Forced into marriage at 15, 'Pad Didi' now runs 3 units of sanitary napkins

By Samir MondalKOLKATA: Till few days back, she had no idea about sanitary napkin, but today she is famous as the ‘Pad Didi’. Soma Sur Hore of West Midnapore’s Pingla has prepared sanitary napkins for almost 50 families of various villages of the state. For five years, she has been making sanitary napkins for village women. Soma had to skip her Class 10 exams after being forced into marriage at the age of 15. But she never let the lack of education become a barrier in her choice to live a life with respect. Soma passed her 10th exams when her own son was in fourth class. After clearing the exams she went to work for a marketing agency. Read this story in BanglaStarting with an investment of Rs 20,000 and five women in 2012, Soma embarked on a journey of self-reliance by providing sanitary pads to hundreds of young girls at reasonable prices in the state."First I started with 5 women and spent 20 thousand for the set up. But I had to face lots of problems initially,’ said Soma. Then she received help from Chief Medical Officer (Health) Girishchandra Bera and started to deliver sanitary napkins to state government ventures like Tantuj, Manjusha and Bangashree. Today she runs three workshops of 50 workers.The women labourers get Rs 6000-8000 per month. Local woman Piu Hore said, "After completing my graduation from Sanda college, I joined her. A lot of other women have joined her too."