in the time that i've been here, SURYA has run two awareness generating program (AGP) camps in two slum areas, Vikash Nagar and Ramdarbar. Today is the last day of the Ramdarbar camp, and last week we were there until 6 or 6:30 every night interviewing women who were participating. and generally talking to some awesome, wonderful girls and women.
this is one of SURYA's standard projects, running week-long camps for women above the age of 15 or 16. there are guest lectures and presentations each day, ranging from nutrition and child health to candle making and mehendi lessons to legal aid and domestic violence.
a big goal of it is to raise awareness about SURYA so these "campers" can take advantage of its services in the future if they need them. the AGP camps also hope to instill some inspiration in the women, especially the younger ones, to further pursue some kind of training (i.e. stitching, candlemaking, beauty school, etc.) so they can potentially find work for themselves and become more independent, in the future.
this is one of SURYA's standard projects, running week-long camps for women above the age of 15 or 16. there are guest lectures and presentations each day, ranging from nutrition and child health to candle making and mehendi lessons to legal aid and domestic violence.
a big goal of it is to raise awareness about SURYA so these "campers" can take advantage of its services in the future if they need them. the AGP camps also hope to instill some inspiration in the women, especially the younger ones, to further pursue some kind of training (i.e. stitching, candlemaking, beauty school, etc.) so they can potentially find work for themselves and become more independent, in the future.
this is the opening day ceremony for the vikash nagar camp--which, in good old indian fashion, started about 1.5 hours late.
at the vikash nagar camp on day 2 or 3--the women were learning how to make stuffed animals. this was the best way i could come up with to confirm that it was a rabbit. they laughed so hard...with me, people. not at me. :p
so many pretty colors! a lot of estrogen...a lot.
there was great diversity there in terms of age, you can see this older woman right next to a younger one of 19 or 20. its incredibly moving to see that not just this generation of teen girls, but older ones, see the value in providing women with more opportunities to be independent and better educated. i love that by simply being there, this women is providing her daughters and even granddaughters a great example and role model.
2 comments:
the colors!! i love the colors!!
i bet america could do away with all of our anti-depressants if we just embraced the idea of a full color palate.
So purely theoretically, the phrase "there is a lot of estrogen in this room" should mean "there are a lot, perhaps even too many, of women here; most of whom are acting in very sterotypically womanly ways or most of whom pine for immediate physical intimacy"... but somehow I have a feeling that's not what you meant.
I think Emma confused 'pallet' and 'palate'... of course with modern tattoo technology, who knows...
Post a Comment