Gujarat, God, and Gandhi

TUESDAY
The heavy downpour this morning gave us all a scare - we thought the day was going to be spent outside in a rural village... we're all still waiting for the monsoon to catch up to us! Luckily, we were wrong on all accounts - we were mostly indoors, the rain stopped, and we stayed in the city.

The first stop was to the main office of SEWA - the Self Employed Women's Association. This organization is a trade union that helps marginalized, unorganized workers. It began from the textile movement started by Gandhi, and now helps around 2 million laborers who are not protected through organized employment. In addition, SEWA branch organizations help educate women and teach valuable skills that give opportunities to the poorest of women.

SEWA organized a site visit into a slum home, where women were given the opportunity to learn both life skills and technical skills. We navigated through small alleys to reach our destination, dodging puddles, holes, and the occasional cow. Upstairs, a crash-course computer literacy course teaches women to read and write basic Gujarati, allowing them more freedom - for example, being able to read busses, grocery prices, and the ability to sign their names - thus allowing them to get bank accounts.

The literacy class, gathered around the small computer

Computer literacy students

Downstairs, a textile class taught women to sew their own clothing, as well as clothes that they could sell.

The textile class

After leaving the slum school, we drove out to the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, just north of Ahmedabad. It's an interesting Hindu Temple, but feels a bit more like a museum as there is no worshipping there - it's more a tribute to Swaminarayan Sanstha, who devotees believe was the incarnation of God. We couldn't take any pictures inside, but here's one from Wikipedia:

WEDNESDAY

The day started with a visit to the Pratham Educational Foundation, an NGO whose primary objective is the universalization of elementary education. They focus on activity based learning (rather than the rote learning that most Indian schools use), and their motto is "Every Child in School." The push is to move from access to quality, with a focus on reading - the idea is that having a minimalistic target is more realistic and attainable for the vast majority of the poor population.

Doing puzzles in the math lab

We then went to the Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Center, which promotes math and science interest throughout the community. They instigate change through interaction - anyone from families, teachers, children, and even college students can come for their exhibits and open labs. They took us to the math lab, where they use stories, puzzles, and manipulatives to engage learning and excite children about math. We also went to their rocket building lab, and had a demonstration of a water-pressure rocket.

In the afternoon, we visited the Sabarmati Ashram, where Mahatma Gandhi lived for 13 years organizing textile workers and spreading his message of non-violent reform. From here in 1930, Gandhi led the Dandi March that challenged the British tax on salt. Definitely moving sharing the same space where Gandhi once was!

School group, learning about Gandhi

In Gandhi's house

On the way home, we stopped at the SEWA store for handicrafts made by the collective. It was definitely more expensive, but good knowing that 65% of the money goes directly to the women artisans.

Traditional Gujarati Dinner

Dinner was at a traditional Gujarati restaurant/entertainment center, Vishalla. Decorated with traditional huts, cots, and swings, there was entertainment along with great food, served on disposable leaf plates and bowls, and earthenware cups. The food was delicious, and it was fun dancing and watching the puppet show.

Folk dancing

The puppet show