Every morning Welson Teron sets off from his house at Sam Teron village in Karbi Anglong, Assam to a Bokajan. He starts the day with the cleaning of his shop and tools and then only pulls up the shutter of his Barbershop. He has started this shop after losing his job in Arunachal Pradesh as stone crusher.

Welson is among the 1.04 crore migrant workers who have returned home after losing their jobs during Covid-19. Welson first migrated to Goa for work in a restaurant and from there he migrated to Arunachal Pradesh where he used to earn around Rs 15,000 per month.

After the nation-wide lockdown, Welson was compelled to return to his native village as there was hardly any livelihood options available for a living.

The parents, wife with a 5 months old baby, a sister and 5 brothers were dependent on Welson for their survival. After the lockdown was eased in June, many migrant workers moved back to cities but Welson decided to stay back with his family but there was hardly any livelihood options in the village.

With agriculture in his blood, he wanted to do something but could not succeed until Jirsong Asong, a Caritas India partner reached out to him with some livelihood support. Caritas India has extended support for income generation activities for the poorest of the poor families in his village affected by Covid-19.

Welson was part of the group that received ducklings, chicks, areca nut, lemon and pineapple saplings to start some livelihood. While the chickens and duckling are being reared at a common place, the saplings given were planted individually. Welson wasted no time in utilizing the opportunity and planted the saplings in his backyard with hope of reaping benefits in the years to come.

The livelihood support given by Jirsong Asong was going to take time to bear results but Welson was still wondering if he could do something to earn immediately. He soon discovered his long-forgotten skill of cutting hair. Welson tried his hands on some of his friends and they were impressed by his talent. Welson immediately decided to go for a barber’s shop in September 2020. His friends and Jirsong Asong team came to his help and supported him with a hair trimmer.  

“In the beginning, it was very difficult for me as I am not a professional barber, but now I learnt a lot while practising hair cutting and designing,” says Welson. He started earning nearly Rs 9,000 – 10,000 per month from his shop and he is expecting more. It is worth mentioning that in a state like Assam or the North East Region, locals are very rarely seen in such business but Welson is one among those rarest of the rare.

Welson has already spent some amount from his barbershop to develop the areca nut nursery and plans to do more in the coming days.