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23, Foodie, Traveler, Civil Engineer. I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.
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Day 6
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We had our first taste of dialogues with the community today
We went to a inner suburb in Pune where a woman's self help group (SHG) was meeting. We were greeted with the Hindi dot and sugar grains placed in our mouth.
This group spend most of their loans on rebuilding their houses and wedding costs.
We asked questions through a translator about why they joined and if they thought the group was a success.
I did feel like an outsider and it didn't help that all the EWB people had to sit on chairs, while the SHG sat on the floor. They could not quite understand why we, who come from a rich country, would want to come to learn from them.
We moved on to another self help group in the slum area of Pune. These slums were nothing like those in Mumbai, they were government apartment blocks. Yet they still didn't have any toilets.
This group spent most of their loans on midwifery costs and growing their fruit and veg businesses
I found it very sad that most of the women who join the groups that weren't there for a loan, want to share their domestic violence. In the open space we were in it was not appropriate to talk about these issues as there were men around. I think this disturbed me the most
We had mango juice with the leader of the SHG in her house right after the meeting. We met her family of 8 who all lived in a tiny one bedroom home. The people were very beautiful and were very welcoming. Although they didnt fully understand why we were there. There is so much our society can learn from there community and family values.
We went to a inner suburb in Pune where a woman's self help group (SHG) was meeting. We were greeted with the Hindi dot and sugar grains placed in our mouth.
This group spend most of their loans on rebuilding their houses and wedding costs.
We asked questions through a translator about why they joined and if they thought the group was a success.
I did feel like an outsider and it didn't help that all the EWB people had to sit on chairs, while the SHG sat on the floor. They could not quite understand why we, who come from a rich country, would want to come to learn from them.
We moved on to another self help group in the slum area of Pune. These slums were nothing like those in Mumbai, they were government apartment blocks. Yet they still didn't have any toilets.
This group spent most of their loans on midwifery costs and growing their fruit and veg businesses
I found it very sad that most of the women who join the groups that weren't there for a loan, want to share their domestic violence. In the open space we were in it was not appropriate to talk about these issues as there were men around. I think this disturbed me the most
We had mango juice with the leader of the SHG in her house right after the meeting. We met her family of 8 who all lived in a tiny one bedroom home. The people were very beautiful and were very welcoming. Although they didnt fully understand why we were there. There is so much our society can learn from there community and family values.
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