Beauty: April 2023 Story of Empowerment

Meet Beauty, our April 2023 featured student for Stories of Empowerment. 

Beauty currently lives in Balangir with her mother, father, and daughter, but she used to live in Tamil Nadu with her husband and his family. Beauty’s husband would give all the money he earned to his father and didn’t use any of it on Beauty or her needs. “I had to live by suppressing my desires,” Beauty explains. Whenever Beauty would communicate her feelings to her husband, he would fight and argue with her, and she could never get her point across. When she gave birth to her daughter, she expected the quarreling with her husband to stop, but it only escalated. Eventually, the situation became very unhealthy for all of them and they got a divorce, which meant that Beauty had to leave behind Tamil Nadu and go back to Balangir to live with her parents. 

Once back in her hometown, Beauty did everything she could to bring back money for her daughter and family. At one point, she had to work more than 12 hours every day, but she realized she wouldn’t be able to raise her daughter if she continued in that job. Beauty felt helpless and had no idea what to do.

At just the right moment, Beauty’s friend came and told her about the One Life Movement tailoring center and how she could learn how to tailor there for free. She signed up as quickly as possible, and though she felt nervous to start something new at first, she quickly became comfortable after meeting and getting to know the teachers. 

In addition to tailoring, Beauty says she has learned many other useful things through the OLM tailoring classes, such as perseverance and encouragement. “I know that after learning how to stitch,” Beauty says, “my life is going to change.” 

Many women just like Beauty get the chance for a new start thanks to the OLM tailoring center. Consider joining us in our mission to help underprivileged women achieve financial independence by donating today.