22 May Teacher from the beginning
She is very dedicated at what she does. Such a humble soul, always smiling and giving her best at every situation! Our trainer, we call her Binu Miss 😉
Ayeesha: Hello Miss! I’m very glad to have this interview with you! Tell us something about yourself, any favorite food and color?
Binu Miss: My name is Binu Shakya, Before I joined SAATH I used to work at Fashion Institute I use to work as tailoring tailor where I worked for 5 years, from there I was linked to SAATH and now it has been almost 2 years that I’ve been working here. Beside this, I own a small tailoring shop called Designer home. Favorite food? Umm…. I like everything haha I love to eat! And I really like black color but I do love red too. So Ya, black and red haha.
Ayeesha: Hehe.. So how has your journey been in SAATH as a trainer?
Binu Miss: At first I came to SAATH for the pilot study, there were few girls, just 5-6 and I used to teach them tailoring for 2 hours 2 days a week. Initially it was quite difficult to teach them, they didn’t understand few techniques of tailoring but after a while it became easier for me and we got along pretty well. When our Director Kritishma Maam explained me that DANFE is going to take a height and we’re going to make a sustainable project out of it, then I told her that I am willing to teach and be a part of it! I didn’t thought DANFE would be such a big project like this now.
Ayeesha: How do you feel training all those girls knowing that you are doing something and creating a base for women empowerment?
Binu Miss: I really love working here, I feel like I am doing something. I am giving my best effort to train them and it makes me feel good knowing the fact that they will be independent in future after the completion of this training. I know that they will do something for themselves. Till now I have trained more than 500 girls for tailoring including girls of Danfe, that being said, DANFE girls hold special place for me as it is a speical project, a project of empowerment.
Ayeesha: Oh wow! 500 students, that is some kind of a record! What are the challenges that you face every-day?
Binu Miss: Umm.. Challenges, the girls that come here are very new to these things, it is a very new subject for them. They come here with a lot of hopes and dreams and everybody isn’t the same right? We have to teach them with equal measure so it’s quite difficult.. it’s like a small school you know. So there’s always a doubt whether they will understand my teaching methods or not? It is very important to know the difficulty level of this task and I know it should be done, but there is always a question I raise to myself If I am able to do it or not?
Ayeesha: Any funny or awkward incidents while working at Danfe?
Binu Miss: When I used to teach at Fashion Institute everyone would call me “Ma’am” but here everyone calls me “Miss!” and I had pretty tough time for a while figuring out whom these girls are addressing to !! I know I can hear them but sometimes it’s really hard to figure out and give them a response haha. But now I’m used to it, at first it was really awkward.
Ayeesha: What aspect of the job do you like the most?
Binu Miss: I really adore teaching tailoring. It wasn’t like that before, At first I used to hate tailoring, I learned fine arts during my college and what happened was that my sisters and aunts used to design, sketch and make dresses which really made me feel fascinated and inspired me to make one! It’s like the things you hate the most is the thing you end up doing! But now I love it.
Ayeesha: Where do you think DANFE will be in next five years?
Binu Miss: I have been a part of DANFE since the beginning, I didn’t really thought we would reach where we are right now and now we’re focusing on exploring DANFE more and more. I really feel that DANFE will go up to the place where it’s meant to be.
Ayeesha: Is there anything you would like to tell to our readers?
Binu Miss: If you want to learn tailoring then we welcome you with open heart, it is necessary to learn these things, it is a part of your lifestyle. I learned it and I am proud that I have been teaching tailoring.