Warli artisan Yamini is proud to be an earning member of her family in a time of crisis, and hopes to inspire her sons to be independent and resilient.

Yamini, who had started out as a tailor, now has additional skills to boast about. A 35-year-old from Maharashtra, Yamini migrated from her home village, Jalgaon Jilla, to the city of Bhiwandi to earn a better livelihood.

Through her Bachat Gat (Self Help Group), she started attending the stitching training workshops conducted by TISSER in 2018. Having worked as a tailor, she was used to stitching blouses and saree falls (a piece of clothing attached to the hem of a saree), but with additional training she learnt to make newer pieces of clothing like jackets etc. It was in one such training session that TISSER representatives introduced her to Warli art. 

Her husband, the primary breadwinner of the family, works as a driver for private cab service companies. His monthly income of around ?15,000 was insufficient for family expenses, including the education of their two sons, which eventually required them to rely on informal money lenders. 

The uncertainty created by COVID-19 and the fear of her husband