Experience with EduCARE India, SWASH and other projects.

Hello EduCARE....I am very glad to work with EduCARE-India. I have learned many things here. I was always improving myself. This was a really good platform for me. I feel proud to has been part of EduCARE-India.This has been my second time working with EduCARE-India and there are many things that popped into my head when i`m thinking about my first month in RAIT.

Writing a blog post can be really difficult for me. Where could I start from? Ordering my thoughts, I would focus my feeling on the arrival to the Rait Center and the engagement with the community, especially building relationship with the kids of the village as well as with the shopkeepers/ and trash holder. 

I immediately fell in love with Himachal Pradesh and I mean it, it`s such a beautiful place! I definitely enjoyed my job as project manager for Swash Project. I still remember my first day meeting with the shopkeepers and local gov. Grampanchayat members. At that time I did not understand how could I deal with them, but after few weeks I found my way.

Spending time with the kids in Fun Club was extremely funny! We did different activities and games every Sunday in Rait Gov. School. We also had the possibility to prepare some educational activities related to the Waste Management and Sanitation. The kids really liked it! 

I would like to show you some photos representing the path I follow during my EduCARE India experience: 

At the beginning of my internship I started to work with Kevin the SWASH Coordinator. We had a meeting with the Sitaram. We had a great conversation about the Swash project and solid waste management system: how can they separate the trash, how many were the different kind of trash.....etc.

SWASH meeting in Mcleod Ganj with Sitaram son

Then me together with Sylvia,Madhu,Craig and Tom went to meet the local Government and all members of the Grampanchayat as well as the local community. It was our first step to try to engage the community and it was very successful.

Meeting with local Government Grampanchayt in BDO Office

Here you can see the trash collected form the shopkeepers and sold to the trash holder. He`s a very good person, always supportive and kind with us. We built a very good relationship with him.

Selling our trash in Rait

The Fun club with the kids is amazing! They are doing every time something funny with us. The girls are always very happy to see us in Girls Club. We also found out that involving the mothers in the Girls Club in our office has been very beneficial in maintaining the girls’ interests and focus. Plus, it is also a good platform to engage with the kids’ mothers and the families overall increasing EduCARE’s visibility. 

In these last weeks kids made artistic boxes with us. They decorated the boxes, they cut the important things they find in the magazines and then they put inside the boxes. It was a very successful and amazing things...I enjoyed every moment!

Our charming kids at the Fun Club and Girls Club

Our Girls Club activities

This is very sad moment for me because I am going back home in Varanasi. I have to leave all the Rait team and the community. I will miss everybody and our amazing house. I will try to express my feelings for my good friends writing down a few words:

Forever is a very long time. How is it that people can talk so casually about a concept that we cannot even wrap our minds around? Sometimes we have a friend and we sense that our souls are very closely connected. We know that the connection is above time and space. We know that wherever we are in our lives we will always remain friends. Even if we do not see each other for years we are able to pick up right where we left off. This is what people mean when they say friends forever.

Friends Forever 2015-2016

THANK YOU EduCARE India, THANK YOU RAIT

Pooja Gautam 

SWASH Project Manager 

Rait, India

Updates from Gajner Cluster

Gajner cluster opened in October 2014 and remains as of now the youngest of EduCARE. But so much has happened since and the people who have been living and working here with me and the wonderful community who has welcomed us with their open-heart are the reason why.

View of Gajner from our roof top

Until I arrived, previous interns worked on getting familiar and building relationship with the community, mapping the village and establishing basic cluster programs such as the Girls’ Club, After-School Program and Young Women’s Association.

When arriving in February in Gajner, a small village located 40 minutes away from Bikaner, we were only 3 interns: Jazzmine from Canada, Lachlan from Australia and myself.

We each took on responsibilities to develop and assist each other in projects. Jazzmine started the solid waste management system with Manoj a local shopkeeper who has become since a great resource for the interns and a role model for his community. Lachlan conducted a poverty research in the migrant camp of Gajner called Indra colony and started a Boys’ Club. As for me, I became the project manager for the Girls’ Club. Jazzmine was holding multiple responsibilities at that time: cluster coordinator, YWA and ASP project manager while I was also assisting her in those last two and helping Lachlan in implementing the poverty research.

From left to right: Lachlan, myself, Jazzmine and Léa. Having dinner at Sushma and Pradeep house

In the month of March 2015, we welcomed Léa who took over the waste management project. She bought bins to separate trash in Manoj’s shop and created displays to explain the importance of not throwing garbage in the streets. She also engaged a local trash picker from Indra colony, Mool Chand to come and collect trash from our home, from Manoj shop, and other shopkeepers in the main street. Mool Chand collects it each week and sells it in Bikaner now.

Bikaner Garbage dump, Manoj

The Multi poverty assessment tool (MPAT) survey implemented by Lachlan was a great resource for the cluster. We involved two locals to conduct the survey in the migrant camp : Pradeep Badgujar, a young man who is preparing his Master Degree in Accounting/Finance, and Anjuman Ali a female leader who runs 7 different Self-help Group (SHG )in Gajner. By involving locals in the planning and implementing of the survey, it provided us a platform for community engagement and it made them feel engaged and committed in improving the life of their community. The survey itself also provided new ideas to consider to establishing new projects and enhancing existing ones in Indra Colony.

Pradeep and Anjuman conducting the MPAT survey in Indra colony

The YWA managed by Jazzmine led to a microfinance sewing project that successfully engaged six women in Indra colony where they sewed and decorated pillowcases. The women were given money each for their work. The pillowcases are now located in our house for future sale in our ReStore. Anjuman has also recently attended one of the YWA meetings to introduce the idea of a self-help group to the women. Anjuman’s regular participation to the YWA meeting will be very beneficial to the development of an SHG in Indra colony.

Until the month of April, the ASP project was running once a week in Indra Colony. Since then, thanks to Jazzmine and Léa who created strong bonds with a family, we have successfully expanded ASP to Chandasar (a village located 2 km away from Gajner), which takes place on Mondays afternoon, while on Wednesdays it takes place in Indra Colony in Gajner.

ASP Indra

ASP Chandasa

Girls’ Club in Ward 1 from left to right: Nandini, Bharti, Puri, Sushma, Ria and Shalu

Until May, the Girls Club was running in one location: Jessa colony. The cluster has also expanded the Girls Club to another community in Gajner called Ward One (where the intern’s house is located). As I regularly engaged a local 20 years-old girl named Sushma Badgujar (Pradeep’s sister) and her family since my arrival, she was really curious about the Girls’ Club and she decided to come with me at Jessa colony to help out in facilitating the session. She really enjoyed it and we both decided to create one in her community. Beyond the fact that Sushma is one of the potential future leaders of the VIKAS Center, she has become my little sister and our relationship has grown so much.

Same month, we started to go once a week in Modiya and Mansar, a very poor community located above the highway (9 km away from Gajner). Most kids never went to school, and those who have the chance to go attend until the age of 13-14 years old. There is no shops, no markets, and most families do not earn a regular sufficient income to feed their family properly. So, after meeting regularly a family and assessing their needs, the potential for a microfinance and ASP project is huge and really needed.

First meeting in Modiya Mansar

The cluster has also grown in numbers since! We were only 4 interns for 3 months and we are now 10 people living in the house! It is a very exciting time for us and for the community we work with as we are expanding our projects to Chandasar and Modia Mansar.

Laure arrived in May and she became the project coordinator for ASP as well as the project manager for ASP in Gajner and she will develop general knowledge classes for the kids. Camilla from Italy arrived at the end of June and she will be leading ASP hand-in-hands with Laure. Mercedes and Lucia from Spain arrived in June and will be responsible for YWA and Water Conservation respectively. Johann and Vijay are managing an alternative energy project to have drinkable water, hot water for the winter and enough to cook without using too much gas. Mariko and Arindam arrived in Gajner recently and are working on an alternative energy project to provide our house electricity.

Laure, riding a camel on the way to Manoj’s farm

Boy’s club: from left to right: Lucia, Jazzmine (on top), myself and Mercedes

Enrique and Arnaud will arrive very soon to work on Eco-building in our house and in Chandasar for the Eco-Homestay project. Harmonie, our health project coordinator will also arrive very soon to conduct health research in Gajner.

I am also working on opening very soon our first ECRC and Restore and finding a new intern house in Chandasar.

I have been very lucky so far to be working with talented, energized and dynamic people who share the same values as me and EduCARE India. As I became the cluster coordinator when Jazzmine left, I am optimistic and very happy to be staying here to see Gajner, Chandasar and Modiya Mansar growing into villages full of opportunities for these communities.

Mathilde Buchet - France
Girls’ Club Project Manager and Cluster Coordinator, Bikaner

Coping with Chaos

This past week, the Bikaner cluster had to say a tearful goodbye to a wonderful intern who has been staying with us over the past four months, Lachlan Alexander. A spunky Australian with a wonderful personality, great beard, mind full of creative ideas and wisdom and a huge heart. While Lachlan has been here, he has been working on the MPAT survey (a survey created by IFAD) helping our cluster measure the levels of poverty in the migrant community of Gajner, Indra Colony, to help better our on-going projects taking place within the community and also to help us learn what new programs and projects could, and would, benefit the community. His research and work with the survey has led him to building strong relationships and adorable friendships with many of the families in the colony, specifically the young boys living there.

There are more than 250 children living in Indra Colony and somehow Lachlan found a way to meet almost all of them, and remember their names! This has been extremely beneficial for our after-school program, ASP, which runs in Indra Colony on Wednesday’s around five o’clock in the afternoon. During this time, all the interns in the Gajner center engage children of the migrant community to play games such as cricket, soccer or Frisbee. Our overall goal with ASP is to integrate children from all the colonies of Gajner, no matter what class, caste, religion and gender, and engage them in fun and innocent activities where they can all interact with one another. And so far, we’ve been extremely successful in doing so.

Lachlan’s last day with the cluster was May 14th and as a gift to the community, he decided to throw a huge bash and invite all the families from Indra Colony and those he’s been working with from all around Gajner. Together we would spend one last evening dancing and laughing in the vacant lot next to the intern house and enjoy a huge feast cooked by our favorite Chef, Manoj. Although, from experience, we know when we plan something it usually doesn’t go as smoothly as we hope but some how, although the day was extremely chaotic, it worked out to be the most perfect send off for Lachlan.

Here’s how it all started: Wednesday morning, we all awoke early to welcome our new intern, Laure, and Michelle from the human resources department who was coming to meet with all us interns and learn more about our projects and HR needs. While Mathilde and I attended the Young Women Association’s, YWA’s, morning English and Hindi class, Lea and Lachlan welcomed Laure and Michelle after a long night aboard a train from Pathankot (which was five hours late…as usual). Unfortunately YWA was cut short that morning due to an angry dog biting into Jazzmine’s flesh while accompanying a young one into her home. While Mathilde and Jazzmine rushed off for emergency rabies shots at the hospital, Lachlan and Michelle toured the community gathering those who were part of Lachlan’s survey project to head over to the ViKAS center, our office, for a presentation of the survey results.

Manoj began preparing the feast in the late afternoon, with the help of Mathilde and Lea, while the rest of us participated in the afternoon’s ASP activities in Indra. Now, the first part of ASP is to round up the kids (which can sometimes take an hour in itself). The colony is a giant square measured at about three kilometers in length and width. There are three separate paths we usually take to enter the community, with rows and rows of houses on each with tons of children to gather. On average there are about 3 – 4 children per home therefore making the “round up” the most challenging part of Wednesday’s ASP. We all split up gathering as many children as we could and with luck on our side,we were able to bring out a crowd of about 30. Lachlan led a cricket match with some of the boys, Michelle led a Frisbee game and Laure and I led a dance-a-thon/tickle fest with the little ones, which turned into an epic game of Simon-Says; a game where before each action you call out, you say “Simon says”. The children are to follow suit for every action unless you make a command without saying “Simon says”. If they follow the action when you haven’t said, “Simon says” they are out. Unfortunately this was a little hard to explain in broken Hindi so it just turned into the “Do Everything that Jazzmine says” game, which is exactly how we managed to get all 30 kids from Indra Colony to walk, run and dance all the way to our home at the other end of Gajner, about a 3-kilometer walk in the blistering heat.

As we approached the house, while the kids chanted “Lachy! Lachy!” (their adorable nickname for Lachlan) I started to think “man, I’m thirsty…and so are these thirty kids!” I sat the kids down outside our house and grabbed a small metal jug from inside our kitchen. Lining up the children, I poured water into their cupped hands as they raised them up to their lips and sucked the water spilling into their palms before it all dripped through the cracks of their fingers. After about five trips to the kitchen tap and back outside, I yelled over to Manoj “Manoj-ji, khana kitne budji hai?” Manoj, what time is food? “One hour,” he responded. Uh oh! Thirty kids verses four interns for another hour…what to do?!I busted out the Bollywood tunes. The girls immediately broke out into dance while Lachlan led the boys to the Panchayat field to start another cricket match. As more kids joined us, we moved into the back area of Manoj’s shop, spread out some blankets on the ground and opened a few boxes of puzzles. Michelle, Laure and I spent a whole hour saying “bahut accha!” “very good!” to every child that found two pieces that connected. It was quite hilarious.

When food was finally ready, Manoj helped bring out the dining table from our house and a few benches from inside his shop. While Lachlan, Pradeep, a friend of ours from Gajner, and I coordinated where all the children would sit, grouping them in sets of 3, 4 and 5, the rest of the interns helped bring out huge platters of chana, dal, chawal, paneer, chapatti and papadumfor each group of children. The children literally feasted while music played and laughter and giggles filled the air. The integration of the children was a huge success for us as a cluster as well, having such a large range of kids from different social and religious backgrounds come and eat, play and laugh together all due to the relationships built between them and the intern team, especially “Lachy”. We couldn’t help but smile while we ran around replenishing plates, patiently handing out sweets to thousands of hands reaching out at us and pouring water on sticky, gooey hands and little faces as they said their goodbyes and headed home to sleep off all the excitement.

After another couple of hours of hosting more families, Lachlan opening gifts from the community and saying goodbyes, we collapsed into our chairs around the dining table laughing, smiling and reminiscing about how truly chaotic but incredible the day had been. We hadn’t expected everything to work out the way we wanted too and I think we wouldn’t have been prepared to do so even if we had. But somehow, seeing the smiles on those kid’s faces, and Lachlan’s, helped us push through a very sweaty day of cooking, dancing, running and cleaning. On that day, we truly learned how to cope with chaos. We loved it and we succeeded.

“Do you work this hard everyday?” – Michelle Fujisaki

Jazzmine Lawton - Canada

Cluster Coordinator, Gajner

Good Encounters: English, Mushrooms, and Marriage

Though being invited over for chai may be custom, it isn't an everyday "thing" to be stopped on the road and asked for English lessons.

Enthused and eager, a local woman who works at a fabric shop, located on the main road, did just that. Calling Katherine over, this woman expressed great interest in wanting to learn English. Raadha Devi is a forty-two year old mother of two, and is certainly a woman unlike any other. Her husband is a bus driver; her daughter, a twenty year old nursing student, and her eighteen year old son is preparing to join the army.

Upon inviting Katherine into the fabric shop, she called her daughter, Shivani, to act as an interpreter between the two. Because they were excited to learn that there is more than just one foreigner living in Rait, they walked Katherine home, and spent some time with the rest of the interns. Within this brief visit, you could see Raadha's lively and jovial personality radiate throughout our back veranda. She made bracelets with us, taught us a few Hindi words in exchange for some English, and as a gift, she gave us two bags of mushrooms. It was then that we learned that Raadha grows and sells mushrooms and works at the fabric shop to help her husband bring money into their household. Before leaving, she invited us to her niece's wedding, which was just weeks away. Her laughter and warm presence was a reassurance, in lieu of our Young Women's Association's stagnancy.

We make frequent visits to the fabric shop where she works to say hello, look at the clothes, and practice English. Because Raadha was the first person to inquire about lessons, we used the lessons we prepared for our YWA members to introduce conversational English to her. This was helpful in assessing the quality of the lessons we've created. We spent about an hour going over salutations, introductions, and role play with miniature dialogues. Making small mistakes, Raadha caught on quite fast and can now introduce herself or someone else in English.

Early one Tuesday morning, we traveled to Lunj to attend her neice's wedding. We assume that because there were five foreigners on board, the bus driver mixed some pop music into his Himachali playlist, serenading us with the sounds of Akon and One Republic. Once there, we were fortunate to be part of all of the traditions taking place on the last day of the marriage. We met the bride, watched and participated in the haldi ceremony, and ate some incredibly delicious food. Raadha's relatives were excited to converse with us, asking about our work with EduCARE, as well as how we were enjoying our stay in India. Her family spoiled us with sincere Indian hospitality, reminding us that in Indian culture, "a guest is god." Supplied with endless sweets, one relative bought us chocolates and took us to the river, as another took us to the Masroor Rock Cut Temple.

Once the celebrating began, Raadha and her daughter proudly showed us off to everybody as their guests. We received about as much attention as the bride and groom-- so many people wanted to take pictures of us and with us! We laughed and danced the night away and were asleep no later than one in the morning. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay awake long enough to see the bride and groom off, but in all, our time with Raadha's family was an unforgettable experience.

You don't meet too many people, bold enough to stop you on the street and ask for English lessons; many will stare and some may respond to your "namaste." I find myself in awe of Raadha's bold personality. Though we've only known Raadha a month, I've taken so much from our time together: her charisma, her initiative, and her family's hospitality. Everytime I pass by the fabric shop, I anticipate her bright smile, warm laugh, her heavy-accented "hello," and her inviting "bato" (sit down). Learning of the microenterprise potential at-home mushroom cultivation has for women, mushroom farming is a project we plan to begin with a few of our YWA members in May.

Alanah Grant - USA

Women's Empowerment Project Manager, Rait

Sexual Violence Free Society Tournament

Dhasa Tibetan Women’s Basketball Tournament Summer: Monday June 2nd, 2014

EduCARE’s Young Women’s Association (YWA) was invited as an honoured guest at the Dhasa Tibetan Women’s Basketball Tournament on Monday, June 2nd, 2014. As it was a late notice, many of us were unable to attend the event. Fortunately, Kiana, Hanh, Elizabeth, Ruthie, Bertrand, Guilhem, Lenka, Josefina, Amanpreet, Alex and Priscilla were all there to support the incredible basketball tournament. It was quite the adventure finding the place, since none of us knew where the tournament was being held. Each time we passed someone we would ask them where the Tibetan Library is, as the tournament was being held in the court close to the library. After what seemed like hours, we finally found the location of the tournament. As we walked in, it was evident that we were late and that everyone was waiting for us. Everyone from EduCARE India gathered with the participating teams in a picture.

We found places to sit and waited for the tournament to start. This was the championship game between Regional Tibetan Women’s Association and Tibetan Women’s Football Team. Mr Penpa Tsering la, the speaker of Tibetan Parliament in Exile graced this event as the chief guest. Ms Gyari Dolma la, the Kalon of the Department of Home and representatives of Young Women’s International Institute and EduCARE India were also present as the guest of honour.

The tournament showed the teamwork, spirit and their love for the game; yet being very competitive and intense. Though being opponents they showed respect through the way they played. One of the objectives of holding this tournament is to advance the participation of Tibetan women in sports and health. The purpose is to address sexual violence in the Tibetan community and also to improve the quality of life for Tibetan refugees. All the players, volunteers and the guests wore purple armbands as a symbol of solidarity towards a ‘Sexual Violence Free Society’. The nine days tournament observed hundreds of spectators enjoying the matches from all corners and every possible space around the Gangkyi Basketball ground.

It was an honour to have the opportunity to witness this incredible event. As EduCARE India and YWA are working towards creating women empowerment through various means, seeing the women participate in the basketball tournament made our goals more consequential. Being part of the Dhasa Tibetan Women’s Basketball tournament has reinforced the capabilities of women in all societies. It is events like these that continue inspire organization like EduCARE to continue the amazing work we are set out to do.

- Amanpreet Sidhu, Canada

Self Help Group - 1-year Celebrations in Shenny

Self Help Group - 1-year Celebrations in Shenny - Mar 2013

The Naddi SHG and international interns celebrate together.

Self Help Group is a financial organization of a Womens Association based on mutual support both for community based supplementary financial as well as social needs. Each of its members saves a small amount of money each week or month, which is gathered in a common “bank”. This in turn encourages savings, and can provide its members with small loans at a reasonable interest rate for business purposes or in times of financial distress.

Self Help Group in Shenny was started with 16 women in April 2012. They all contributed to the SHG by giving 50 Rs each month during the course of a year. At the end of March, they reached an amount of Rs 9.600. To celebrate this first year of success, the organization decided to add RS 400 to the SHG to achieve Rs10 000. After one year, the women are still motivated and have decided to use this money to create and set up new income generating activities.

The aim of this first year was to collect the money and keep it in the group managed informal "little SHG bank”.

The objective of the second year is to continue to collection of money, but also to create new business opportunities through loans funded by their own "little SHG bank” . Thanks to the profit made with these projects, they will also be able to pay their initial loan back.

End of the 1^st Year Celebration:

To celebrate the success of the Self-Help Group in Shenny we decided to organize a “picnic” with all of the women involved in the SHG, and volunteer-interns in EduCARE India and its affiliate programs / orgs. After a quick presentation to go over the trajectory of the SHG, we honored all the women individually for their active involvement and contributions toward the SHG.  The women were very happy and proud to be complimented for their work.

By the end of the presentation, we proposed some ideas – based on personal evaluations and surveys collected – on how to use this money, and give them the possibility to generate an income. The reactions of the women have been above and beyond our expectations! They were very motivated and enthusiastic. Every single woman participated, and seemed really interested. There was a very positive exchange ideas and dialogue between the women and the interns.

Everyone working together to prepare a delicious Indian meal of puri’s and channa. To finish off this great day, we all shared in the preparation and then later eating of a delicious Indian meal

The Next Phase of the Self Help Group:

How will the women use the money they have collected?

The first project idea involves all of the members in the SHG. The idea is to create a ReStore,  a local shop, in main square of Naddi. In this ReStore, the women will sell their own hand-made products to the local community and tourists. This project will allow the women to earn money independently from their husbands, brothers, and father; and therefore enable them to increase their own economic empowerment and personal self-confidence by giving them the means to contribute to their household income.

In the first phase of production, the women are really interested in producing and selling knitted items, tailored clothes, and local accessories. At the same time they are also highly motivated to learn how to make jewellery and various baked goods. They would then add these items into the second phase of production.

In the next couple of weeks the women will begin their production of these items, and plan to open their shop by May!

Elodie Duvivier & Aureline Moye

Micro-finance interns from France

March/April 2013

Starting of a Girls Club in a new village

After the success of the Girls Club and Young Women’s Association in Naddi, our volunteer-interns team is working to start up a new group in Himachal Pradesh village cluster at Maitee. As new international volunteer-intern members, the team-members had moved to Maiti at the end of January, 2013 to help initiate this new project.

Naina, Kate Davis - Canada (Girls Club and YWA Project Manager),
Laboo, and Auréline - France (Micro-finance Project Manager)

Since moving to Maitee they (Kate, working with our affiliate YWI; and Aureline working with affiliate MicroEmpowerED program) have spent the majority of their time getting to know the women and children of the community. Kate, from Canada remarks, "At first I was intimidated by this task because there had been no previous interaction with these families and I was worried as to how they would receive my presence in their village. After some casual visits and many cups of chai my worries soon vanished as I got to know the families.  Up to this point, there are about 15 girls with whom I regularly interact that range from the age of 6 to 20. The older girls have been helping me learn some Hindi and I help them with their English when I can. The children are so happy to teach me about their way of life in Maiti and they especially enjoy it when I dress in the traditional Indian Salwar Kameez outfit, saying that I look “Oh! SO nice!”." 

            In the next few weeks, the team has started to organise a room in the near vicinity of the intern house to use it as a common get together and activity room. A classroom at the local elementary school is also being put into use..The team-members will not only be able to assist the teachers with the English curriculum during school hours, but they will also teach skills for community based waste management and good case practices for environmental conservation amongst the children. In the afternoon they would be able to conduct Girls Club and After School Program activities. For Girls Club, the girls have shown a great interest in learning various life skills and practicing English. They have also said that they would like to do arts and crafts as well as organized team sports on the field out back.  We look forward to seeing these activities come to fruition in the next few weeks, and, support Aureline (from France) towards initiating a Young Women Association and Self Help Group there!

Main Road Square of Maitee village
A lline of houses of the marginalized and poor lie (beyond visual sight) behind the trees on the right extreme

Community Network Building at the new Centre in Himachal

We have set up a new ViKAS Centre in a village near Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh with new empowerment and environmental projects starting up with the local community. 

As part of our overall community building and the initial development of the Young Women's Association, the young women of the community women have initiated meetings and discussions with our volunteer-interns!

We have also planned an integrated approach for the projects on environment conservation, sanitation, healthcare and micro-finance.

Our volunteer-interns interact with and allow the local women a space to feel comfortable and share their local knowledge and customs with us, and over much laughter and cups of chai (tea) we all got to know each other better in a fun and informal setting.

As part of the process of building relationships, trust and respect between the volunteer-intern team and the community, we also organised a traditional dresses fashion show as we wanted them to engage and participate in something that gave them pride and a sense of identity.

However, in the end, somehow, the roles got reversed, and towards the end of the session many women were dressing the volunteer-interns up!