Cobra perfume, maida (flour) and sugar to chips can be seen stocked neatly on the shelves in a small tiny shed in the village of Mus. It is more than a normal provision store. It’s a Mothers Union shop, something that is connected to the lives of the women for the last 100 years, Mother’s union was set up by the church to do a myriad of activities- from training young wives to be good housewives, to doing church linen and even looking after the widows. On a full moon night, they would sit weaving crochet tablemats and weave the traditional basket.

Post tsunami, they have donned a new role. Selling provisions at the printed price, the price being fair and not high as the outsiders charged. CNI helped them set up the shop. Neena Philip helped prepare a list of what was to be bought. She along with few other went to Calcutta to do the first purchase. She gave them Rs 65,000 each, which is now used as rolling money. Each of the 11 shops has an account in their name, which they use to buy more provisions from the CNI central godown. CNI buys these things in bulk, bringing down the price. The profit helps in paying three members their salaries.

The shop at Mus sells as much as Rs 20,000 worth of provision items every month. The reason is that the other shop is too far. “Finally, we have something to call our own’’ said Neena Philip. It has one of the highest turnovers, as there is no other shop in the vicinity, says K Afsa Ghori, who runs the shop.