Page 5 - The Daily Builder - Day 01

grains. She flung open the doors and Panna has installed two stone family and give them financial
of her shop before sunrise each benches on either side of the shop security, something she never
morning. for her customers to relax. She had before. And what’s more, her
But no customers came. Because accepts payments in either cash generosity extends much farther
of Panna Devi’s low standing even or grain, and stores the grain in a than just her family - Panna loves
in her own caste, no one wanted to new shed in her yard. She was able numbers, and she takes pride
buy from her. to pay for an in-ground water tank in helping others to open bank
Panna was discouraged but at her home, to spare herself the accounts and sell their goats for
not disheartened. She had faced half-hour walk to the nearest well fair prices. She meets with women
adversity all her life - what was a - a trip she used to have to make of her village and beyond every
little more? multiple times a day. Her profits day, to help them in the same way
She continued attending every also allow her to hire someone her own women’s self-help group
training that Heifer offered, to graze her goats, which used to did.
learning as much as she could. require her to take them on long And having spent decades in
Eventually all this learning paid walks each day. desperate poverty herself, Panna
off (as it always does!), and Panna But don’t think this means Devi is quick and proud to ease
completed a course that allowed Panna Devi has gotten lazy - “I others’ burdens. The woman
her to become a community health
worker. These are community
members that Heifer trains to
provide basic veterinary services
After laboring as a brickmaker and cleaning houses for members of a higher caste, Panna Devi is now a successful
business owner, operating her own shop in Jhareli, India. like vaccinations, examinations,
and medicine, and they are
invaluable in places where the
UntoUchable closest veterinary assistance is too
far away.
For Panna, these new skills

By Austin Bailey, World Ark editor thought this could be a way out of gave her the chance to show her
Photos by Geoff Oliver Bugbee misery,” she said. dedication and competence. She
The first thing she learned threw herself into her work as an
anna Devi was born into was forced to take any work she through the Heifer program was animal caretaker. “I will do it and
an “untouchable” caste in could. Though she had always how to better care for her goat. show it,” she said. “I will show Panna Devi and her family tend to their kitchen garden, growing
PJhareli, India, and had to had an entrepreneurial spirit, all With better nutrition, her goat everyone how it is done.” nutritious food crops year round.
fight most of her life for respect and she would do was bake bricks to was able to reproduce - and with And she did - people called on
a sense of belonging. Thanks to make money, and in exchange for that, Panna was encouraged by Panna Devi to keep their animals have work for all day now!” she whose husband was once trapped
training from Heifer International food she cleaned the houses of her own success. With a loan healthy and vaccinated, and said. She loves to stay busy, and in indentured servitude is now
and the support of her local members of a higher caste. This from the women’s self-help group, the goats who received her care she keeps her schedule as full as known as a sethani, a respected
women’s self-help group, Panna unfortunately pushed her own Panna finally worked towards a thrived like they never had before. she can. Her packed daily routine community member who will step
has become a successful farmer, standing even lower. plan she’d been thinking about for The people of Jhareli began to see involves running the shop, tending in to give money to people in need.
entrepreneur, and community When Panna learned that Heifer years. Panna’s value and her skills, and animals, leading her self-help Thanks to Heifer International
animal health worker. International would be starting a Panna set up a small shop, their admiration for her grew. At group, and helping to start other for allowing us to bring you Panna
After her husband was swindled women’s self-help group nearby, painted sky blue and raised on her shop, business began to pick women’s groups in her village. Devi’s story. You can find the
by a bad debt that forced him she was thrilled at the opportunity stilts. She filled the shop with up. With her success and her profits, original story and more photos in
into bonded labor, Panna, too, for more dignified work. “I tobacco, candy, vegetables, and These days, business is steady, Panna has been able to care for her Heifer’s World Ark magazine.

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