A resident of Samaspur village in Uttarakhand, Sheelaben is one if the oldest aagewans in SEWA, and one whose energy is difficult to match.
She had moved to Dehradun with her husband as a young bride, and to support their family of 7, she learned stitching, estimating her measurements as she had never received a primary education. She joined SEWA in 2012, and became an aagewan soon after.
During the lockdown, both her husband and she lost their source of income. She didn’t back away during this time of personal adversity. Sheelaben assisted 60 families around her who needed access to ration kits, by bringing it up with the Nagar Nigam Parshad. She also stitched up the scrap cloth in her home into masks and distributed them in the community.