Judy's Journey through India
I must admit that I have been having difficulty collecting my thoughts about what I have seen over the past two days and actually putting those thoughts into words. I am very mindful that as a foreigner looking in from the outside, that any observations or judgements I might make, are made with only a superficial perception of the culture, history or politics of this country and the complexity and enormity of finding a solution. With this in mind, here are my observations...We began the day on Monday visiting the head office of Shikhar - a partner of Opportunity International based here in Delhi. The three founding managers Vinoy, Sataya and Nittin were happy to welcome us to their new office which they had only moved into the day before. We were taken through a very detailed presentation of the Shikhar business model which I found very informative but more than that, very powerful in its message and vision.
This model is based on the vision of three men, Satya, Vinoy and Nitin and they are passionate, determined and committed to empowering and elevating the role of women and they have chosen the poorest of women as the role models on how this can be achieved. They are my new heroes for 2012. (Shikhar is based in Delhi and operates in the National Capital Region (NCR), where more than three million people live in slums, and almost seven million people live in unauthorized colonies).
Accompanied by Nitin and Shikhar's branch managers and field officers, we visited two slum areas. At the first slum, we met with five women who are on their third loan cycle with Shikhar and they told us there stories. Stories of desperation and vulnerability quickly became stories of hope and optimism, spoken with pride and a sense of empowerment that these women are now in charge of their families future. That with the continued support of Shikhar in the short term, they will lift themselves out of poverty and their children will live better lives.
And that is the over-riding impression that I have had when visiting with these women - hope. I could describe in detail the abject poverty I have witnessed in these places over the last two days but I don't think I have yet found the words. The slum we visited yesterday was one of the worst areas Steve from Opportunity International had seen. It is beyond words and I will let the pictures tell the story but having stood on the edge of a rubbish tip and watched the rag pickers at work, mostly women and children it would have been easy to let that be the story, but it's not. The story is the children who run towards you laughing and smiling up at you, the beautiful young teenager who comes over to shake your hand and the hope, strength and optimism of the women beside me determined to find a way out of here. It is also the story of Satay, Vinoy and Nitin, three men who along with their team, stand with these women and ever so respectfully and gently, nudge them forward one day at a time, one loan at a time, towards a life of self-sufficiency.
We leave this morning (Wednesday) for Varanasi.
