Report by Setrawa project volunteers, Jan 2008

Report by Setrawa project volunteers - Ms. Karine & Ms. Elisa


First impression reports:
Basic Introduction: My name is Karine Tchakerian. I am an American from California. I have my Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. I graduated with a focus on Freshwater Ecology and Conservation Biology. Since then, I have volunteered with various humanitarian and social justice groups.

Hi, my name is Elisa Warner. I grew up in the United States but moved to Australia five years ago with my family. I just completed my final year of high school to qualify for university, where I hope to study Humanities based Arts, with my main focus being on creative writing, history and French. I have volunteered in various environmental projects when I lived in California, but I have not yet participated in any projects with a humanitarian focus. I am looking forward to participating in more projects, both social and conservational once I go to university. From here on we will be writing as one both about our joint impressions of the project and our ongoing reports. After only four days in India there is a lot to reflect on so we'll begin with the driving, which after our long flights in was a jolting introduction to the country, literally. We found out quickly that the roads are shared equally by cars, rickshaws, cows, kids, cyclists, and camels. Our ongoing joke is that we 'haven't seen nothing yet' and sure enough our rides have been getting progressively more exhilarating to put it politely. After the insanity of Delhi, it was a relief to arrive in Jodhpur where we received a very warm welcome from Govind, his family, and the Sambhali participants. Upon our arrival we were immediately bedecked with a garland of marigolds and roses and our foreheads painted with a bright red bindi. The girls were amazingly warm, shy, inquisitive, and 'giggly' at the same time. Although we knew that we would be leaving shortly after to work at Sambhali Setrawa, we loved them right away and a part of us wished that we could be staying here at the Jodhpur project. We were then taken upstairs to the new classroom in which the girls resumed their embroidery lesson with their crafts teacher. She showed us their handicrafts and embroidery. Govind showed us a sample windchime that he made with old bangles thinking that it could be a possible future project for the girls to sell. The girls, also seeing it for the first time, started laughing and gently teasing Govind more about his workmanship than the idea. A couple of days later Govind brought us the girls versions of his windchime all beautifully made with ribbon, beads, bells, and bangles. Our first day here we spoke to Govind about the project and his aims for the future. He wishes for Sambhali to serve as a vehicle for empowerment. This involves the building of a strong support system and self sufficiency by means of using the participants' various skills to produce crafts that can be sold to support both themselves and the project. Aside from these more obvious goals, the project really aims to build up their self esteem and let these girls know that they are important as individuals, and are a force to be reckoned with as a group. He told us some stories about how these girls had stuck up for themselves in situations they otherwise may have been forced to simply accept. We will now be focusing on working toward aligning those goals with our own and working together to bring the most that we can to the Setrawa project during our two month stay. The beautiful thing about the Sambhali projects in both Jodhpur and Setrawa is that it truly is a group effort.
Two days later we took a day trip to Setrawa to meet the current volunteers, Marion, Stanley, Edwina and Mary and to get acquainted with the project and its participants. We were joined by Govind, his father in law and two women interested in the project. The two hour desert drive down to the village was a great contrast to what we had seen of India so far. While Jodhpur lacked the hustle and bustle of Delhi, passing through the series of villages and stone quarries among the expansive desert landscape was a remarkable contrast. Along the way one of the women we were with requested that we make a detour into one of these quarries when she spotted a group of women carrying water jugs atop their heads. She wanted to get a photograph. The girls, colorfully dressed against the desert scenery, we admit would make an undeniably beautiful photo. However, upon entering their world beyond the barrier of the car, we were faced with the reality of what we had observed from afar. Many women made their way up to the car with babies on their hips and young children bouncing between them. They all crowded around us, asking for money. We then realized the magnitude of frivolously impinging on such a different world, simply to take a photograph. This experience will shape what we don't want our experience and work here to be. We don't want to come in as outsiders and take a mental snapshot of these women for future reference while in the comforts of our 'western world'. Nor do we wish to do this at Setrawa. Our goal is to make a lasting connection with these women. To each share our stories and perspectives – something that can be accomplished with time and love, not a couple of photographs and rupees. Upon our arrival in Setrawa we met the volunteers currently in charge of the village project who graciously offered us a beautifully cooked meal prepared by their neighbor. While Govind and his two guests left to visit the Setrawa ruins, we were able to sit in on a class taught by Marion, whom we were quite impressed with. She was very natural teaching the girls and we would soon learn that she is a teacher and has a degree in pedagogy. Setrawa is quite different from Jodhpur in terms of both the town and the project. Setrawa is a town built next to the ruins of an old town which, if we are not mistaken, was abandoned by its inhabitants after a holy man put a curse on it. The new Setrawa consists of unpaved roads lined with beautiful smiling children, goats, small shops, and starving puppies. We also noticed there were certain areas where there was improper drainage of sewage from various homes. This caused puddles to form in certain areas. Stanley, a current volunteer, is currently working with his students to see if the town will agree to a project designed to remedy this problem.

While walking through the town we met a beautiful barefoot little girl named Guddi. She had an amazing smile and we were soon charmed by her as she and some of the other children of the village followed us back to the school chanting "Hello. What is your name?" The Setrawa school and living accommodations are connected. The complex consists of three rooms; the classroom, the bedroom, and the kitchen. Adjacent to the kitchen is the bathing area and the toilet. In the center is a small yard in which there is a covered area and the beginnings of what will be a garden patch once the seeds are planted by the students. The planting must take place when it becomes a little warmer so this will likely be one of our projects for the students after we begin our stay.

Although we originally were scheduled to volunteer at the Jodhpur project, as it is specifically aimed towards empowering Harijan women, we are no less enthusiastic about being in Setrawa. Upon speaking with the previous volunteers, we were excited to learn why the Setrawa project is so unique. It is centered around the aims and intentions of the Sambhali founder but the various volunteers that participate can choose how they fulfill these aims based on their own unique skills, knowledge, and backgrounds. During our stay we hope to share our own skills and knowledge with the participants as a means of fulfilling the underlying goal of the Sambhali Trust-- women's empowerment. We also share the founder's belief that equally important is that the Sambhali project in Setrawa be non-discriminatory and be open to members of all castes. As of yet, (to the best of our knowledge) there are no Harijan women at Sambhali Setrawa. We would like this to change because not only would Sambhali provide a safe place for such women to be involved in something unrelated to their domestic duties, but hopefully the school's current participants will begin to open their minds to caste integration. We feel that it is important to look into the reasons why the women of this caste have not joined. Are they simply absent from the community or are they unaware of the Sambhali project? These are questions that we hope to address.

Although we originally were scheduled to volunteer at the Jodhpur project, as it is specifically aimed towards empowering Harijan women, we are no less enthusiastic about being in Setrawa. Upon speaking with the previous volunteers, we were excited to learn why the Setrawa project is so unique. It is centered around the aims and intentions of the Sambhali founder but the various volunteers that participate can choose how they fulfill these aims based on their own unique skills, knowledge, and backgrounds. During our stay we hope to share our own skills and knowledge with the participants as a means of fulfilling the underlying goal of the Sambhali Trust-- women's empowerment. We also share the founder's belief that equally important is that the Sambhali project in Setrawa be non-discriminatory and be open to members of all castes. As of yet, (to the best of our knowledge) there are no Harijan women at Sambhali Setrawa. We would like this to change because not only would Sambhali provide a safe place for such women to be involved in something unrelated to their domestic duties, but hopefully the school's current participants will begin to open their minds to caste integration. We feel that it is important to look into the reasons why the women of this caste have not joined. Are they simply absent from the community or are they unaware of the Sambhali project? These are questions that we hope to address.

Here we present Sambhali Participants at Jodhpur Project 07-09. Helping to empower harijan women,two of the participants were absent, Aneeta and Suneeta , they were attending a cousine's marriage.
Congratulations all, thanks to our supporters.
3 Handicapped girls
13 school participants
31 art and craft(basic english,Regular participants).

Regards

Rathore Govind and Team.

Sambhali report in January 2008

Hello dear Friends!

These pictues are here to show the achievements in English for the women and children on Setrawa project. By Ms. Marion, Mr. Stanley and Ms. Edwina.

Khamaghani Readers,

I hope everybody is doing well on your end and that you are enjoying your time at your place. We all do all right, a lot happening on this side of the world,

Sambhali Trust: I am learning everyday (alone), what the projects have earned in such a short time. I don’t know of any organization achieving it so fast with such limited resources, I don’t want anybody (locals) to involve much because the trust is my baby and I don’t want to lose it. Earlier, local people came up to help me and they wanted to make money out of it and take everything away. I trusted people and it was always me who got back stabbed, gossiped about, laughed about, so I thought I should do it myself and alone and I decided that I shall let people come and help me as volunteers and my foreign friends participate in to make it better. We have gained a lot in the last year (trust and faith of the participants), we have been in news paper not because of us being a NGO and working to make lives better of people but because there are foreign volunteers participating in it, even in publicity newspaper needs masala(Foreigners) that people will be interested in reading about.

News paper cutting


We had Ms. Mary, Ms. Edwina, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley at Setrawa project as volunteers, reports in the blog. Now Ms. Karine and Ms. Elisa are in Setrawa for two months, Ms. Amanda went to travel but returned for few days to say good bye until next time.

Jodhpur Project has Mr. Gernot (participants call him Lucky) who is doing a great job, girls call him Lucky, his participating has been very valuable for us, Mr. Justin from the USA visited us for 3 days but ended up staying 9 days and worked on making a documentary on our projects, he is director of Alpern Productions, USA.
Ms. Linda, director of Teen circle organization from the USA, visited us and stayed with us for abut 8 days, she gave a little workshop on group talking with our girls which was very successful and our girls spoke well.
Ms. Lynn and Ms. Anne from the UK visited us for about 5 days, wanted to participate as volunteers for 15 days, but they found out that there was nothing much they could do to help, they left for Udaipur today and wished to sponsor (to go to school) a girl participant (Bharati) from the Sambhali, Jodhpur Project. They also gave us a lot of information on making things better here at the project. But I think what we have gained is success in this time.
The volunteers and their reports mean a lot to us, I have requested them to write reports on their experience daily, weekly, monthly, special reports (first impressions, over all impressions and their experience with individual girls). Share their thoughts with me and understand our culture before judging something and making any conclusion from a western point of view, because things here may look and seem different and proper for here but not for their home country. I want our volunteers to feel comfortable, our participants to feel comfortable, I requested our volunteers that they should teach what our girls are comfortable with and what they feel comfortable with, this time of them may not come back in their lives when they leave the project, we want them to enjoy everything that we can make them comfortable with. I also asked them to give me critics, I am open to it, I want them to share it because I am not a kind of person who just puts it on paper and not work upon it.
Mr. Justin and Mr. Gernot have offered us some help; we requested them to buy us sewing machines that can be given to the girls so that they can practice on them when they are at home. We bought 20 sewing paddle machines, presented it to the participants coming from day 1 of the project, Mr. Gernot asked me what else is required for the girls entertainment, our cassette player is maybe 11 years old or so therefore we bought a high-tech Sony music all in one music player. So our girls can dance on higher beats.
Mr. Justin even gave Pizza party to our girls, girls enjoyed pizza we ordered from Pizza Hut. Mr. Gernot is fund raising to buy more art supplies for us so that when there is no donation in the no tourists season we will be having sufficient to practice with.
I was asked one reason why I am participating so (personally) much in the NGO, I said one thing, everybody has a small child in them and so do I, but I also have a special person in me (about it only some knows) who want to dance, embroider, stitch, weave, learn and do stuff that I can not do because of the society, in form of the 100 girls from the NGO projects, I do all what I wanted to do myself. I am trying to bring them the best that had to be brought to me by my brother, my father or my guardian angel.

We are two brothers in our family and no sister, we use to wait for our cousin sisters to visit us, to talk to us, but due to little conservative society, we kept distance, we always wanted sisters, now we have 100 sisters, Shakti respects them from his heart and so do I.
There is a festival in India called Rakhi when sisters tie a string on brother wrists and wish them luck and in return brother promises that they would look after her and protect her all his life, me and my brother use to wait for our cousins to come and do the ceremony to us and we had to wait whole of the day and some times they never showed up. Now I have soo many strings from our participants that my whole hand gets full of these colorful strings. I and Shakti don’t take them off whole day and feel blessed.


Some people staying with us at OUR home have had concerns of Mukta veiling in front of strangers and being traditional or conservative in some senses and being educated she shouldn’t do so.
My reply to these people is, look at it from Indian point of view and not your point of view which is maybe some ways 50 years ahead of us and in many ways not conservative.
Mukta is 23 years old, Alpha Female of the family, everybody from my grand ma to my mother to my son to my brother and me on her side follow her, she has all the rights, with money, with decisions with everything that usually a young women India don’t have when her mother in law or grand mother in law is alive. She does it all, in veil in front of many and unveil in front of million, She is the one who takes care of the family, takes care of the guest house, and partially take care of the NGO. To veil and to unveil is her choice, or the choice of person she veils in front of, I cant talk in between these decisions as a man of the house. She doesn’t veil in front of me for sure otherwise we wouldn’t be parents today.
Veiling in our culture is respected way much more then women without veiling,
In our (Rajput) community it is a big honor for a lady like Mukta who veils. I only took one promise from her when we got married and that was, anybody younger to you shall be given love, older to you shall be paid respect and nobody shall leave our home without eating or at least drinking water. People respect her for this and that, the good word goes distance and people will remember and recognize, whose wife, mother, daughter and daughter in law she is and she is taking the name of the family ahead (traditionally). This maybe meaningless to many but this means a lot to us and for our society we live in and we will be living in.
Lots of people reading this, I have to make it clear that my intentions are not to make these participants of Sambhali Trust modern or westernized from MTV or Hollywood, my intensions are to make them powerful traditionally and that their word counts in their society or at least in their family and they become self-sustainable and be aware of their world. Volunteers in or planning to join in please keep it clear in your mind that we do not want our participants to get westernized, imagine how would it be like if some one came into your lives for some time and tried pushing you to accept the change and turn you to be easternized .

Setrawa Project Report by Mary (guest Volunteer for 15 days), Mr. Stanley, Mrs.Marion and Ms. Edwina (for 1 month), Setrawa project is 2 months old and have gone quite a distance -22 January.

Ms. Mary's report:

Govind and Mukta are clearly the basic strength of the Trust, with Govind as the instigator and front man. This December of 2007, and part of January 2008, I’ve done a little work here at Sambhali Trust. I made a book with the girls and will finish it at the end of January 2008. I asked them some personal questions about their lives, hoping to get them to talk and open up a little. I asked questions such as, what makes you happy. What do you want for your future?
The girls wrote some, and we interviewed them again to get more information. They each made a mandala with oil pastels on colored paper, and then I took a photo of each girl. The book contains photos, writing snippets and mandala artwork. The book can be used for gifts or to promote the Trust.
These girls seem committed to the program and eager to work and to learn. They enjoy coming to Sambhali. They have already learned a great deal about grooming and handcraft, and I know that with more volunteers, the English will begin to be more integrated into the program.
Because these girls all come from economically stressed homes, and because they have not had many advantages in their lives, I think almost anything one can help them to learn is good to teach. Sometimes I think, as do others, that it is almost enough just for them to meet western women who are happily traveling by themselves, living on money they have earned with their own labor. Even at my age, I often feel glad to be able to say that whatever money I have to spend, I have earned by myself.
But I also feel that because these girls would be best served by getting them into schools and educating them. Nothing really can better what happens to the mind when it is exposed to good teachers and great books. Unfortunately, India’s teaching methods are on the whole, very poor. People here don’t learn to think creatively or to solve problems. The teachers are boring and students learn by rote. But if the girls were able to study at excellent schools and learn to really think about social issues, political issues and philosophical issues, if they could by some miracle emerge from the thick layers of superstition and subservience that dominates them, they would become civic leaders. With this in mind, I feel a good thing to do would be to try to raise money from donors specifically for education, perhaps targeting and profiling a particular girl.
It is also important to continue the work of building self esteem by asking the girls to write about themselves and describe their lives. They need to begin to see themselves as valuable IN THEMSELVES, not related to their status in society. They need practice at finding their feelings and expressing their feelings. (It surprised me that almost none of the girls I interviewed had a personal answer to “What makes you happy?”) Any way that you can help them to unfold, psychologically, will benefit them, and they will pass this on to their children in the future, girls and boys alike.
The situation in Setrawa is very different. There we are now working with a middle class merchant population. But generally, the village is quite backward, biased and ignorant. The village is more segregated than the city. Castes remain very much in place. For awhile, it bothered me that I was teaching women and girls who came to school more from boredom than from a real desire to learn. But I now feel that there is such deep seated conservatism in the village that any little jolt to the tired system that exists there will help the community.

I recently learned that Govind WANTS to integrate the Dalits into the school, and I know that as this integration progresses there will be some radical changes in the village. I wish I could come back in a year to see what will happen.

Environmentally there is much that can be done in Setrawa. Sewage HAS to be worked on and trees NEED to be planted. It seemed to me that it was only laziness on the part of the village council that prevented the sewage pipes from being fixed. It is clearly only a refusal to spend money that is preventing the villagers from planting trees, because they do want trees. (The trees can be planted directly into the waste drainage areas.) The great thing about Setrawa is that the village is so small that anything can be fixed quickly and easily, but the village is simply not “forward thinking.” It is conservative and set in its ways, and each villager thinks only of their selves and their own family. But from my brief time spent in the village, I saw that the young kids are NOT so conservative. They listen and they learn, and they listen and respond to ideas and questions that are put to them.
Mary Quagliata, January 13, 2008

Mr. and Mrs. Stanley and Ms. Edwina's joint report and
Marion’s weekly report Dec 28 – Jan 4

Arrived and settled in smoothly – Mary has cleaned everything so that it all looks good. Got the rooms cleaned up and prepared the beds for all. Spent Saturday looking at the work of the students and orienting myself to the language classes that I am to do.

Walking to the village center, which seems to be the vegetable seller’s corner, we feel like royalty, greeting and bowing and acknowledging the people. But everybody seems friendly enough and certainly curious. Our immediate neighbour, Gunjan, is a sweet, honest and motherly soul, ready to help and make conversaton at the drop of a hat. Her husband is a vet and rides off to work on a motorbike everyday: her two children are Harsh and Harshita: the latter, a girl, sometimes attends Sambhali. Gunjan has been coming for sewing and English as well.

In terms of simple physical comfort, we seem to have what we need: “Mummyji” from next door has agreed to cook for us once a day, so that takes care of lunch and we eat the left overs fro dinner. It is nice to go shopping for veggies and get a few groceries such as we might need. Everything very basic is available so we are not lacking for things to eat.

The chaiwalla (tea seller) at the quadri-cenotaph is our morning halt for “adrak ki chai” and his wife is Ugamo Devi, who attends sewing class. There is a grain shop where we buy dal and sugar etc. We are trying to spread our business so shop at the bus stand for veggies and fruit on alternate days.

The Ladies’ English Class is at 2pm. They are motivated to learn but attendance depends strongly on house work: whether it is completed or not, whether the children are sick, the husband is home, the washing gets done etc. Indu stopped coming after the first couple of days since they had no water and the washing piled up. However her sister, Lata started coming instead. Meera is lively and by far the most advanced. Gunjan plods along – she has a self-teacher book for English written in Hindi!! Dhapu struggles gamely but cannot keep up. She thinks studying means to commit everything to Emory but she cannot distinguish letters nor attribute meaning to the completed words, nor “read” them back unless she memorizes them. Meena has a fair idea of English and is young. I started them on simple descriptions of objects around them, using simple structures such as This is a ...... and using cues such as shape, color, size, weight, value and uses to describe them: It’s big/black/round/heavy etc. In the days that followed they also learned to use the verb HAVE, to tell me about the things they had: I have a bangle. It’s round, expensive, made of gold etc. using a game involving a bag full of different objects. They were able to tell me about earrings, rings, bracelets, necklaces. They are curious about my jewelry and interested in anything to do with decoration and adornment.

The “Small Schoolgirls” Class took place at 4pm on Monday. Attendance is varies since some come others go etc. But there was a critical mass of 16v children so we played with prepositions of place (IN ON UNDER BEHIND IN FRONT OF) and using techniques that had them moving around the classroom.

The “Board Exam” group of Schoolgirls comes at 4pm Tuesday – Friday. They are supposed to be those in Classes 8, 10, and 12. A dismal lot. They have no spoken English at all. They took 45 minutes to understand the difference and use of I – YOU – SHE and were just about able to say and write sentences about themselves using the verbs SPEAK PLAY EAT DRINK LIKE. During the next few days I took them through the Present Continuous using mime and guessing games; their vocabulary is non existent and their reading is atrocious – namely, neither phonetic skills nor any understanding of what they are reading. After asking and looking at their text books we had a short discussion and we decided together to abandon the text (whose English is beyond them) and stick to “conversation”. I gave them a simple structure – S V O or Subject Verb Object, and got them saying and writing things about pictures I showed them, introducing other vocabulary like taking photographs, pushing and pulling, sitting and standing, riding a bike etc. They seem willing but tired after a day at school. They too needed practice in the prepositions of place but getting the question WHERE? Seemed too difficult, even after playing a game of hiding the Object.

Observations

I am satisfied with the way the language classes are going although by far the most challenging are the teenagers - Edwina calls them the Duffers. They’d not seem to be really interested in learning English – it may be just another subject for them. I will try again next week to have a more cohesive plan fro them so that they get the most benefit out of the class.

Other children from the village and their parents constantly ask if they may attend. We talk incessantly about how to expand and include these children but so far we cannot see a way. Stanley has started a mixed class – Civics – and it seems to be going well. For the moment we will have to be content with that.


WEEK II Jan 5 – 12

The Monday Class was fun – with the structure THIS IS A .......... which they also had to illustrate. Each child did a picture and wrote a descriptive sentence.

The Ladies Class – they attend erratically but have started on themes relating to their family, home, likes and dislikes. Also possessives of my-yours-hers-. Did a little comparative (bigger/smaller/prettier etc very basic). Some are picking it up quicker than others. Dhapu is the most determined so I have started her on a phonetic track that will allow her to read and pronounce words which she will later understand. Rani just copies stuff all the time, I have to simply focus her on a task and she will be happy.

Had a contretemps with the “duffers”. Found that stuff was missing from the classroom after they had been in there for a half hour alone (they had come early and asked to wait in the classroom). I confronted them with this information and only three came back the next day. However a couple of items “mysteriously” reappeared. After that, they were absent because of a religious program at their school. Only Hemlata, Meena, Sita and Nenu and Laxmi attended. I was upset that they had so little respect for us and for the work that we were doing.

At the end of the week Rekha(Local teacher working at Sambhali,Setrawa Project) invited us to her home for dinner as she will be going away for a wedding and we will be gone by the time she gets back. So we all went to her home one day and it was a warm experience. They made us eat before they did but we spent an hour looking at photographs of their family and learning about the other members. We also took them some oranges which I think the mother appreciated.

Observations

We are relating more and more to the people in the village. We get to know the “doctor” and the pharmacist, the cloth seller and the tailor, who made a “lehnga” or ghaghra for me. I wore that to Jodhpur and enjoyed wearing it. There are many who recognize us and speak nicely to us and even joke with us. It helps to speak the language and be able to interact with them.

We are disappointed that Mary will be leaving us – we really enjoyed her presence and she contributed much to our discussions. The dog she was feeding for Amanda will also be disappointed – although she is well on her way to health and confidence. Govind visited us on Friday with the two new volunteers Karine and Ellie – and a photographer and her friend....who upset us all by her callous and uncaring attitude to us, the students and surroundings. One of them smoked as well!

We are finding that everybody here is related to the other and it is sometimes confusing when they refer to their sisters and brothers who are really their cousins and so on. But the family is a unit and is closely connected.

WEEK III Jan 13 – Jan 20

The two volunteers who will be taking over from us accompanied us back here from Jodhpur. I am a little worried about how well this place will “sustain” five of us, considering the water and electricity problems we have just about managed to control.

In fact the toilet promptly got blocked up despite Narayan Singh having had it “cleared” a few days ago: and Stanley spent a morning literally up to his elbows in shit to clear the pipe of four stones that were in the way. However we got the toilet behaving as it should!

The electricity has been off all day since Monday: only on at night for a few hours. Luckily we eat all the food we bring in to the house – thanks to “Mummyji” next door, who kindly makes a vegetable dish for half the price of the vegetables we buy for her, plus “sogras” – a round millet flat bread for Rs 5 each that provides some protein.

The teenagers did not show up for a few days so we spread the word that the 4pm class would be open for all girls: of course by the end of the week, the Duffers showed up, claiming that their school program had prevented them from attending. Which may be true because they had come to invite us to the program on Monday to which Ellie and Karine went.

My current thought is that the Duffers should come from 4 – 5pm; and the school children could come from 4:30 – 5:30 so that the overlap will not be too much. Many of the children cannot make it before 4”30 since their school hour’s conflict or they have to walk too far. The older girls seem to be free by 3:30 so that it makes sense to start them off by 4pm. However this will be something for our successors to ponder.

Raju who has been helping Stanley with his Civics class also came by to invite us to dinner at his house. His sister Malti turns out to be a wonderful cook: she had previously sent us some Gajjar Halwa (carrot sweet) which was delicious. She is older than he and is waiting at home until she can be married – she has an older brother ahead of her. Raju is the youngest and the baby of the family. She produced idli-sambhar for us and we had a congenial chat with her mother with various members of the family and neighbors looking on. In the lamplight of course since there was no electricity.

The story of the electricity took a while for us to understand. The rooms we have apparently are not connected to the grid: our landlords have made an application for a separate meter which has not yet been installed. So, we are connected to BSNL’s grid with some sort of extension wire system. Unfortunately the switch is loose so every so often it comes loose and while everyone else has electricity we do not. In that case we have to call Rawal and he gets the key to the BSNL office and rectifies the situation. The guy we deal with there is called Magar Ram.

Many times the water supply has been turned on but the electricity has not. In this case we have to fill buckets manually: Rawal has done it once or twice for us. But in this way the overhead tank does not get filled. We have had a couple of tense moments when we have been waiting for water...but so far so good. Also, our landlords have a HUGE underground tank that gets filled so that if there is a severe problem they can connect their pump to a hose and run it to our overhead tank. Everybody is on the lookout for the water so we get alerted each time.

Rawal’s brother Chanderveer is back from wherever he was, with his 4 month old and his bride. He has a limp (perhaps polio) but is cheerful and is always telling jokes. He can be very helpful as is Rawal.

Ellie and Karine have been “observing” the classes. They are eager to learn and to get started, but neither of them has had any experience in this field. They clearly want to execute their own plans and do what they are planning in terms of their own abilities and resources rather than on the needs, vision and mission of the Setrawa Project. They are, understandably, taking more than a few days to find their feet which have left little time for community or communication. The ladies are curious as to what they might bring to the classes, and the children have already welcomed Ellie and her guitar.

We started an 11am class for Street girls – those who do not go to school for one reason or the other. This was inspired by Guddi, an attractive 6 year old that roams the streets and follows us around. We told her to get cleaned up and come to Sambhali School. She did and so did her sister Laxmi. And Maya and Bhakti – who are basically too young for the program. It should not become a baby-sitting service. Meera would like her 4 year old daughter Lalita to attend. However, we would like to open it to street girls who are 6 years old and up. Stanley went to the local Women and Children Development program to alert the person in charge (Anandi??) To the class in case she knew of any whom she could recommend.

I think the most progress has been made by Dhapu in the Ladies English Class. She has learned to phonetically read one syllable words with the first four vowels. It is up to Karine to continue (from U – Z) and four letter words. She has still to understand the words she says or reads which might be a difficult task both for her and her teacher. But she is eager and willing and most of all, determined. Her husband has said that she can close her little shop for two years while she attends Sambhali School to learn English. One of her son’s lives and works in Goa, and her daughter Hemlata goes to school regularly.

I think we are leaving things in good shape for anyone else who comes here. Below is what has been done with the Board Exam (Duffers) class.
English Class 4 – 5:30pm
8th, 10th and 12th Class school girls


Jodhpur Project reports:
JOINT REPORT OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE SAMBHALI TRUST PROJECT IN JODHPUR


First Impressions on 21st January 2008

Having been at the Sambhali Project in Jodhpur for 4 days our first impressions can be summed up as follows:

The accommodation for the project is excellent. The room is light, airy, clean and welcoming. There are language posters displayed and sewing machines available, both of which are valuable resources. There is also some evidence of the girl’s artwork on the walls which is interesting.

The girls we have met (approximately 20 in total varying in age from 8 to around 24 years with a predominance of teenage women-mainly single but some married) have been extremely friendly and appear happy. They seem to enjoy their time at the Sambhali Trust evidenced by lots of laughter.

We have been welcomed and have shared small amounts of our knowledge with the group in one to one situations (some embroidery techniques, reading skills and English language comprehension). We have also been involved in group activities: singing, dancing and games.

We have seen a small range of the craft products made by the project participants, and in particular the wall hanging pieces they are working on: elephants in appliqué then embroidered.

To enhance the performance of the Sambhali Trust’s project at Jodhpur we would suggest the following actions could be taken.

There is a sign outside the guest house which mentions the Sambhali Trust and its aim to empower women. However, there is no sign anywhere else. It might be a good idea to have a sign either on the ground floor, or outside the project room, which the women create for themselves. This promotes a sense of ownership of the project. This form of action - ownership and identification - are important aspects of empowerment.

The work created by the girls could be more in evidence for example drawing, sewing, writing displayed on the walls. Furthermore a photo display of each individual participant with her name and the date when she joined the project would be extremely valuable. Again this promotes a sense of belonging to enhance identity a prerequisite for empowerment.

The story of the project could be displayed for visitors and new participants and volunteers. For example it’s origins, progress and achievements.

Evidence that this is a collective endeavor would be valuable. At present it would appear that the girls wait for Govind or a volunteer to make all decisions as opposed to initiating action for themselves and taking an active part in the project’s running and direction. This might be a valuable path to true empowerment for participants.

Achieving empowerment we believe requires participation in all decisions making processes and the sharing of knowledge. This could be achieved for example by guidance from the advanced students with the less advanced. For example Monica (one of the most able participants) might be encouraged to teach and mentor some of the less advanced participants. There are also other women with more advanced sewing skills who could be encouraged to share their skills.

An important element in the empowerment process is the recognition and celebration of skills acquired. The “feel good” factor. The participants would benefit significantly from such recognition. Sharing skills and recognition for doing so is one of the ways this might be achieved.

On a purely practical level perhaps a few baskets for storing craft materials would be useful in the room itself.

One of the major weaknesses of the project at Jodhpur could be seen as its heavy reliance on volunteer participation for innovation, direction and continuation. A clear direction with more professional input to create clear goals for the project would be invaluable. Everybody (volunteers, participants, Trustees, visitors, professional teachers) need a clear working definition of “empowerment” to enable the Trust to really excel and achieve change.

In conclusion, from what we have observed during our short visit we believe the Sambhali Trust has made some excellent progress to date and has admirable intentions. From this small seed we hope that a great tree will grow.


First impressions by Gernot Rohrmoser, volunteer at Sambhali Trust

As I got here on the 15th of January, all the girls were still at the NGO, waiting for me. It seemed they were kind of curious of how the new volunteer will be, but also very shy and distanced. Of course I was warmly welcomed by the girls and Govind’s family. That kind of gave me an overwhelming impression in terms of how my stay in India and the trust will be. India is just so different to what a European eye is used to.

Speaking about the participants: The first contact really left a deep impact on me. The girls here at the project had and still have to face such a harsh life, so that a very careful approach is needed. After a while some of them really seem to open up their minds, so they tried to ask me simple questions like “how old are you?” or “do you have a girlfriend?” what totally showed that they were already interested in me. They are such lovely beings! The fact that I’m male might have influenced their way of interacting, but after awhile I could feel that they really appreciated my company to some extend.
And we are going to do some amazing things!

The trust itself really creates space the participants find the chance to explore themselves, recognize their individuality and gain self esteem. In terms of their interests some of them really enjoy singing and dancing, which is a perfect way to let out frustration and at least helps them to escape from reality for a short while. They have such wonderful voices and great abilities in performing.

Since Justin – a director from the US - is filming a documentary about Sambhali trust, the girls invited us to their homes. As we first had seen their places where they use to live, we were quite shocked, because for western people it’s just unimaginable to share a room with 3 to 6 people. Especially Barthi’s home looks like a cowshed. Imagine walking over a pile of garbage, children playing with pieces of dried dirt, dogs barking, goats fighting against each other and the native people living there are just ready to share everything. Imagine too, that that in consideration of their poverty they aren’t begging, they seem to be so proud of their heritage and especially of their family bond they’re involved in. I’ve never experienced more kind- and happiness than among those people living in the slummy quarters. The girl’s parents were getting really enthusiastic offering us chai(Indian Tea). Like I said, they are willing to share everything. To face that kind of circumstances really caused a deep emotional impact, mainly because before I got here, I took my own personal problems too serious in a very selfish way. Now I know for sure, that most European citizens definitely have no reasons to be concerned or to complain about their lives compared to the girl’s way of living. We have the privilege to have been born in a western country, not being concerned about basic necessities such as food shelter or clean water. In contrast with their living situations these women are definitely more comfortable with themselves and also very advanced in their social skills. After that visit I felt kind of helpless, especially since I realized that it is almost impossible to break the circle of poverty.

Happy New Year 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Khamaghani,

The best news in the year, Our Monica (Sambhali) came first in the class! We all are soo happy and proud of her, I am on the top of everything. If one girl goes out of Sambhali and does something for her life, all my work and blessings from all will be successfull.
I hope this message finds everybody in good conditions.
We all are well, it was soo cold this year, 7 degrees celcius and some times less, this is cold for us. Today it is nice weather, not cold at all.

I have applied for 80GI, well I hope we will get it without a lot of problems, when you step towards beaurocracy, one have to be ready with the hassel one can get with the beaurocrats, from the man who accepts your file to the one who gives you certificate has hopes from you, NGO for some means money business. They don't like me so they don't know yet, what kind of buisness this is and what it takes and gives. This NGO thing can make you do anything to keep it going, you have to put aside your respect/status/pride for keeping on going. Nothing have come upto me yet, and I hope untill we get our certificate we will be blessed and that we don't have to pay here and there for our right.

Thanks for taking time in reading this blog, all the best. Especially for the new year!