And so life continues ...

It’s been a few days.

On Tuesday, I woke up feeling ill, with a sore throat, a headache, and general fatigue. I checked my “Bugs, Bites, and Bowels” book, but it didn’t seem like there was much to worry about since I haven’t seen a mosquito here yet. We didn’t end up going out into the field that day, which was a blessing since I didn’t feel up to it. I left work a little early to come home and sleep. But, as it turns out, I was up and down a lot that evening as mom and dad both called, separately, to check up on me. I think I worried them a bit with the last diary entry about wanting to come home. I didn’t really mean it … I was just upset (really upset) about missing Sean’s call, something I had looked forward to all day. Later, Sean called, as well. It was great to talk to everyone and with all of the kind words from family and friends in response to my emails (I’m finally on the Internet!), I feel like I’m over some kind of hump here.

On Wednesday, Lee and I arrived at work to find out that we would be taken to Beyt Dwarka that day. Beyt Dwarka is a nearby island that has religious significance – the diety Krishna is said to have visited there. I assume that this is the reason why people live on Beyt Dwarka, because otherwise, it is a tough place to be. There is no natural source of potable water.
So, by 10am, I was on a boat to Beyt Dwarka. And by 10:05, I found a cockroach the size of my thumb crawling up my leg. Ick!

Our purpose for visiting the island was to take a visiting official from the Gujarat government to assess some rainwater harvesting structures being built by Tata. The government provided a grant for the structures and wanted to see how the money is being spent. In addition to viewing the physical structures, the government official was highly concerned with whether awareness campaigns were being conducted to inform residents about conserving water and protecting it from pollution. At the moment, there is one man-made lake on the island. When we were there, we observed about 50 women sitting on the banks of the lake and on little concrete structures in the lake, scrubbing their laundry by hand and rinsing the soap off in the water. Not 30 feet away, five giant buffalo were wading in the water, cooling off from the hot sun. The town currently suffers from lots of waterborne diseases. Once these new watershed structures are in service, it is very important that people know not to do laundry or bathe in the water that is meant for drinking. The structures also have to be protected from animals.

The boat ride only lasted about 15 minutes and then began our hunt for the local contact that liaises between Tata and the Beyt community. We walked through a winding market, with shops closely lining two sides of a narrow street. Overhead, shopkeepers had strung up a canopy of burlap from which they hung some souvenirs, such as handmade purses and plastic toys. We ended up heading for a temple that supposedly showed the path to true love (not romantic love, but love for all). I hardly knew what was going on before someone told me I needed to remove my shoes and leave my bag behind if I wanted to proceed into the temple. Well, I would have liked to go, but I had my laptop and camera with me that day (not knowing I’d be heading right out into the field!) and refused to leave it behind. So one of the Tata reps sat outside with me while the others walked through the temple, looking in each room for our island contact. Lee says it was interesting inside, lots of religious pilgrims praying and just viewing the temple as it is a major tourist attraction for the island. There were even a group of young boys, dressed like some kind of monks, studying Sanskrit in a courtyard.

We didn’t find our contact there, so we walked on through the village. The streets were covered with cow dung … and filled with cows. Auto rickshaws drove recklessly through the streets, narrowly avoiding old women and stupid American interns named Valerie.

While waiting on a stoop outside the man’s house, the government official turned to me. He pointed to his watch, which now read 11:15 and said, “This is why India is so economically backward. This man knew we were coming to the island today and he is an hour late. His hour has now taken up the time of five people who could have been doing more productive things than waiting for him.”

Once the man came though, there seemed to be no hard feelings (at least as far as I could tell …) and we were off to view some wells. I’ve looked in a lot of wells lately …

Then, we started to walk back into town, heading for the docks, so I thought we must be done. I was a little relieved, as I wasn’t feeling 100% well and some sights – such as children, filthy and eating off the ground – had unsettled me. But, I was wrong. All the sudden, an auto rickshaw pulls up and I am told to hop on. It turns around and starts heading deep into a desert area on the island. (It’s this kind of physical diversion and corresponding mental U-turn that happens to me at least three times a day here: I never know what will happen next. Ever.) We stop at a the entrance to a mosque and walked over to a check dam under construction. We looked at that for about 10 minutes and then stopped in the mosque.

There were just three men manning the mosque and instead of a big building like a church, it was structured more like a big garden area with a centre platform made of marble. The platform was covered and at one end, there was a small building with a shrine and some incense burning.

After a few minutes there, the government official needed to head back to Mithapur and catch his train. So we took off on the auto rickshaw again. The auto rickshaw – this particular one, at least – was a motorcycle with a big platform attached on the back (like the bed of a pickup truck). You sit on top of the walls of the platform facing each other and hang onto some bars overhead. As I mentioned before, the rickshaw drivers are ruthless … we drove right through the narrow market, having to duck to avoid hitting our head on the hanging purses and toys, and then right down onto the dock by the boat. People had to leap out of the way to avoid being run over by us!

The rest of the day was rather uneventful, as we just stayed in the office and did research on microfinance and self help groups (the topics of our respective projects).

Today, Thursday, we started the day in the office. Then, after lunch, we were picked up and driven to the Tata Apprentice Training Centre where the Community Development department was hosting a meeting of Self Help Group leaders. When we arrived, a young kid (maybe 15-years-old) spotted Lee and greeted him warmly. Lee goes to the gym at the youth hostel each night and this is one of the guys he’s met there. This kid is a Tata apprentice. Tata apprentices attend the school for three years to learn how to become machinists and other types of salt works technicians. The kid was very excited and insisted on showing us all around the school. His English is limited, so basically what he did was walk by each and every machine, room, and model and read the English signs to us. “Lathe machine. Drill. Compressor. Classroom 1. Classroom 2. Gent’s Toilet.” You get the picture. Each time we passed a room with students in it, they all jumped out of their seats and followed us. Pretty soon, we had amassed a rather unwieldy entourage with young guys shouting, “Lee Bhai. Walry Ben.” (Walry is me!) Finally, the meeting we were meant to attend was about to start. I managed to break away – thankfully, they were less interested in me. But, Lee – oh man, they love Lee. In fact, two nights ago, he got stopped on the way to the gym by some other teenagers. They told Lee he looked really “sexy,” which apparently means “cool” here. Then, one of them took him for a spin around Mithapur on his motorcycle. By the end of the day today, Lee was doing secret handshakes with these kids and being invited for games of volleyball and trips to a temple in Dwarka on Sunday.

The meeting was interesting. First, I’ll have to give a brief (!) explanation of Self Help Groups (SHGs). Tata helps to facilitate the formation of groups of women in communities. Each group includes between 8 and 15 women, and all of the women in the group have to be from the same village and roughly the same socio-economic status. Once a group is formed, the women elect a President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and they agree upon an amount that each member can afford to deposit with the group monthly. The money is deposited in a bank account established by the group. Once there is a certain level of savings in the bank account, the group can then begin making loans to its members or even taking loans from the bank. The groups also tend to engage in community development projects that they agree are important. Tata’s employs about five people whose job it is to help launch new groups and assist the groups with accounting issues and disputes. Tata, however, tries to make the groups as self-sufficient as possible. As such, I believe they offer training to help SHG members understand accounting and group dynamics.

There are now 203 SHGs across 42 villages here. The SHGs have recently formed a federation, and once a month, there is a federation meeting, which includes the leaders of all the SHGs. Today, about 150 women showed up and sat on the ground in a relatively small room. When I walked in, there was a row of chairs set up at the front of the room, and of course (!), I was directed to sit in one of them. We’re always treated as distinguished guests even when we’d be happy to sit on the floor with everyone else.

The meeting started with a song, sung into a microphone by a small group of women and joined by most of the women in the room.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the implementation of a new income generation project. There is a giant shrine to Shiva near here, which is one of only nine such shrines in the country. It is a very important site for religious pilgrims and tourists, though it’s a bit removed from any town or other attraction. Really, it’s in the middle of nowhere. (I saw it last Friday.) Anyway, Tata submitted a proposal to the government for building a heritage site next to the shrine. The heritage site would include a restaurant, guest house, open air theatre, plaza, and shops. The government has approved the plan – which is meant to both build tourism in the area as well as employ local residents. The women had agreed previously that below the poverty line (BPL) women should be employed on the management committee of this site, and today’s meeting was to decide how to identify the BPL women to appoint.

After a brief overview by Mr. Kamani, the women were given a long chance to share their opinions and ideas. It was really cool to see the women at this event … normally, in the villages, they stay out of sight and do not have a big presence (other than their beautifully coloured saris) – but here, they were strong, opinionated, and fearless. They stood up and addressed each other, engaging in playful banter and heated debates. It was great.

At the end, each of the people in chairs at the front of the room said a few words. And then, Rehana, one of the women I work with, looks at me and says, “Valerie, say a few words.” Oh my God. I don’t know what to say! I only kind of understand what is going on in this room (aided by Durga’s translation on paper)! I don’t speak Gujarati! Finally, I take the microphone, and say, slowly (and with Mr. Kamani’s translation following each sentence), “My name is Valerie Ben. I am from the U.S. I study in the U.K. I have only been here one week. I am very impressed by you. I wish you the best in this project, and I am happy to help in whatever way I can.” Lee said roughly the same. They clapped for us and said “thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Then, we all got up and went to the balcony for snacks and tea. Hot chai tea in the boiling hot sun. They love it here!

The women seem to take to me here – the equivalent to Lee’s popularity with the boys. A few women came up to me and said I was welcome in their home any time. Very sweet.

After we left the apprentice school, we drove over to the Okhai Manufacturing Centre, where women sew the cool tunics that I plan to purchase a lot of. (Okhai is the brand name of the tunics and other products and means “from the Ohkamandhal area,” which is where we are.) About twenty women were sitting in a very pleasant room with good light and fans. Each of them were stationed in front of a modern electric sewing machine. They work from 8:30 to 5:30 each day with time off to go home for lunch. Today, they were making really cool bags … which I hope to see in the Okhai shop soon.

And so another day goes by …
Ooh, one other tidbit:
Today, I saw a dog sit up very, very straight, as if he were standing at attention in the military. A fly was buzzing around his head and in a split second, like Mr. Doggy Myagi, he opened his mouth and swallowed the fly. Awesome.