Invitation to the first annual gathering of Sambhali students

Dear Friends,
We are happy to announce the first annual gathering of all Sambhali Participants from both Jodhpur and Setrawa on the 10th of May 08, Saturday, at 11.00 am in Jodhpur.
We are very excited that all of the Sambhali women and girls will be meeting for the first time; it will be a unique event when different cultures, traditions and castes will be interacting on one platform.
The day will include traveling for those who have never been out of their village, a lunch, special guest speakers, art and craft exhibitions, games and other festivities.

We are kindly seeking your generous support to help make this a successful day. Kindly help in every possible way by contacting us .

For further details please contact Mr. Govind Singh Rathore EMail:- info@sambhali-trust.org

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Ms. Annuradha Jain

I had a very humbling experience of seeing the Sambhali Setrawa project first hand, meeting some lovely volunteers and the amazing little girls of the project. Setrawa is a small desert village in the middle of nowhere. As soon as you enter the village you see boys playing in dirt, people selling vegetables, women doing their daily chores in scorching heat, kids asking you to click their pictures and a general calmness in the atmosphere. But then you notice something else that stands out; there is a barebones three room refuge for the unprivileged women and girls, ‘Sambhali’ proudly painted on it. Govind Sa took us inside and the most wonderful thing was that I didn’t even need to be introduced. Within few minutes I was surrounded by giggling little girls and curious faces. Everyone wanted to know what my name was, where I was from and once I talked to them in hindi, they seem so amazed and excited that they could talk to me directly.In one room there was an arts and crafts class for the women. It was like a burst of colors. I met Manju and Rekha who certainly seemed very passionate and happy about Sambhali being in their village. And I met several other women from the village who were making beautiful paper maché products, painting bed spreads, making handbags and sewing. Everyone I talked to seemed to be beaming with pride for being in Sambhali. Some of them mentioned how good they felt to get away from everything and come to Sambhali to paint their heart out. This was there little refuge. The other room was filled with beautiful little girls learning English etc. They proudly sang their favorite English songs and alphabets. They all seemed to be inspired by their teachers a lot. When I asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, most of them answered “teacher”. There was one who wanted to be a pilot and then another one who said doctor. They all were giggling and seemed to be at home. They loved to have their picture taken and were very eager to talk. There were only a few girls who were too shy to talk much but I could see what wonders sambhali had done for their self esteem. They told me stories about things they learned here, skipping lunch to come to Sambhali so that they do not miss anything. This was their safe haven, where they all made friends, laughed, shared ups and downs and learned together. This is where their life was transformed from nobody to someone special. The thing that really touched my heart was how every girl wanted to take me to their home. I could only visit two homes but was truly touched by their big hearts and willingness to welcome strangers to their homes. To me this showed their total trust on Sambhali volunteers. They all doted Govind Sa that spoke volumes about his love for this project. Govind Sa mentioned how they needed more volunteers for this season. This is certainly a wonderful work for the girls of Setrawa but just by being there and talking to the volunteers I realized how much it had touched their own lives too. If you stay with such loving innocent souls how could it not change your life too? If you are ever in Jodhpur area, I highly recommend visiting Sambhali project and finding time to volunteer and raise funds for such a noble work.