Impact from Gift Catalog Items is Immediate and Significant
Unemployment among parents is a consistent issue across all of Chalice’s child sponsorship program sites. Finding daily wage work, such as agricultural labor, is challenging, often seasonal, and permanent positions are mostly unattainable. Naturally, many people become entrepreneurs, making use of their skills and available resources to start a small business; be it a handicraft, a service, or an agricultural endeavor. Any new business needs capital up-front. To sell the tomatoes, you need to buy all the materials to grow them. To sell woven saris, you need to buy the loom and the silk. To sell flowers from a cart, you need the cart!
That’s why it’s so exciting to meet community members at the Chalice sites who have taken the initiative to start a small business with an item either given from the Gift Catalog or with a loan from their Chalice Small Community Group. The impact of those key items necessary for a start-up is almost immediate, and that impact is significant!
For instance, I met Mr. Munyamuthu in the village of Edaiyar, a part of Chalice’s STAR Sponsor Site in India. In that region, most people rely on daily agricultural labor jobs, such as picking and weeding, to earn income. However, that work is inconsistent at best, and often disappears when the local crops are out of season, or the harvest is poor due to lack of rain.
Mr. Muniyamuthu’s family were among the people who relied on this source of income, but also had one other asset – a sound system they could rent out for major events, especially weddings. With a Livelihood gift from the Chalice Gift Catalog, he was able to purchase a Samiyana, a brightly colored tent canopy, also used at weddings and big celebrations.
Since obtaining the Samiyana in June of 2017, he has had several bookings. He is able to make more than 1000 rupees, about fifteen and a half dollars, with a single day’s rental. Mr. Munyamuthu joked with me that he always wears a white shirt and dhoti (the traditional long, skirt-like garment) so that he looks likes the brides who want to rent his tent!
Everyone at Chalice loves to see these dynamic parents investing in their families and the futures of their children. The fruits of their hard work, not to mention their bravery in the face of risk, shows in the ambition and success of their children. It’s like that saying: “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” It’s almost like Chalice adds: “Give a man a fishing rod, feed him and his family, for generations.”
— Kate Mosher, Creative Specialist & Photographer at Chalice