My initial time with READ India: Memories of June 2008

My initial time with READ India: Memories of June 2008

by | Apr 23, 2023 | My Musings-Dr Geeta Malhotra

Hello everyone! How are you?

I have decided to share my memories! My memories are more and less the memories of my organization I have been working with from the past 13 years. My colleagues are somehow my second family and I see the growth of my office as the growth of my family. I am talking about Rural Education and Development (READ) India.

Now, with this very brief background let me share my memories with you. While I was interviewed by Dr Antonia Neubeur, the Founder of READ Global, settled in Nevada, USA, on phone, in May 2008. She asked me five questions. How many times I have travelled to rural areas? What experience I had talking to the rural communities? If I am not provided bed and bedsheets to sleep, and no proper washroom, can I stay under these tough conditions? Can I adjust to the food  available to eat, keeping in view the circumstances you are travelling to rural areas?

I was amazed by these questions. She is not concerned about my experience, specifically, planning, execution, monitoring, HR and fund raising, as the Country Director is supposed to know everything. She is concerned about my adjusting to the odd circumstances, specially leaving behind all comforts, facility and luxury back home!

I remember, I answered all the questions based on my experience and what I faced while travelling to rural areas and international travel I did during my earlier jobs with Population Foundation of India and OneWorld South Asia. She was so convinced with my answers and she said “You are the right choice”. Till date, after almost 13 years, I am the same and READ India has grown with the simple bottom-line – simplicity, humility, humanity, values to serve the humanity, transparency, respect for each other and expanding and nurturing the relationship beyond empowerment and employment.

I joined on the 1st June 2008 and the inauguration of The Oceanic Library was on 8th June 2008, just 7 days after my joining. I had to travel to the village Ullon, near Sundarbans, West Bengal. I met Dr Antonia Neubeur, Jessica, daughter of Omer Rains, the then the Chair of the Board, READ Global at the Kolkatta airport and the journey started in actual. Nahid Jubair, my colleague, whom I met before joining READ India, was in Ullon itself making arrangements for the stay in Ullon and launch of the first READ Community Library and Resource Centre.

While I reached Ullon, three hours drive from the Kolkatta airport, I was amazed by the warm welcome of the local village people, we walked 5 kms from the main road where The Oceanic Library is located to the VSSU Office, with local bands and communities. It was a fun though but my mind was reflecting on the answers I shared with Toni (Dr Antonia Neurbeur). She was so happy, I could see the level of happiness and satisfaction on her face. She was overwhelmed with the response, seeing the response of the community as per the Model she perceived while founding the READ Global. I still remember, being a strong cultural State, the whole night, the community had a cultural programme. Women dressed in traditional costumes, jewellery, make-up and children performed at their best, Jessica surrounded by the village girls, Toni surrounded by men and women, Library Management Committee members. Kapil Mondal Da, the short height man, with such a high vision and feel for his community, was having peace on his face, as the magic he did was unmeasurable, donating the land, by converting a hut into the library, a great visionary knew that this partnership will enable him to translate his dreams into action. I would also like to mention here that the model he created based on his dreams was shown by an architect in a model of the building covered with glass walls and was kept on the table at the Reception. He happily explained to all maybe more than 10 times with bright light in his eyes and confidence that he will be able to achieve all this not only for him but for his villagers. He used to say that my village community will not be able to go to America so he painted The Oceanic Library as a White House in the village, Statue of Liberty he created, India Gate and the artificial lake from VSSU to the Oceanic Library. The fish pond he made just behind the building of The Oceanic Library is just a peaceful lake where the visitors can sit for long hours and enjoy the beauty of three natural gifts by the GOD, Water, Trees and Sky, combination of blue water with green trees seeing their reflection in the water and above all the blue sky, birds around and a pin drop silence!

The community commitment was amazing, the joy was on the top of their minds, serving each other, made me think, we always write in our research papers, the differential economic levels, social differences and the variables in Literacy and Education. Here it was seen as “Everyone is ONE”, whether belong to Ullon, India or USA. International Diversity in Unity in Ullon!

There was no five-star hotel to live. VSSU guest house was the place, with one bed in one room, fan and water cooler. The Founder of READ Global and the invitees from Kolkata stayed in the guest house, breakfast, lunch, tea was all cooked in the kitchen of VSSU, fish was from the pond, cooked with the spices of the garden, rice from the fields, brinjals from the vegetable garden, what else one can share, expressing the simplicity of life.

I was encouraged by my visit and I was so confident that with these values, I can travel to the whole country in rural parts and make many friends, empower women, educate children, provide right values to the youth and make this country One with One Value System : What can I do for you?

Passion In Action

Passion In Action

by | Apr 11, 2023 | Update

History, Culture and ethnicity vs today’s life pattern and needs..

Muradgarhi is a village in which Rajputs are staying. The history says that the Rajputs are fearless, courageous and adventurous. They fought many battles of wars and they do not accept defeat. They are the warriors that stamp is forever with them. At the same time, Rajputs are very generous and kind hearted, very supportive, very protective for their own community. They generally secluded their women, which was the practice in the past, but one can see this to some extent in the present time too. With changing time, many are becoming liberal and many have very strong inhibitions.

Muradgarhi is a village in which Rajputs are staying. This falls under Jewar, the Yamuna Express Highway, a road cuts in between and the Industries are coming up in a big way.

When I visited first time, I entered the village, I saw a signboard with “Rajputana”. It was the first visit and it was to the school. I met the Principal with my colleague. He was courageous, confident and very optimistically managing the government primary school. The big ground though but with minimum infrastructure. In the room of the Principal, I saw a small library and curiously I asked, who donated the books, he said, ”These are my books”. A school without library does not mean anything to him, the reason he brought books from his home.  We met the teachers who come from the nearest villages and some from Noida. It is tough to travel but the enthusiasm was at peak to teach children and bring them at par with other children in the nearby schools. The Principal called his nephew, who took us to the village, where we wanted to meet with the women of the village and then the youth. We had general discussions with the women and wanted to know their aspirations. Every woman said that they have dreams to fulfil and they would like to do something for themselves and their families. This made me believe that aspirations are always there, but what lacks is the opportunity. We shared with them our purpose of visit that we have come to provide access to various resources for learning, if the community as a whole join hands with us. The commitment was made and they wanted assurance from us that we will visit them again with resources so that they get the opportunity to realize their own dreams of self-empowerment and so something in their life.

We interacted with youth, who were having high hopes that the industry is coming, they will get the employability, but further interactions made them realize that they have to work on their skills, personality and learning to make them fit for the jobs.

This is not the story of one geography as mentioned. But, wherever the Industry is coming, youth are not prepared to get the employability, resulting in demotivation, in and out migration and many other related issues. The need is to bring the opportunities at their doorsteps. While young boys can go in the city to learn, but deprivation is for children, young girls and women. While interacting with young girls, they are bright, good in studies but lack resources to excel in their lives.

Within three months after our visit, we launched a Community Library and Resource Centre on 20th April 2022. The first step was to take a safe space in the village. We set up with all requisite infrastructure of books, computers, early learning centre, sewing machines, and the most important aspect was selecting the team as Resource Persons from the village itself, creating employability for the women and they willingly allowed their women to serve their own community with variety of services from the Centre.

Seeing the change in the mindset and realising the importance of their own self-growth with dignified and respectful learning, almost 300 children improved their reading and writing skills, learnt the English language, which they consider is important in the present time. More than 60 children come to the Early Learning Centre as there are no pre-schools and I am not sure about Anganwadi. More than 60 women learnt the apparel making skills and more than 100 boys and girls learnt the basic and advance computer skills. The youth attended the sessions on personality development and interview skills as they envision their future in that area where the new airport is also coming in the future.

The community still needs education on safe drinking water and the efforts are being made to provide education as the supply of the safe drinking water from the government has to be made available. The government has started their own initiatives for the holistic development of the area and the people, at the same time, it was too exciting for us to be with them, understand their needs and aspirations and touching their lives for positive thinking, specially, the strong youth community, who needs to be encouraged to use their energies for positive self-growth and the growth of their families. They are the important part of the demographic transition, whose earning with professional growth is going to contribute in the GDP of the country as a whole.

The potential is there, of course, multi-stakeholder’s partnerships are required to strengthen the community as READ India believes in community strength and keeps Community First. There is so much to be done in the villages like this. Though we have served almost 500 villages which is a very small number as compared to 6,40,000 villages in India. The mission is strong and will reach to more and more in the coming times.

Women can change the world if given the right platform : Mahila Saksham Samman

Women can change the world if given the right platform : Mahila Saksham Samman

by | Mar 20, 2023 | Update

Women can change the world if given the right platform : Mahila Saksham Samman

It’s almost 16 years travelling rural libraries and meeting with communities sharing their joy and sorrows with me. I am so humbled to give them the space to share freely as providing an opportunity to share their stories is a great healing for them.

Recently I was in Bhanwargarh, Kelwara and Shahbad in Baran, the aspirational district of Rajasthan. Met with many girls and married women. Listened to them, understood their aspirations and the challenges too. Laughed with them and also clicked selfies too because they capture these moments for the re-joying time and again as these memories are stored with them.

Met Gunjan, daughter of Meena Prajapat(https://youtu.be/xT0iKMsJfqE ), whom I know from a decade, went to meet them many a times and witness the sea change in their lives. Meena showed me her newly constructed house with excitement on one hand to manifest her own economic growth but she is a leader for hundreds of girls and women with whom she spends her time, motivate them and make them learn a skill and enabling them to be independent, stand on their own feet and do not look back. Life teaches us a lot, ups and downs, but constant and consistent efforts made by these women with the magic of strong peer learning is transforming their lives. They stand by the side of their children, they support their husbands brothers elders and are there during tough times.

On 10th March, many such women and girls were invited in Delhi at the occasion of making them realise their sky rock potential and wisdom they developed in the past five years or so and become the shining stars of not only their parents, but their own communities and setting samples for the upcoming generations. They collectively celebrated the Mahila Saksham Samman under the big banner of International Women’s Day. I do not want to focus on numbers though more than a million women and girls across rural India are part of this mission which READ India has brought at their door steps, but the change witnessed the power in them with positive spirits values and protection of their own culture.

This social change witnessed by them made them economically empowered as they learnt to positively convince their parents that they are no less than boys, they save money to support their families and above all continue their higher education. Padega India Badega India. Saksham Mahila can change the Samaj we live in, what they need is mutual respect and self-dignity. Let join hands to take this mission ahead and make our Nation proud!

Empower Educate and Enhance the skills of rural communities is the way forward for development

Empower Educate and Enhance the skills of rural communities is the way forward for development

by | Jan 5, 2023 | My Musings-Dr Geeta Malhotra

The education of girls and women is the backbone of any development which we envision in this country and we must address this with inclusive approach. Inclusive means All, without any bias of any aspect, colour, creed, caste, costume, capacity etc.

4 Es Formula: With the inclusive approach in view, READ India have been using 4 Es formula to translate its vision into action: Empowering, Educating, Employing and Enhancing the skills for holistic development.

Scaling and Deepening the Impact by building grassroots leaders highlight our journey from Andhra to West Bengal, in chronological order, wherein the focus is Life-Cycle Approach: having special programmes for 3-6 years; 7-15 years; 16-25 years; 26-45 years. We have specially designed programs for these age group. The strength of the programme is building grassroots leadership and handing over this responsibility on their shoulders. It’s a tough task though but constant and consistent efforts on handholding, mentoring, listening to their concerns and challenges, enabling them to find possible solutions and overcoming and achieving their small goals have paved the way for them and paid back to us as rewards of our work with them.

Let me introduce the grassroots leaders to you who broke their barriers not by fighting but enabling their families to walk with them.There are many like these, who have made commitment to themselves to focus on their life’s mission.

If given the opportunity these leaders have achieved the following indicators:

For self-transformation:

  • Continued their higher education.
  • Learnt multiple skills for self-empowerment and build their own capacity.
  • Came out of their barriers and doing jobs with READ India.
  • Delayed age at marriage.

For the family:

  • Economic Development of the family as a whole.
  • Continuing the education of their brothers and sisters.
  • Providing permanent roof to the family.

For the Society:

  • Committed to the cause of community development by reaching to thousands for their holistic development.

The above indicators are not for READ India to showcase but for themselves as these helped them to become leaders forever and set examples for others. We are proud to share the data collated for their brilliant work with them so that the multiplier effect is visible in the long run.

During COVID-19 Pandemic:

Let me share what they have been doing in the field at the grassroots level during COVID 19:

Tough times don’t last, tough people do…

This quote is very true in the current times of COVID-19 crisis that has impacted each one of us personally, professionally, economically, and socially.

How all this happened:

Some key highlights:

  • Healthy and deep conversations, direct communications, deep listening, creating platforms for them to share, speak, spell out clearly the challenges.
  • Sharing with others and in turn, learning from their experiences. The huge network of communities in India set by READ India is an example for making this learning fruitful.
  • Replicating the best practices again helped reaching to the grassroots and enabling them to think through their own journey of development, face the challenges, find solutions, and move ahead.
  • Defining their ownership, recognising their efforts, helping them take small but firm steps, build their own future, and set right the things by addressing one by one and helping others with positive thinking and action.

READ India has touched the lives of almost 6,00,000 (6 Lakhs) rural people by setting up Community Library and Resource Centers in rural India.

 

Young girls breaking the barriers and realizing their own dreams

Young girls breaking the barriers and realizing their own dreams

by | Dec 15, 2022 | Update

I remember, in 2012, I visited Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh, exploring the possibility of setting up a Community Library and Resource Center as per READ India model. We needed a space in the village. We came across a couple who was running a middle-level school in Aghapur village. We partnered with ILFS, who was responsible for constructing the highway and wanted to do some good for the local communities.

As READ India has a robust model of supporting Education, Enterprise, and Community Development, ILFS proposed to train women on zari zardozi in the initial time. Once their project was over, they withdrew but READ India continued its interventions. The local government was so supportive of constructing the roads, pathways towards the Center so that local communities, especially children should not cross the muddy roads.

Once most of the women and girls were trained on digital literacy, basic skills on stitching and sewing and zari zardozi embroidery and children started going to the formal schools, we shifted to Patwai, 10 kms away from Aghapur. The local government gave the free space of three rooms, courtyard, and gated house, which was once constructed for some community programme but was depleted. Local Sarpanch supported READ India and the READ Community Library and Resource Center was established. The READ team, especially girls, who were very shy and were not allowed to go to any other village, travelled to Patwai to manage and own the READ Center. One such girl is Farah. READ her story :

I’m Farah from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh and I’m here to share how my family is realising their dreams because they trusted me, encouraged me to continue my studies and also empower other girls on education and development with READ India’s support.

Where I live and the community I belong, daughters are discouraged from studying and having jobs. We’re told to just wait for a husband. As a daughter, I was afraid I was failing my family because I didn’t want to get married. But my parents surprised me—they went against tradition and agreed with my decision to not marry. They trusted me and my dreams.

Excited to explore opportunities, I began going to the Rampur READ Center. It’s amazing! They have so many programs to train women to become leaders in our homes and communities. Learning to use computers and joining confidence-building workshops changed my life. I fell in love with learning so I decided to go to college; my parents were happy to support me.

I gained the confidence to be independent, fulfil my goals, and support my loved ones. I was determined to build a happy and successful future for my whole family. I’m now 25 and proud to work on my master’s degree in teaching and give back to READ by working as a Center Coordinator. Most of all, I’m proud to help my family find opportunities to succeed.

With my job at the READ Center, I was able to send my brother and sister to a good school so they can finish their studies. They dream of finding a job they love too, so we are making that happen through education. I’m showing my thanks and love for my parents by buying a home and supporting their pilgrimage to Mecca. As a family, we are happily pursuing our dreams. It’s amazing how this all happened because my parents trusted their children to set their own futures! It’s the kind of support that inspires daughters like me to find ways to succeed through programs like those in READ Centers.

Different families have different dreams, and I encourage others to realise their dreams as this is not helping just one girl, but helping many generations coming our way.

The empowering journey did not stop here. A pre-school is run by these girls in Patwai, wherein more than 100 children from 3-6 years were studying pre-COVID and are now reached through mobile sharing the local e-content prepared by the teachers themselves. The impact is visible, the respect, self-dignity and recognition of these girls are beyond imagination.

In other parts like Kalghar in Rampur, girls like Abida, who wanted to do something in her life, started the stitching center from her home itself and training the women and young girls of her community on advance stitching and sewing. Similarly, Shabana, motivated by Abida, has spared one room in her house, with the consent of her parents, to train community girls on stitching and sewing and beauty and wellness. Is it not the way to have strong bonding among young girls and committed to make their peers learn, where is competition gone? where the disparity gone? and where the thought of becoming richer than others gone? The time is changing, and the thought process is also changing. Read about Abida :

Abida, aged 31 years belongs to an Indian Muslim orthodox family. She belongs to an introvert traditional family, where females of the households are not allowed to go outside the houses without seeking prior permission. Women mobility is strictly restricted for the sake of honour and prestige. Her family wants her to get married after completion of intermediate. However, she was desperate to continue her studies and want to give financial support to her family. Her father was scared of the societal pressure related to the societal honour of the women as in her culture and norms of society where girls are not promoted to work and earn. This wish of Abida to study and to help her family was like dream comes true when she got a job as stitching trainer at the READ Center after makng several promises, pledges and oaths to convince her family for this job and this permission was a new life for her.

She joined READ India centre in 2019 and tried to prove the best daughter to her parents. With all her sincerities, obedience and efforts she continues her job responsibilities as a Master trainer and in the meanwhile pursue her studies too.
After gaining knowledge from other trainings organized by READ India. She is now a confident independent girl who can earn her livelihood and can survive in this competitive world.
She never lost her hope and continued to work with all her efforts and now everyone in her village knows her with all honour and prestige. Her parents are recognized by her name. She not only earn bread for her family but also earn honour to her family. She is a role model for many girls of the village. Many girls got inspiration and motivation from her and are now studying and getting training in various courses. Her neighbours and relatives seek advice from her to choose better career options for their daughters. She continued her studies and completed her graduation degree from Madrasa. Her father has allowed her to get married at her own wish. Her younger sister is also allowed to study and both are earning their livelihood from the READ Centre. Her parents feel proud of her and says that every family should be blessed with a daughter like her. She feels blessed that her all dreams comes true.

Above all, the leadership and life skills sessions on a regular basis from the senior team of READ India nurtured the value system among these girls and they are in the process of invoking their leadership qualities.

It takes time, but consistent efforts with passion and positivity, with patience and perseverance, bring a sustainable change.