Kamala
Kamala is 36 and has three children, one of whom has a brain tumour. Her husband is a daily-wage labourer and prior to her poultry enterprise with Shivia their household income was very low.
Kamala registered for Poultry Development Services in 2012 and received her first poultry toolkit of 10 one-day old chicks from her Shivia Livelihood Service Provider, Prenundu Biswas, three weeks later. Prenundu trained Kamala and her family how to build a coop and raise healthy chickens. He also helped her with some financial advice and how to market her produce.
Hens start laying eggs when they are a few months old and Kamala was very proud when one of the hens from her toolkit laid the very first egg. She presented that beautiful, fresh egg to Chandrani Banerjee, Shivia’s Head of Livelihood Programme, insisting that she take it back home to Kolkata on the crowded train and give it to her daughter for breakfast. Chandrani obliged and the egg (poached for breakfast the next day) was delicious!
Kamala now has a regular income from selling eggs and chickens and has laid the foundations for a much bigger coop to expand her business, as you can see from the photos below. She is also able to pay the medical expenses for her sick child.
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