewing machine!

Kusum, a widow lives with her two sons, daughter-in-law and a widowed daughter in Sapera Basti near the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan. Sapera Basti can barely qualify as a village- it is a settlement of 11 families, with all the property belonging to the local Panchayat. No electrical power lines run into the village, and neither does the village boast of a school, a healthcare centre or even shops. The residents of Sapera Basti have to go to the village of Chaksu, which is 5 kilometers (3 miles) away, for all their basis necessities.

Kusum’s son works in Chaksu, as a laborer on daily wages and usually manages to find work only for fifteen days in a month . With his meager income, they struggle to run the household and meet their most basic needs. Her daughter helps by cutting firewood from the nearby forests for cooking food.

Kusum’s eyesight is weak and she was delighted when she received the gift of a solar lantern. She can now see better in the evenings. Till now, she couldn’t do much work because of her poor vision and no electricity, although she knows stitching. But with the arrival of the solar lantern, she hopes to save up and buy a sewing machine and start stitching during the evenings, thereby increasing the income of the family.

Thank you, Laurent, for fulfilling her wish and giving her the opportunity to supplement her family income.