Field Note

Woman Entrepreneur Saves Lives by Working for Health, Selling Clean Birth Kits

By Dr. Abdul Bari*
Deputy Program Manager, Save the Children, Haripur District RH Program, Pakistan

Roshan** lives in Kotlian, a rural suburb of Haripur. She was just 3 when her mother died and was 6 when her father re-married. She has only one real brother. At the age of 13, while studying in the 8th grade, she was married to her first cousin while she was still in school. She discovered after marriage that he was a drug addict, and after 8 months of her unsuccessful marriage they were divorced.

She resumed studies and completed the 8th grade. Later she started teaching in a private school while continuing her studies. There she met with the sisters of her present husband, living in a nearby home. She was married again at the tender age of 16, but without the approval of her family for various reasons.

Soon after, she discovered her husband's drinking habit. He assured her that he would soon give it up but that day never came. He is a barber, and owned a shop at the time of their marriage. Soon he had to sell the shop to pay the heavy drinking debt he owed.

By that time Roshan was the mother of two children and she had completed her education. The family's situation was worsening day by day and she was compelled to find ways to supplement their earning. She started stitching clothes for people for meager amounts of money. Meanwhile, she contacted her parents once again and pleaded for help. Her father finally agreed and helped her by giving her dowry. Brother also joined in and continues to help her to date.

She was recruited and trained as a Lady Health Worker (LHW). She also succeeded in studying for a diploma in handicrafts from the District Handicraft School Haripur. She worked there for a while but they paid her a very small salary of Rs. 500 (U.S. $8). There she met with the representatives of International Labor Organization (ILO) who lent her a credit of Rs. 10,000 (U.S. $155). She invested the money in a cloth depot. Someone advised her to sell cloth elsewhere and make big profit. She did make a lot of profit on a few initial business trips, however finally she had to pay a heavy price for that endeavor.

"At Faisalabad, police caught my merchandise and charged that it was over loaded. I offered them Rs. 2000 (U.S. $30) but they asserted that I should go with them to the police station. I was scared of earning an evil name for my family the second time. So I made an excuse of making a phone call and silently slipped away to the railway station leaving behind a merchandise of Rs. 32,000 (U.S. $492) and come back to my home."

After this resentful experience she never ventured to do business outside her home.

Save the Children (SC/US), launched an initiative to work with the private health care sector in Haripur district, under its already existing Haripur district reproductive health program. The goal of this program is to improve the reproductive health status and quality of life of mothers, children and families in district Haripur. Roshan is one of the female shopkeepers SC/US works with in the district. A network of female health care providers in the private sector called the Healthy Family Network (HFN) has been developed in the district. At the community end is the Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) who is linked up, through intermediary providers, to a highly skilled health care provider in the city. Female shopkeepers, religious leaders, traditional healers and homeopaths support the network by carrying out activities in support of safe motherhood, family planning, sexually transmitted diseases and child survival.

Roshan has been trained by SC/US to make clean birth kits (CBK) and is now the sole manufacturer and distributor in the district. She has already prepared 100 CBKs and has sold 40 of them. SC/US is currently training TBAs to provide efficient and trained birth attendants for the 30,000 deliveries that occur annually in the district. Roshan is being asked to provide five CBKs to each of the 400 trained TBAs. She will also receive marketing training to increase her sales. Each CBK is a small envelope containing a plastic sheet, a piece of soap, new blade, a piece of thread to tie the cord and few gauze pieces. There is an insert in pictorial form giving instructions on the three cleans for the delivery and use of the kit. CBK costs 30 cents. Community awareness sessions carried out in the district for males and females, emphasizes the importance of three cleans and use of CBK during delivery. Parents and health care providers are the usual buyers for the clean birth kit.

Roshan is also selling contraceptives, mainly condoms, in her shop. The women of the village buy them. Though women feel shy to ask for them. She does not face any problem from her husband or family. For the moment community has not shown any reaction. Roshan is a positive deviant in a set-up where "modern" things are not so readily accepted. It is possible that she may encounter harsh resistance as she expands her activities.

In a society with a rural setting like Haripur, women are said to be like a man's slipper. Roshan was brave enough to be so enterprising and persistent in her efforts. Currently she is a regular member of SC/US's forum for women shopkeepers to promote reproductive health in the district and supported and encouraged to include contraceptives and CBKs in addition to other merchandise required by women and children in rural areas.

*The story was originally narrated by Humera Naz, Community Organizer, Save the Children and was reported by Rasheda Parveen, Assistant Project Manager, Community Mobilization, Save the Children, Haripur.

**The names have been changed.