Indicorps, Ahmedabad : Newsletter for January 2007
In this issue
What’s Happening at Indicorps
A new class for January 2006
Constructive Leadership Workshop One
Grassroots Development Laboratory Update
Indicorps featured on NDTV Profit / Kingfisher Airlines
New Projects and Initiatives
Serve India Indicorps engages domestic participants
Working with the newest generation at Riverside School
Ultimate Frisbee flies in Ahmedabad
Voices from the Field
Mirror Image, by Prerna Srivastava
Featured Partner: Vidhya Poshak
Fellows for Life: Alumni Updates
Alumnus authors world-class travel guide on Gujarat
And more
.
What’s Happening at Indicorps
January 2007 Fellowship Class Announced!
Indicorps is pleased to announce its newest Indicorps Fellowship class! January 2007 will features a small, but stellar group of people ranging from break-dance artists to finance consultants, people who have worked in international development as well as trekked through China on a soul-searching adventure. Indicorps is excited to welcome this group of four into what promises to be the most innovative Orientation yet. Their variety of work experience and backgrounds is sure to add even more texture to an already unique set of projects. The Fellows will work on projects ranging from bamboo handicrafts for rural artisans to nutrition awareness for women in tribal areas. The January class will also interact with the August 2006 Fellows in creative ways, allowing us to further strengthen our collective impact.
Constructive Leadership August 2006 Fellows Collaborate at Workshop One
From November 28 December 1, twenty Indicorps Fellows came together for an action-packed workshop. From brainstorming solutions to field-level challenges to in-depth analysis of the qualities of leadership, the Fellows brought to the table their unique achievements from two and a half months in the field. Collaboration with sixth-graders from the Riverside school provided an opportunity for the Fellows to inspire others while they continued to build on their collective strength in supporting one another as well. Indicorps extends a big shout-out to the Kasturba Ashram, Koba Gujarat, for hosting Indicorps at their beautiful riverside facility.
Kachra Hatao GDL Cleans the Streets of Bagar!
You can stay up to date and participate in the Grassroots Development Laboratory online at http://gdl.indicorps.org.
The first in a series of innovative interventions in partnership with the Piramal Foundation, the Grassroots Development Laboratory (GDL) decided to first tackle the challenge of strewn trash on streets, in gutters and in public spaces. After holding a “kachra party” to motivate the town to clean up its streets, the Indicorps Fellows engaged the town government and attained municipality garbage trolleys. Using the opportunity as a way to market their initial idea, the Fellows pushed ten trolleys through the streets of Bagar, placing them in various locations identified by Bagar residents as critical junctures. Running an awareness campaign throughout schools and in the community, this ongoing initiative to instill pride in the town has been the GDL’s first collective statement. The Fellows continue to monitor and evaluate the usage of each garbage trolley and are constantly innovating on how to solve the problem of trash in Bagar.
Headquarter at the Piramal School in Bagar, the GDL Fellows will now continue with a series of -targeted interventions and will work with the community to meet their goals. The projects range from the start of a parent-teacher organization, to an application-based computer skills training course, to the creation of a women’s self-help group involved in a vermi-compost based livelihood initiative. In addition to their major projects, Fellows have undertaken personal projects that continue to work towards their vision and build their own skills in the community. From running clubs to eco-clubs, the town is now littered with creativity and excitement (and less trash)!
Watch Indicorps on NDTV Profit and Kingfisher Airlines
If you fly on Kingfisher Airlines this month, be sure to watch the “One Life to Live” feature on the NDTV channel on Kingfisher’s award-winning inflight entertainment system. You can also watch it online at www.indicorps.org.
New Projects and Initiatives
Rang de Service: Indian Youth Unleash Potential to Change the Country
Indicorps is proud to announce Serve India, the first domestic counterpart to its intensive international Fellowship. For five months a group of passionate and committed Indian citizens, will volunteer to breathe new life into the Rajasthan’s rural villages while undergoing a transformative personal process. Serve India interns will participate in an intensive leadership training and orientation, and will then spend the next three months working with children in government schools. Volunteers will continue to develop together as a group of informed, seasoned leaders, capable of working for and with the heart of India her villages. They will use the final months of the internship to plan and run a summer camp for their students. Serve India will commence on January 26, 2007 with an inaugural class of five talented young professionals.
Helping Others Help: Indicorps Teams up with the Riverside School to Inspire a New Generation of Leaders
As part of an ongoing initiative to inspire young people to give their time, the 2006 Indicorps Fellows are teaming up with Vina Didi’s sixth grade class at the Riverside School in Ahmedabad. These students are talented, enthusiastic young people with the passion to really make a difference! During a day long interaction at the Riverside School, students heard about the various Fellowship Projects, shared their thoughts on leadership and the “power of one”, and worked with the Fellows to create their own projects. Each Fellow will serve as a mentor for one student, providing support for that student’s individual service project. The mentorship program will last throughout the Fellowship year. For more information about the Riverside School, please visit www.schoolriverside.com.
Ultimate Impact: Ahmedabad Ultimate Hits Campuses around Ahmedabad
Thanks to the relentless groundwork of Roopal Shah and the admirable commitment of the Manav Sadhna Coaches, Ahmedabad Ultimate is presently running two concurrent six-week Ultimate Frisbee classes at Gujarat Vidhyapeeth and St. Xavier’s College in Ahmedabad. This initiative seeks to create cadres of expert players and coaches from various college campuses who in turn will promote and share the game with new communities. Twice a week for three hours, students are taught how to throw, catch, pass, and work as a team, ultimately to go beyond the confines of a playing field, to learn that this is what it takes to serve a community. Ahmedabad Ultimate plans to host an intercollegiate tournament as well as to expand to other schools in the coming months.
Voices from the Field
Indicorps Fellow: Prerna Srivastava
Mirror Image
The calf walks briskly in front of us, tugging gently on the rope in my hands as if to prompt me to walk faster. Her pace quickens as we draw nearer to the water hole. She must be really thirsty.
“Isko choddo. Ye pani piyegi aur ghoomegi. Hum log is taraff chalte hai,” says Sumitra, a spirited 19-year-old girl from a small, adivasi farming community named Kharia in Jhagadia, Gujarat. My eyes follow the direction she points in. She directs me to let the calf go on her own and leads my gaze elsewhere. Cotton fields seem to extend endlessly in the distance, crowned by skies of impeccable azure.
I reach out my hand for Sumitra to hold as we climb gingerly downhill, kicking up dirt and rocks in the process. She looks at me and smiles, her light brown eyes sparkling in the sun. Moments later, she turns excitedly towards me and points in the direction of the creek, “Didi, dekho, dekho, machli, dekha aapne?!” As if on cue, tiny, frenzied fish materialize before my eyes, rushing hurriedly past each other in their underwater haven. She throws a pebble into the water to attract their attention, and they rush towards it in anticipation.
I roll up my pants up in preparation for wading into the water, and suggest we try to catch one. Excited by the proposition, Sumitra takes off her dupatta, folds it in half, and wades into the water with the scarf submerged. We wait in silent anticipation, hoping one will swim in, but the fish escape our makeshift net. We laugh at our underestimation of the task, wring out the dupatta and the bottoms of our pants, and start walking back home, hand in hand. Her warm, firm grip on my hand makes me smile. I hold her hand tenderly and hope that she doesn’t let go. She doesn’t.
“Jab log mujhse kehte hai ke main kuch cheez ki kabil nahi hun, mujhe goosa aata hai, aur main unko dikhana chahati hun ki main kuch bhi kar sakti hun,” says Sumitra. “When people tell me that I’m not capable of something, I get really angry. It makes me want to show them that I can do anything.”
This is what strikes me most about Sumitra. In one moment, we’re soaked to our knees trying to catch fish, laughing, acting silly, and in the next, she says something unexpectedly profound.
While we’re sitting and washing dishes outside in the dark, spoons clanging against plates, she suddenly straightens her back, looks directly at me, and says, “Mujhe shaadi nahi karni hai. I don’t want to get married. What promise does marriage hold? Marriage is self-ruin! I want to become something first, and then I’ll get married. Not now. I want to do something first. Pehle kuch karna hai.”
In the midst of breaking twigs in preparation for the fire she needs to cook rotlas, she looks up, thinks for a moment, and says matter of factly, “Agar kuch karna hai, to dar to aayegi, lekin dar se haar nahi maan sakte. Dar hai to kuch bhi nahi kar sakte.” Literally translated,”Fear is inevitable when we venture to do something significant. We can’t, however, allow the fear to defeat us. If we harbor fear, then nothing is possible.”
But Sumitra isn’t just full of empty words. She acts. During the adolescent workshop held in Kharia, she noticed that a few girls couldn’t read or write. When I suggested she start a class for these girls, she didn’t just go home and think about it. She spoke to her parents about the proposition, and offered to teach every Sunday with my help. Together, we now teach a very excited group of seven girls every Sunday.
Sumitra is my muse. Through her energy, through her promise, I feel rejuvenated. Her desire to do more, see more, and learn more pushes me to think, to act, to create spaces for her to grow, for us to grow. The simple act of listening to her empowers me, gives me strength when I feel defeated. By pushing her to realize her potential, I push myself to see beyond what lies immediately in front of me. Without even realizing it, Sumitra pushes me to push myself when I push her. In physics, the force I exert on my environment doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and generates an equal, but opposite force. Sumitra is this “normal force.”
I believe in Sumitra, and in turn, I believe in myself. In her words, I hear my own. In her voice, I hear my own. My potential has become intimately intertwined with hers. I watch her growing, and I feel myself growing with her, walking forward with her, hand in hand.
I hold her hand tenderly, and hope that she doesn’t let go. She grips my hand firmly, and we keep walking. Onward. Onward. Onward. Together.
Feature Partner: Vidhya Poshak
What began in 2001 as a group of friends who wanted to financially support meritorious students from needy backgrounds, has today become a movement that empowers and propels learners to achieve new heights. Vidya Poshak is a non-profit organization that strives to provide holistic support to enable less privileged students the chance to earn an education. Vidhya Poshak began as a small effort in Dharwad, Karnataka, and in the past five years has spread to 16 districts. Vidya Poshak provides everything from financial support for tuition and books, to vocational training for increasing chances of
employment.
One amazing trait of this organization is its willingness to innovate and respond to the needs of its students. Vidya Poshak recognizes that many of its scholarship recipients face daunting situations early in their lives and are first-generation learners. To provide additional support, Vidhya Poshak is now undertaking a comprehensive mentorship program that will allow the student and community leaders to learn and share experiences with each other. 2005-06 Indicorps fellow Sheela Vishwanath is helping give shape to the Vidya Poshak mentorship program, aiming to allow meaningful dialogue on a one to one basis. Vidya Poshak has already mobilized a cadre of over 250 volunteers committed to promoting access to quality education; Sheela’s challenge is to help direct that volunteer energy in the most constructive fashion.
We feature Vidya Poshak as this quarter’s project partner for their inspiration, commitment and evolving vision to giving deserving young people opportunities and support to do something meaningful.
Fellows for Life: Alumni Update
A Fellow’s Guide to India Anjali Desai Leads Tourists Down the “Road Less Traveled”
Anjali Desai, a 2003 Indicorps Fellow, is currently working on creating the first ever comprehensive tourist guidebook for the state of Gujarat. The book is based on information collected from local residents by passionate travelers based in India, providing a unique insight into the hidden treasures of Gujarat. The book is designed to help adventurous tourists take the road less traveled.
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Anjali studied journalism and marketing at the University of Texas, Austin, before arriving in India. Since then, the connection to India has been a family affair Anjali’s sister Ami spent a year on Indicorps staff and another year teaching children from low-income communities in Mumbai.
From handicrafts in Kutch to service for the stomach at Seva Café to the India Guidebook, Anjali has contributed to India in countless ways in her three years here. Her seamless way of merging into the Indian fabric and her unending commitment to inspiring others shine through all that she does.
Her experience in her words
“It’s been a year filled with learning, both about this country and myself, and in many was has strengthened my love for India. Plenty of frustrations with India being…well India…and things that require one day taking 10 instead. I have developed a coffee addiction and some patience in the process. Most importantly, the book will be out mid-January and hopefully will set a benchmark and offer a foundation of information that others can use to develop new material on the state. We [everyone involved in this book] hope that it inspires others to see this country from the perspective we do, to understand what it has to offer and to really experience India.”
2005-2006 Fellows Reunite
The States-side unit of the 2005-2006 Fellowship class gathered last month for an Indicorps reunion. From project updates to life stories, Fellows continued to draw on each other for support in their future endeavors. The recently returned Fellows are now engaged in a variety of ventures, ranging from giving legal assistance to community based non-profit organizations and small business entrepreneurs serving low-income communities with the DC bar to graduate school programs in urban health or international development. Three of the 2005-2006 Fellows remain in India Prashant Solanky and Juie Mahajan as second-year Indicorps Fellows and Sushil Jacob as part of the team for Bangalore-based NGO Just Change. This Fellowship class along with members of previous groups has been instrumental as alumni support for our current Fellows in the field.
Email – indicorps-news@indicorps.org