Sambhali Song by Setrawa project participants
Sambhali Site http://www.sambhali-trust.org/ has been updated with latest news, the annual report by Ms. Mary will be ready until thursday, I hope you will like reading about us from the whole year.
Ms. Mary from the LP Publication based in the USA, working in the team as volunteer to do an Annual Report for Sambhali Trust from 17th January 07 till 31st March 08.
Birds enjoying Thali (Indian dish consisting of different Curries, Breads, Rice etc.)
Boy in Setrawa village swinging
Setrawa Village kids with Laxmi in front on the left
Introduction by Ms. Smeeta, Director of FSD Jodhpur program.
Pilgrims enroute Setrawa village, Pilgrims to Ramdevra temple.
Laxmi's mother noticing us pass by her house.
Ms. Rekha, Ms. Lillian and Guddi listening carefully
Particpants of Setrawa Project
Meera, Paticipant of Setrawa Project
Guddi and Mary, Setrawa project
Laxmi, Setrawa project Junior class participant
On the way back from the village, we saw 4 men in a car drinking and disturbing women on the street. We heard them passing nasty comments on the girls and creating problems for the pedestrian women and girls around the women college. For some time I was noticing them doing it and it was tough for me to see the "eve teasing" and I couldn't help calling the police right away, now until the police came we had to stop this drunk men, now Smeeta, the director of FSD in Jodhpur, Shipra, Mary and I jumped out of our car which we parked just in front of their car to stop them drive off and got them out of their car, Smeeta slapped two of them, I took the car keys out, Mary and Shipra were shouting at them and we had about 200 witnesses. Finally after 15 minutes of arguments with this men, police turned up and the newspaper showed up and we managed to get 2 guys out of 4 taken to the police station, 2 ran off when police came. We joined these men to the police station, made sure medical examination was set and the guys were behind bars for this night. Moral of the story: the perverts got their lesson and we came back home happy and made a little difference in the safety of women in Urban areas.
Report from Ms. Charlotte from Australia from her experiance in both Setrawa and Jodhpur project below with Picture. (sorry for unfinished report put in earlier).
Before arriving in Setrawa, I had previously traveled the South and parts of Rajasthan. So to me, the village of Setrawa came as no shock. Except maybe showering with a bucket, having to cook for myself or trying to explain what a capsicum was to man at the fruit market. Lucky for me our next door neighbor Goonjan was talented in many areas of life. She taught me how to cook a different type of cipatti every night! If we ever needed any help she was always there, whether it was turning on the gas stove, calling us to start the water pump or translating to our jeep driver/ vegie man.
I remember the first afternoon I arrived; I found myself playing a cricket match with many of the local children. The teams consisted of, Team Australia comprising of myself, and Team India which was the rest of the child population of Setrawa. To their surprise however, my batting and bowling was spot on, leaving Team India out for 15. What I liked most about Setrawa, was the tight-knit community, and lack of hesitation anyone had in helping anyone else.
In Setrawa I took the morning sewing class and the afternoon English class with girls aged 12 to 18 years. During the morning sewing class, we made a patch work pillow. Each girl was given a small patch of calico and asked to design their name on it using fabric paint, embroidery or beads. Previous volunteers have made comment on the lack of individuality amongst the group. To overcome this, I nominated a different craft to each girl. This project was very successful and quite unique as a result of being individually creative.
By 4-oclock it was time to take the afternoon English girls. We originally had both afternoon classes in one room, however as the week progressed, it was too hot to hold both classes in the same room, so class was moved into my bedroom. I found it really difficult teaching English because the girls are all at very different levels. The girls in Setrawa find it very easy to write English as most attend school, yet struggle to speak it. We encountered a problem with one of the girls from our class as her English literacy was at a very elementary level. As a result she wasn’t able to participate in the activities. We tried to solve the problem, trialing her in the small children’s class, however she felt uncomfortable, so she rejoined our class. This is the case with other girls too, yet we have come up with no solution. There are not enough volunteers to split the English classes into, beginners, intermediate and advanced, so we have no choice.
On Friday afternoons we introduced sport for the two classes. I think this class is really important for the girls’ health and also because they get to be actively involved. They love this class, they love jump rope, and they are certainly not afraid to hit a cricket ball for six.
The Setrawa project has so much potential because there are so many girls who want to be educated. There were very few girls absent over the two week period. In the case where Karishma was unable to attend school, she wrote out an application explaining why she needed time off. The help of local teachers to help has also been a huge help. Without the local teachers I would have struggled immensely. There is so much heart in the people of Setrawa, it is for that reason I had such a positive experience.
After I had been in Setrawa for two weeks, I was moved into the Jodhpur project where I was opened up to yet another new world and more great experiences. My arrival into the Jodhpur project happened to coincide with Holi Week. Holi Week is the festival before harvest. I think in total I celebrated Holi for three days, left soaking wet, pink skin, 1 pair of ripped pants, an array of multi-colored clothes and 1 sandal. Constant water fights, Rajasthani dance and a lot of chocolate, was a great way to be introduced into the project!
The girls in Jodhpur were not shy and very affectionate towards me, which made me feel very comfortable. By the second day girls were saying ‘I love you Char, I miss you Char”. I found that the Jodhpur project was more of a refuge for the girls to hang out. After English in the morning we usually sat around dancing, painting, doing each others henna or making bracelets. There isn’t quite as much structure as Setrawa, as such I found that with it more relaxed I was able to get to know the girls better.
Similar to Setrawa, it is hard to teach Basic English, as all the girls are at different levels. The girls are a lot more distracted in Jodhpur. And on numerous occasions up to six girls would be missing from class, so when revising over work, many didn’t understand previous lessons. I think that there needs to be some kind of action taken against girls that do not attend class numerous occasions, it’s unfair to others and when they fall behind it is very noticeable. I believe that the Jodhpur project would be more successful if there was a way of encouraging the girls to attend as if they were at school.
However, there was one consistency during my two weeks, and that was the answer to the question “Who is your idol?” Every single girl when asked replied with Govind Rathore Singh. To be spoken of so highly from all girls in the project goes to show how much time and effort Govind has put in, which is also reflected in the girls attitude towards him.
I’m not sure how common it is to see 15+ girls chasing after men through Mandore park, but I certainly know how rare it is to see woman standing up for themselves to Indian men. After cruel words from pitiful men were yelled down to a group of us in Mandore, it was on. Meera gathered 15 girls muttering “I’m going to teach them a lesson”, and began to chase the men through the park, until they reached them and were satisfied with payback. Rumor has it, our girls threw a few punches, unfortunately I was a little too slow, and missed the action. This story shows that the girls are becoming more independent and have the ability to stand up for themselves in social situations. It proves that the Jodhpur project is certainly working at empowering woman.
I've really appreciated working in the Jodhpur project. It's truly amazing to see how happy these girls are in spite of the dire circumstances in which they live. I regret not been able to stay in the project longer, I was only able to spend a short time at each place, which made it really hard get to know the girls on a more personal basis. Once I began getting close with the girls, I knew I had to leave. However I am so happy that I was able take part in both projects, as they are both so completely different!
Taking part in the project has been a great experience. I have learnt so much from the venture and especially the girls. I found teaching a very rewarding experience and living in both Setrawa and Jodhpur has given me the opportunity to see things from a different perspective. I enjoyed the project especially because I feel there could have been no better way to be immersed in the culture.
Sambhali Site http://www.sambhali-trust.org/ has been updated with latest news, the annual report by Ms. Mary will be ready until thursday, I hope you will like reading about us from the whole year.
Ms. Mary from the LP Publication based in the USA, working in the team as volunteer to do an Annual Report for Sambhali Trust from 17th January 07 till 31st March 08.
Birds enjoying Thali (Indian dish consisting of different Curries, Breads, Rice etc.)
Boy in Setrawa village swinging
Setrawa Village kids with Laxmi in front on the left
Introduction by Ms. Smeeta, Director of FSD Jodhpur program.
Pilgrims enroute Setrawa village, Pilgrims to Ramdevra temple.
Laxmi's mother noticing us pass by her house.
Ms. Rekha, Ms. Lillian and Guddi listening carefully
Particpants of Setrawa Project
Meera, Paticipant of Setrawa Project
Guddi and Mary, Setrawa project
Laxmi, Setrawa project Junior class participant
Sambhali Updates and few Pictures:
This morning, Mary and I went to Setrawa project with Ms. Lillian, Ms. Smeeta and Ms. Shipra from Foundation of Sustainable Development (FSD) branch in Jodhpur. We invited our guests for a field visit of Setrawa Project. Some pictures are from our visit to Setrawa. It was a great to talk to know the Setrawa project girls more. Now we have particpants coming from distance of 12 kilometers from Sointra Village and the word is spreading. The girls looked very confident and were happy to be at the project and it is also very nice to know more people in NON profit organisation department. Ladies from FSD were very impressed. There has been a sand storm and rain, shade outside the rooms which looks like a tent flew away, the roof from house was leaking, volunteers or we didn't expect this non monsoon rain and early sand storm, usualy sand storms are active around Mid April, May and June.
This morning, Mary and I went to Setrawa project with Ms. Lillian, Ms. Smeeta and Ms. Shipra from Foundation of Sustainable Development (FSD) branch in Jodhpur. We invited our guests for a field visit of Setrawa Project. Some pictures are from our visit to Setrawa. It was a great to talk to know the Setrawa project girls more. Now we have particpants coming from distance of 12 kilometers from Sointra Village and the word is spreading. The girls looked very confident and were happy to be at the project and it is also very nice to know more people in NON profit organisation department. Ladies from FSD were very impressed. There has been a sand storm and rain, shade outside the rooms which looks like a tent flew away, the roof from house was leaking, volunteers or we didn't expect this non monsoon rain and early sand storm, usualy sand storms are active around Mid April, May and June.
(Next days newspaper article from the guys we took to the police Station. Headlines:- Women caught two Romeos!!!! one information on the newspaper is not very correct where they wrote that Mary is volunteering from FSD. The journalist called and appolozised).
On the way back from the village, we saw 4 men in a car drinking and disturbing women on the street. We heard them passing nasty comments on the girls and creating problems for the pedestrian women and girls around the women college. For some time I was noticing them doing it and it was tough for me to see the "eve teasing" and I couldn't help calling the police right away, now until the police came we had to stop this drunk men, now Smeeta, the director of FSD in Jodhpur, Shipra, Mary and I jumped out of our car which we parked just in front of their car to stop them drive off and got them out of their car, Smeeta slapped two of them, I took the car keys out, Mary and Shipra were shouting at them and we had about 200 witnesses. Finally after 15 minutes of arguments with this men, police turned up and the newspaper showed up and we managed to get 2 guys out of 4 taken to the police station, 2 ran off when police came. We joined these men to the police station, made sure medical examination was set and the guys were behind bars for this night. Moral of the story: the perverts got their lesson and we came back home happy and made a little difference in the safety of women in Urban areas.
Report from Ms. Charlotte from Australia from her experiance in both Setrawa and Jodhpur project below with Picture. (sorry for unfinished report put in earlier).
Thanks a lot for your time Char, it means a lot to the projects.
Before arriving in Setrawa, I had previously traveled the South and parts of Rajasthan. So to me, the village of Setrawa came as no shock. Except maybe showering with a bucket, having to cook for myself or trying to explain what a capsicum was to man at the fruit market. Lucky for me our next door neighbor Goonjan was talented in many areas of life. She taught me how to cook a different type of cipatti every night! If we ever needed any help she was always there, whether it was turning on the gas stove, calling us to start the water pump or translating to our jeep driver/ vegie man.
I remember the first afternoon I arrived; I found myself playing a cricket match with many of the local children. The teams consisted of, Team Australia comprising of myself, and Team India which was the rest of the child population of Setrawa. To their surprise however, my batting and bowling was spot on, leaving Team India out for 15. What I liked most about Setrawa, was the tight-knit community, and lack of hesitation anyone had in helping anyone else.
In Setrawa I took the morning sewing class and the afternoon English class with girls aged 12 to 18 years. During the morning sewing class, we made a patch work pillow. Each girl was given a small patch of calico and asked to design their name on it using fabric paint, embroidery or beads. Previous volunteers have made comment on the lack of individuality amongst the group. To overcome this, I nominated a different craft to each girl. This project was very successful and quite unique as a result of being individually creative.
By 4-oclock it was time to take the afternoon English girls. We originally had both afternoon classes in one room, however as the week progressed, it was too hot to hold both classes in the same room, so class was moved into my bedroom. I found it really difficult teaching English because the girls are all at very different levels. The girls in Setrawa find it very easy to write English as most attend school, yet struggle to speak it. We encountered a problem with one of the girls from our class as her English literacy was at a very elementary level. As a result she wasn’t able to participate in the activities. We tried to solve the problem, trialing her in the small children’s class, however she felt uncomfortable, so she rejoined our class. This is the case with other girls too, yet we have come up with no solution. There are not enough volunteers to split the English classes into, beginners, intermediate and advanced, so we have no choice.
On Friday afternoons we introduced sport for the two classes. I think this class is really important for the girls’ health and also because they get to be actively involved. They love this class, they love jump rope, and they are certainly not afraid to hit a cricket ball for six.
The Setrawa project has so much potential because there are so many girls who want to be educated. There were very few girls absent over the two week period. In the case where Karishma was unable to attend school, she wrote out an application explaining why she needed time off. The help of local teachers to help has also been a huge help. Without the local teachers I would have struggled immensely. There is so much heart in the people of Setrawa, it is for that reason I had such a positive experience.
After I had been in Setrawa for two weeks, I was moved into the Jodhpur project where I was opened up to yet another new world and more great experiences. My arrival into the Jodhpur project happened to coincide with Holi Week. Holi Week is the festival before harvest. I think in total I celebrated Holi for three days, left soaking wet, pink skin, 1 pair of ripped pants, an array of multi-colored clothes and 1 sandal. Constant water fights, Rajasthani dance and a lot of chocolate, was a great way to be introduced into the project!
The girls in Jodhpur were not shy and very affectionate towards me, which made me feel very comfortable. By the second day girls were saying ‘I love you Char, I miss you Char”. I found that the Jodhpur project was more of a refuge for the girls to hang out. After English in the morning we usually sat around dancing, painting, doing each others henna or making bracelets. There isn’t quite as much structure as Setrawa, as such I found that with it more relaxed I was able to get to know the girls better.
Similar to Setrawa, it is hard to teach Basic English, as all the girls are at different levels. The girls are a lot more distracted in Jodhpur. And on numerous occasions up to six girls would be missing from class, so when revising over work, many didn’t understand previous lessons. I think that there needs to be some kind of action taken against girls that do not attend class numerous occasions, it’s unfair to others and when they fall behind it is very noticeable. I believe that the Jodhpur project would be more successful if there was a way of encouraging the girls to attend as if they were at school.
However, there was one consistency during my two weeks, and that was the answer to the question “Who is your idol?” Every single girl when asked replied with Govind Rathore Singh. To be spoken of so highly from all girls in the project goes to show how much time and effort Govind has put in, which is also reflected in the girls attitude towards him.
I’m not sure how common it is to see 15+ girls chasing after men through Mandore park, but I certainly know how rare it is to see woman standing up for themselves to Indian men. After cruel words from pitiful men were yelled down to a group of us in Mandore, it was on. Meera gathered 15 girls muttering “I’m going to teach them a lesson”, and began to chase the men through the park, until they reached them and were satisfied with payback. Rumor has it, our girls threw a few punches, unfortunately I was a little too slow, and missed the action. This story shows that the girls are becoming more independent and have the ability to stand up for themselves in social situations. It proves that the Jodhpur project is certainly working at empowering woman.
I've really appreciated working in the Jodhpur project. It's truly amazing to see how happy these girls are in spite of the dire circumstances in which they live. I regret not been able to stay in the project longer, I was only able to spend a short time at each place, which made it really hard get to know the girls on a more personal basis. Once I began getting close with the girls, I knew I had to leave. However I am so happy that I was able take part in both projects, as they are both so completely different!
Taking part in the project has been a great experience. I have learnt so much from the venture and especially the girls. I found teaching a very rewarding experience and living in both Setrawa and Jodhpur has given me the opportunity to see things from a different perspective. I enjoyed the project especially because I feel there could have been no better way to be immersed in the culture.
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