FSD Blog - From the Field in India

India

First Impression Sambhali Trust by Ariel Wolpe

Meeting the members of Sambhali Trust, you would never imagine that most are from the Dalit caste (known as untouchables) and considered a lesser female since birth. Every day I watch as this title is rejected by Sambhali’s women, overwritten in open notebooks filled with English and Hindi, replaced by beautiful embroidery of original design, and overshadowed by the fluid motions of dance and joyous laughter.

My internship at Sambhali Trust focuses on the Sheerni Micro Finance Project...

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Jodhpur and the Thar Desert by Suzanne Blair

Firstly the small town of Jodhpur. Right on the edge of the Thar Desert it is dry, parochial and very traditional. In summary charming. It is summer here, hence the high temperatures of 45 degrees. The south east monsoon is predicted to arrive in July. The underground aquifers which supply the water systems are being depleted rapidly and this along with a diminished and an increasingly unreliable monsoon make water an imperative problem in Rajasthan...

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Knowledge is Power by Christian Appleby

It was in the heart of the most densely populated desert in the world that I experienced the realities of poverty: women who were forced to support six children on incomes of less than 100 rupees (2 U.S. dollars) per day, perform manual labor in 48 degree heat, and watch their children grow up lacking adequate nourishment. Throughout my internship with FSD I spent six days traveling to Bhikam Kor, Thabukra, Jaji Val Bhatia, Bhawad, Kari, Sushagar, and Jodhpur. In these villages I conducted interviews for an analysis of Sambal Santhsan’s Women’s Rural Self Employment Program. Throughout my travels I gained critical insight into the true nature of development work.

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Progress and Churidars by Aleta Haflett

I catch pieces of the conversation, basic words like “stitch” and “cloth,” and Jignesh, my translator, fills me in on the rest. “They say they can already make the simple pair, easily… now they are discussing the best way to make pleats, and if a drawstring or elastic waistband is best.” He then translated the most rewarding statement I have heard in my five months of work- “They say they can do it, definitely.”

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The Mine Labour Protection Campaign by Sara Bufkin

Since arriving in Jodhpur (has it been a month already?), I have come to appreciate the NGO that I work for, the Mine Labour Protection Campaign, for the wealth of experience and the wide variety of outreach and aid initiatives that it has brought to the impoverished, marginalized, and voiceless community of the Rajasthan’s mineworkers. At first, among all of the union formation and organization, awareness campaigns on occupational health and safety issues like asbestoses and silicosis, and the legal aid camps that MLPC runs in mining areas around the state, I felt a little lost. How could I—a white, nonHindi female with only one year of university under her belt—be of use to MLPC and create a project that would constructively impact the mineworkers and their families?