Nirguna Thombre

Nirguna is a story of grit, determination, and inspiration; it is the story of a 30-year old skilled, confident & courageous woman who has become an embodiment for ‘empowerment’.

Compelled to drop out of secondary school early on in life due to poor financial circumstances, Nirguna was married off to a complete stranger at the young age of 22. A troubled married life soon lead to a separation from her husband. At that time, with little education and almost no skill set to support her, Nirguna felt helpless and went through a difficult phase in life due to a low self-confidence, frustration and dejection.

Two years ago, in March 2016, she came across LOLT’s Jeevan Asha Community Center at Tiware and got a chance to interact with the Team. Inspired by the different types of courses offered in vocational skills at the center and the optimism of the Team, she enrolled for the Sewing & Tailoring and Beautician Training courses. From then onwards, there was no looking back. Slowly and steadily, as she became more engaged in work, Nirguna was able to overcome her challenges. With LOLT’s support, she acquired income generation skills, became more confident, and learnt to communicate and carry herself with pride and dignity. In 2017, she gathered the courage to file for a divorce and finally brought an end to her distressing marriage. After successfully completing the two courses, Nirguna started to stitch & offer beautician services at her home. She became a part of the LOLT tailoring production unit at Tiware and started stitching school uniforms, cloth bags, and much more. In October 2017, she also enrolled for the Landscape and Lawn Development course and has started a small plant nursery with 5000 saplings in her own backyard. The nursery brings her an income of approx. Rs 12,000 every season. In addition she has now started cultivating vegetables too. . It doesn’t end here. She recently completed her short term courses in Toran, Mehendi and Jewellery designing at the Jeevan Asha community center and is currently earning Rs. 3000 to 3500 per month through various skills sets. A strong and independent woman today, Nirguna is paying-it-forward at LOLT by mentoring the other young girls and women at the community center. She is instrumental in decision making at her home and at the village level too now, and provides great support to her family of three.