Email from India Mar 4 02

March 4, 2002

Hi Everyone,

Hope all is well with you. We enjoy hearing from you, so keep it up. We feel very isolated here, and your emails make the long distance seem shorter.

This is a very interesting experience for us here as you have probably gathered by this time. India is unlike any other place that we have been around the world, but never the less, very interesting, and we are learning a lot.

It is a very complex society. We are just beginning to learn about caste and class which is both very important here and also very rigid. Although it happens, there are few inter-caste and inter-class marriages, and very few “love” marriages – nearly all are arranged by the parents of the bride and groom. And there are many of these arrangements that are made between an older uncle for example and a younger niece. Does it work out? We are not sure, but there is very little divorce in India and so there seems to be a lot of extra marital affairs with both men and women.

It seems that there are 4 main classes and then under that the “Dalits” (untouchables) who have a very difficult time. Casteism is like racism and apartheid. The Dalits do most of the menial labor in this country, although there are some interesting things happening as India modernizes. Keep in mind that India is the world’s largest democracy, but that is because there is a democratic form of government in a country that has 1.2 billion people. However India has a long way to go regarding equality between men and women and between classes and between minorities, (Muslims, Christians, etc.) For example one of the lower classes is now guaranteed a certain number of government jobs which means that it is difficult for higher class people to get those jobs. By the way, these classes are referred to as Forward Class, Backward Class, More Backward, and Most Backward, and then under them are the Dalits. Each of these classes has thousands of sub groups which probably resemble clans. The current problems here that you probably have been reading about regards conflict between Hindus (majority) and Muslims (minority) and has to do with Hindu’s tearing down a Muslim Mosque in order to build a Hindu temple on that site. Originally there was a temple, then a mosque, now nothing, and plans for a new temple. As a result, hundreds have been killed by both factions, many burned alive! Some of the government responses have been quite horrifying, e.g. “They are not people, they are Muslims.” Don’t worry, we are quite safe here. The problem you hear about is in Gujurat way up in the NW and we are way down in the SE. Very far away, and there is a tiny Muslim minority here as opposed to there.

With regard to work here, we are plugging away. The computer classes are very popular and the staff have now all made business cards, both professional and personal. They all love it, and we are having fun teaching them. On a more serious computer issue, we are teaching some of the key staff budgeting using EXCEL which will be useful since the budgets here seem to be on lots of different pieces of paper. But, it is a system. We will teach another system, and then they will have an alternative if they so choose. We are also giving classes in report writing, evaluations, (we just finished evaluating the child labor project – and it turned out very well), fundraising including grant writing and internet research, and we are going to help with a mini long range plan.

This Friday is an all day meeting of Women’s Self Help Groups which we are looking forward to attending. It is National Women’s Day. By the way, we met with a couple of WSHG’s (Women’s Self Help Groups) and they are quite impressive. These are women, some of whom have had children in the looms, and some not, who RIDE has organized to teach them about equality, help them become independent, teach about the value of education and arrange classes in health, hygiene, sanitation, etc. Some of these women can now sign their name for the first time, and some of them have ventured out of the house for the first time. The women have learned new skills, and have received micro loans to start small businesses and become financially independent. Perhaps most important, these women now have the confidence to question things – authority, systems, etc. And even in one village, a men’s group has formed patterned after the women’s group, and even ask the women for advice.

RIDE is doing a lot of very important things, but the enormity of the task is daunting. For each child that they are successful in removing from a silk weaving factory, there are 1 or 2 more to replace them. Yet, with education and patience, they will succeed. Hopefully, we are helping somewhat.

We had an interesting experience this week-end. We went to Mahbillipuram, about 50 or 60 miles from here on the Bay of Bengal (Indian Ocean). Went on a local bus: very crowded, very hot, 2.5 hours each way, 83 cents round trip for both of us, very noisy air horns all the way, etc, and lots of “close calls” (for us, not them). Now we understand what it means here when people “thank God” for arriving safely!

The Bay of Bengal is very warm, although there were some big waves and it is the first time we have swam in the Indian Ocean. The beach itself has nice sand, but to be honest, there is a lot of garbage including human waste. Too bad from an environmental, health, and economic point of view (it must hurt tourism). This coming weekend we are going to a fancy resort on the Indian Ocean so we expect the beach will be much nicer. There is a pool just in case.

Mahibillipuram has lots of touts, but so do most places in the world where there are foreign tourists. Also, as elsewhere in India many beggars, including women suckling infants, old men, and children. One can never forget the poverty, it is everywhere all of the time. In a way, it was nice to go the resort (which was not great) we went to because we were insulated from that for a day and a half.

Well, the whole weekend cost less than $40 for room, food, transportation. Not bad huh!

Here is some interesting info about Indian saree’s. They are one piece of material. The good ones are made of silk, right here in Kanchipuram, (probably with child labor), and can cost up to $50 - $60 if it has a lot of gold and has two colors (only child labor can make the 2 color ones). Some saree’s are 6 meters long and they are just wrapped around the women. We haven’t learned how it’s done yet. Most women wear saree’s and the ones that don’t,wear a “Punjabi dress”: pants that are tight around the ankle, and with a long blouse, down below the knees and a scarf worn around the shoulders and pointing to the back. With all of the dirt and poverty the saree’s are beautiful. The women here in the south have dark complexions and with the colorful saree they are really quite lovely.

Married women wear toe rings, and may have a mark on their forehead at the hairline. The mark right above the bridge of the nose is a bindi and is mostly a stick on, and then there are religious (Hindu) marks on the forehead that both males and females wear.

Some of the men wear “lungees” - a long piece of material sewn into a hoop and then tucked around the waist. To walk more easily, it can be pulled up above the knees like a mini skirt (despite hairy legs).

By the way, these are very handsome and beautiful people, and once again, very friendly and very nice.

This is too long. Talk to you again soon.

Hinda and Peter