New homes, steady income and a happy Onam

Thiruvananthapuram: With new homes and a regular income, this year’s Onam is special for the residents of the Karimadom Colony.
A resident of the colony, Divya M R, bought a bagful of Onam goodies for her kids on the eve of ‘Uthradam’. Divya is among the 20 women from Karimadom colony, trained in making designer clothes which are being sold under the brand name ‘Karimadom’. They were provided training as part of ‘Sewing Hope’, an initiative by Urvi Foundation, which runs the designer store.
On Monday, Urvi foundation organized Onam celebration at the production unit of the store at Attakulangara where families of all employees joined. Onam games and dance performances of kids were organized, which was followed by a sumptuous ‘sadya’ (Onam feast). Instead of engaging caterers to prepare the feast, the staff decided to pool cooked dishes brought from their homes and make a complete sadya.
“Now, I am able to support my family and I enjoy the work. I bought two dishes for the sadya and everyone liked it. It is a new experience to celebrate Onam with my co-workers here,” said Divya.
Shanila Rafeek, who joined the store two months ago, said that it is the flexible working hours that helped her to manage the household chores as well as to pursue her interest in fashion designing. “We can choose a convenient shift and complete the stitching task given to us in time,” said Shanila.
According to representatives of the Urvi Foundation, the designer store has sold thousands of pieces of clothes in August and the sale was not affected due to floods. “The record sale is a recognition for Karimadom brand. We are now selling the clothes in stores at Kollam and Ernakulam too,” said Hasan Naseef, chairman of Urvi Foundation.
Also, 40 other women from the residential area are earning a living from tailoring after they received vocational training through Karimadom Education and Empowerment Network (KEEN), another project being implemented in the area. Some have setup their own stitching units in the new constructed houses in the area.
A residential complex, comprising 72 flats, was built for residents of the colony who were living in dilapidated houses. It was built under the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) and was completed at a total cost of Rs 6.3 crore.