Namaste

"You educate a man; you educate an individual. You educate a woman; you educate a whole family".  - Mahatma Gandhi

I am spending my 2 months in Jodhpur volunteering for Sambhali Trust, a women's  empowerment NGO. It is an amazing grassroots charity which seeks to use education as a means of achieving female social and financial independence.

One of its projects, Jodhpur Empowerment Centre, empowers women in two ways. In the mornings, both foreign and Indian volunteers teach the girls and women English and maths. In the afternoon, they are taught sewing and tapestry. The aim of this project is to allow women to be able to run a micro business and the ability to sell their goods. After two years, the women 'graduate' and are given a sewing machine to facilitate the ability to sell their own goods. Graduates' products are also sold at the Sambhali Boutique, which is a shop located in the tourist district of Jodhpur and where the graduates work. I visited the Sambhali Boutique yesterday; the handicrafts are beautiful. They sell kurtas (long Indian-style blouses), stuffed toys such as elephants, and in particular I have my eye on the embroidered cards.

I am dividing my time between the Jodhpur Empowerment Centre and the Boarding House. The boarding house is where 20 girls from rural villages, such as Setrawa (where Sambhali has another project), live during term-time in order to receive a good education. They are between 10 and 14 years old, and are the most lively, fun and amazing girls. The boarding house is run by a truly incredible woman whose life is dedicated to the education of these girls, as well as caring for her family. In the afternoons, I go to the boarding house and help them with their homework, play games, take them to the optician - anything that needs doing. They are young girls and living away from their families so volunteers' role is to give them love and attention that they miss by being away.