The Pattern of Poverty

This is Rahul. He’s five year’s old and he lives in Rajasthan, India. He loves riding his bike in the street outside his house.

Rahul’s mum Sushila is a block printer. She uses wooden blocks to print patterns onto material which she then sells to be made into suits, saris and sheets. Sushila never had the chance to go to school. She found it hard to earn enough money to support her family and she had no money to make her business better.

Sushila had training from an organisation called Traidcraft. The training taught her lots of ways to make her business better, things like different dyes and patterns to use and how to make sure material is ready to be printed. Because of this training Sushila’s income has doubled. She now earns around £60 a month which means a better life for Rahul and his two sisters.

Have a go at your own Christmas block printing! How about a Christmas bauble or a robin or maybe a big twinkly star?