Ahmedabad and SEWA: Part 1

I've been in Ahmedabad for two full weeks now.  I came here to do some volunteer work for SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association).   This an organization that has been around for almost forty years doing amazing work with poor, uneducated women workers in Gujarat State in the desert area of northeast India.  My friends Karen and Sally do some work with them and when I decided to come to India, I asked them if they thought there were any volunteer opportunities for me with SEWA.  Karen kindly spoke with Reema Nanavaty, the woman that runs the organization, who said she would be very happy to have me come and do some work with them.   Originally I told her I could spend two weeks.  She asked if I could stay longer, so I upped it to three weeks, not even knowing what I might be doing.  

We were in contact via email prior to my arrival and Reema gave me a few ideas of what she might want me to do.  The first thing she wanted me to do was to teach theatre as a means of communication to the local women (99% of which do not speak English).  I told her that wasn't really my thing.  I expressed that I really wanted to go out and visit a few of their projects in the different village.  She thought that was a good idea and said that I could then help write some brochure copy for them in a "Western voice."  This is something that they don't really have and would be helpful to them when attending conferences, both in India and abroad, to explain what kind of work they are doing.  I don't consider myself a writer, by any means...but I thought of it as a learning experience and would do the best I could.

I arrived at 4:12am on March 13th after a long overnight train ride from Udiapur.  A car was waiting to take me to my hotel where I was able to shower and get a little rest.  Reema had emailed me and requested that I be at her office at 11am that same morning.  It was about a 25 minute walk from the hotel.  It was 110 degrees out at 10:30am when I set out.  I made it to the office on time, even after a few wrong turns and having to walk over some railroad tracks (and not at proper crossing) I took the small elevator to the third floor and saw the open door to the office, but no one was around.  I stuck my head in...not a soul.  So I sat down and waited.  Eventually people started to show up.  I was taken into a conference room (that had A/C) and finally Reema came in with an associate and sat down to chat.  She had decided that she would like me to write two brochures, one on SEWA's work with salt farmers in the Surendranagar district and one on SEWA's museum in Radhanpur.  She also requested that I help work on the website for the museum.  She then dispatched me to the desert (leaving the next day) for four days to visit both areas.  Then she was off to meetings and I was left with the associate who was going to start briefing me on SEWA's nearly 40-year history.  She brought in books and pamphlets, papers and reports...all for me to read.  She then started giving me a review of certain aspects of the organization.  I was taking notes like crazy!  We did stop for lunch, which they served me and I ate, alone, in the conference room.  In all I spent about seven hours being briefed and taking notes.  I was told to be back at the office at 9am the next morning, with whatever I needed for the next four days as I would be leaving for the desert directly from the office.

I arrived the next morning and soon I was taken off to SEWA Bank for a two hour meeting to hear about the development and programs of the bank.  Then I was taken to the main SEWA Greeting Facility and given a tour.  Then I was taken to the SEWA Training Facility Center, where they train women to sew and embroider.  Then back to the office for three more hours of meetings (including a long one with some visitors from South Africa and Japan).  We finally left for the desert at 6:30...only an hour later than originally planned.  It was a three hour ride.  I was in an SUV with the driver, two SEWA staff members and three women with two children in the very back (we stopped at some point and dropped them off).  The driver was crazy and kept looking in the mirror and fixing his hair.  We had to stop twice to try to fill someone's prescription, once for gas and once for a tea break.  When we needed to stop for gas, the station was on the other side of the four-lane highway.  No problem!  There was a break in the median so the driver just turned in and started driving the wrong way, against traffic.  Fun times!  By the time we got to the SEWA Community Center, it as late and I was very tired.  They showed me where I would be sleeping for the next three nights, a metal frame bed with a thin mattress...in the middle of the conference room.  There was a bathroom around the corner.  No worries, I wasn't expecting much.  They have a cute old security guy who sleeps outside, in front of the door every night.  He brought me water and dinner at 10:30pm!  He sat there and just watched me eat (and he did that at every meal for three days).  The food was good, just too much of it.  I finally got to bed around 11:30 and actually had an okay night of sleep.

Thee next day about twenty women, all in beautiful saris, showed up and sat around the long table (we moved my bed into the corner).  They also brought in two interpreters, one was a 14-year old boy.  This was all for me!  We spent the entire day (at least 8 hours) in a marathon meeting where each of the women told me their story and the work they now do with SEWA.  It was an amazing day, but I started to become overwhelmed and worried about how I was going to get this all in my head and in notes and produce a document that would be helpful to them.  By the end of that day I was exhausted. And I still had three more days of this!  I knew I would never be able to accomplish all of what Reema was hoping for in such a short amount of time.  Surprisingly they did have wifi, so I quickly emailed Reema to alert her of my concerns.  She replied and said we would discuss what might be possible in the time I had after I got back from the desert.  Umm...okay.

The following day I was taken out to the salt pans where the workers harvest salt.  I had a different interpreter with me today.  It was the same crazy driver...and we stopped and picked up his small (5-year old?) son, who,came along with us.  He had brought his wife, son and daughter to the center the night before to meet me...I think he was trying to get me to give him money...but that wasn't going to happen.  I wasn't a tourist and he wasn't my hired driver.  He worked for SEWA...they were paying him.  At the end of each day he would come to me to say goodbye and then just hang around and watch me typing my notes...it was all too obvious and I just wasn't going to give.  Anyway, we drove to the desert that is part of what is known as "The Little Raan of Kutch."  I love that name.  If I were a musician, that would be the name of my band.

It's a scorching, relentless environment.  Totally flat, not a tree in sight, just endless stretches of blinding white.  It was actually the very last day of the salt harvesting season so none of the actual SEWA members were there working.  There were laborers there closing up the wells and taking in equipment for the season.  But I was able to see how the work was done and the harsh conditions that face the women and their families when they are working there.  I also saw some wild ass that like in this area.  There is a sanctuary that you can visit to see them.  Since I didn't have time for that, I was very happy,to see a bunch of them along the drive.

My last day in that part of the desert was an all-day meeting with more of the women.  Again, fascinating and actually fun to be with them, but the expected end result was still freaking me out a bit.  I left the next morning and we drove to a location half-way between Ahmedabad and Radhanpur, which was my next destination.  I was dropped off there and picked up by a new team of SEWA employees.  There was one older women and two very nice young women (one who went to college in California) and, thankfully, a new driver...although he was a total lead foot and even frightened the young women who asked him to slow down.  We saw three terrible accidents on the way to Radhanpur.  

To be continued...