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"we are strong now!"
"We are strong now." MRDF partners in India empower women through Self Help Groups.
Amanda Norman visited MRDF partners in India with Methodist President Graham Carter at the end of 2006; here are her impressions of the visit...
Had you visited India before and what were your first impressions on this visit?
This was only my second visit to India and my first to rural India. Everywhere you look there is something fascinating, crazy or colourful going on - a man in a lungi washing his hair at a stand pipe, a woman with a bright pink sari walking barefoot with a huge bundle on her head, a herd of goats crossing the road, someone at the car window selling roasted maize...
What are MRDF partners doing in India?
I visited CWSDS who empower Dalit women to band together to fight for their rights from the Government, to save money and open bank accounts so that they can start small businesses.
The implications are far-reaching - if a woman can have her own business instead of labouring in the fields, then her older children can go to school, instead of staying at home to look after the younger children.
Belonging to a group gives women self-esteem - they are someone when they go to the Government office, they learn to sign their name and how banks work and feel better about themselves because of it.
What most shocked you during your visit?
The contrast between the villages where CWSDS has been working for a long time and the ones where the staff hope to work in the future. In the first, people were vibrant, confident, enthusiastic, hopeful and gave us an overwhelming welcome showering us with petals and gifts; in the second, people seemed to be so without hope that they could hardly imagine a future for their children.
Prejudice that still exists against Dalits also shocked me. Dalits are still required to do the worst jobs and Dalit villages have rough tracks and poor ground, compared with high caste villages which are fully equipped with electricity, good roads and nice houses.
What most encouraged or inspired you during your visit?
Meeting so many proud women and hearing them say: ?We are strong now, we don't need your money any more? or ?I can write my name now that we are educated? or ?I built my house, it is in my name not my husband's.?
