An NGO that actually does something?

Picture of the week

Way up north in the Himalayas, nestled closely in between Pakistan and Tibet, lies the city of Dharamshala, home to a community based NGO called CORD (Chinmaya Organization for Rural Development). I’ve spent the last week learning about the inner workings of this organization and visiting the various villages with which it has made a positive impact.

CORD’s mission is to help rural communities achieve sustainable development, without resulting in dependency on the organization itself. Their main focus is on the empowerment of women who have been systematically marginalized their entire lives, and as a result, are completely unaware of their potential. Many women in the village still believe that their only possible role in life is to be a housewife or a teacher. CORD helps these women primarily through education and providing them with the support, skills, and resources that they need in order to become independent and self-sufficient. They do not simply give those in need money and then back out like so many failed NGOs have done. Instead, they require that the beneficiaries invest in themselves, and remain involved with the villages for years, slowly weaning them off their support. Monthly meetings in the form of women’s groups and other self-help groups create a safe environment for the villagers to discuss controversial issues with one another, and allow CORD to facilitate their progress.

The women's group sings about half a dozen traditional
 songs before beginning the discussions

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit in on one of these meetings, a women’s group which consisted of forty-three members, though only around twenty were in attendance. In addition to discussing the issues of AIDS and sex-selective abortions, the group talked about the age old tradition of providing a dowry once they marry off their daughters. The wife’s family has been traditionally expected to provide some sort of gift in the form of a refrigerator, television, car, etc… for the newly-weds and the son’s family. However, this tradition has increasingly perpetrated the perception that daughters are a burden, especially amongst poorer families. As a result, the rate of female specific abortions has increased drastically in recent years (though sex determination in the womb has now been outlawed), as has the rate of “dowry deaths”. It is increasingly difficult for poor families to come up with a dowry with which the receiving family will be satisfied, and unfortunately, if this is the case, the husbands family may decide to murder their new daughter-in-law. One woman in the group claimed that she would refuse to accept a dowry when the time comes for her two sons to get married. All of the women seemed to agree with this decision, and quickly moved on to discuss a problem that had arisen regarding a loan which had not been repaid.

CORD also implements a kind of micro-finance system among the members of each self-help group where each member is required to contribute five rupees at each meeting. This money is then made available for anyone who wishes to take out a loan, without charging interest. Apparently, one women had taken out a large sum of money which had not been repaid, and was asking for another. This spurred quite a bit of heavy chatter amongst the women, and it didn’t look like she would be receiving the second loan.

One of India's hard-working farmers

Though there are many, one of the biggest issues India faces today is that while her population of 1.2 billion is growing at an alarming rate (2.24%), food production and available land for farming is decreasing. This has forced farmers to reconsider their traditional methods of farming. However, many farmers are stuck in their old ways and are reluctant to change their methods which have been passed down from older generations.

Indian culture is so strongly rooted in tradition, and as a result, CORD is forced to work that much harder in order to achieve any sort of progress. Though the organization’s efforts have caused many farmers to switch to new, more effective methods of farming, hundreds of farmers have also rejected the organization’s support.

CORD not only teaches farmers more productive agricultural methods, but acts as a liaison between them and the government. Too many of India’s farmers are uneducated and are unaware of the subsidies the government has to offer. CORD provides them with the opportunity to take advantage of these subsidies, allowing them to build green houses and use more efficient farming tools, which they could not otherwise afford. This allows for a substantial improvement in their crop yield, thereby increasing their income and providing more food for India’s growing population.

Indian bee-keepers make their American counter-parts
look like wussies... here a bee-keeper shows off his
"pets" without wearing any sort of protective clothing

I also had the opportunity to visit a beekeeper which had benefited from CORD’s efforts. Putting my extreme dislike of bees aside, I did my best to focus on what the beekeeper and translator had to say. Dharamshala had experienced extreme monsoon rains this season and was affected by nearby Pakistan’s floods. The beekeeper complained that he had lost a lot of business because the floods had wiped out all the flowers and now has to resort to sugar water instead.

One last anecdote I have to share about CORD is the story of a young woman with two children who was left to her own means when her husband died of AIDS. She was living with her in-laws, as is the norm among Indian newly-weds, when her husband, a truck driver, contracted HIV (most likely from his frequent trips to the cities). His parents immediately blamed her for their loss, kicked her out of the house, and the entire community shunned her. All alone with no means of supporting herself or her two children, she went to CORD where they nursed her back to health and tested the whole family for HIV, which luckily none of them had contracted. They then taught her how to sew, and she began selling clothing and eventually made enough money to sustain herself and her kids on her own. CORD went even further and visited her village and in-laws to educate them on how the disease works, and ways to prevent it. They ultimately convinced them to accept her back into the village, and she now lives with her in-laws and runs her own business, teaching other village women how to sew. In this way, CORD seeks to improve every aspect of the villagers’ life. They seek change on a holistic level, and because the organization is run locally, they understand what the villagers need and know how to go about implementing change. 

A woman who working for the government under
the NREGA

The importance of having successful NGOs in India lies in the government’s inability to provide support to its 330 million people living in extreme poverty. According to the World Bank, this number actually amounts to about 500 million when calculated according to their poverty line of earning less than $1.25 per day. India’s government holds itself to a much lower standard, including only those who earn less than $0.25 per day. Either way, the reality is that India is home to the majority of the world’s poor, and government officials could not care less. If you thought those were scary statistics, wait until you hear this one: 70% of the government’s spending goes completely unaccounted for every year, disappearing into the pockets of corrupt government officials who have capitalized on their nation’s poverty. Thus far, I have only heard of one government operated program that has achieved any kind of success in alleviating the circumstances of India’s poor. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act provides Indians living beneath the poverty line (as determined by the government) with one hundred days of paid work. This involves a full day of intense physical labor, for which participants are compensated 150 rupees, which makes out to about $3.00 a day. Unfortunately, due to the severe corruption, the country is quickly running out of money, and this program is expected to shut down in the near future.

After leaving Dharamshala I spent a couple nights in Mcleod Ganj, a charming town decorated with Tibetan prayer flags and “Free Tibet” posters (it is also home of the Dalai Lama, though I did not get the opportunity to see him as he has recently fallen ill). I did however visit a Buddhist temple where I was able to see his followers in prayer, Tibetan monks who were in exile. I experienced my first anti-American spout of the trip when a Muslim street vendor refused to shakes hands with one of my classmates “because she was American, and Americans kill Muslims."

Muslims praying at the
Jama Masjid

On my way back to Jaipur (a fifteen hour train ride in less than Harry Potter-like conditions), I spent a night in old Delhi to visit the Red Fort and Jama Masjid, one of India’s largest mosques. Fortunately, I left the area to head back to Jaipur hours before a shooting broke out that left two Taiwanese tourists critically injured. There has been a heavy amount of violence surrounding the recent Koran burning scandal throughout the country, so I have been careful about telling locals I am American, and most of the time opt for Canadian. Unfortunately, it does not look like conditions will be improving any time soon, especially since next Friday will see the outcome of the court’s ruling regarding the issues surrounding the destruction of a mosque that is believed to have been built on top of an old Hindu temple, and their beloved God Ram’s birthplace. No matter which side the court rules, there is sure to be violent protests throughout the country, so it looks like I’ll be staying in Jaipur for the next little while.

Delhi has yet to implement a functioning electrical
system, power lines are tangled throughout the city

On another note, while I was in Delhi I was able to see first hand the negative impact a disorganized, corrupt government can have on a country’s morale. The Commonwealth Games are set to begin in two weeks, and construction is still underway all throughout the city. Delhi was a complete mess and it is clear that India’s government had left everything to the last minute. The persistent monsoon rains have not made conditions any better, further delaying construction efforts. I spoke to a few locals about their sentiments towards the games, and all seemed extremely disheartened at the way things have turned out; this was supposed to be India’s chance to prove herself to the rest of the world, “like China did at the Olympics." 

First Impressions

Namaste!

Most of the women seen on the streets are beggars

India has been nothing short of incredible. I’ve only been here for week, yet I’ve learned more than I would have in during an entire term at school. The people here are genuinely kind and go out of their way to help foreigners, the food is delicious (and surprisingly not too spicy!), the architecture is beyond amazing, and the culture is incredibly rich and diverse. Even the beggars on the streets are adorned in colorful, intricately woven clothing. Every aspect of life is vibrant and carries meaning.

One of Jaipur's holy cows

Learning Hindi has been, as expected, quite the challenge. I’ve learned the entire alphabet of the Devanagari script as well as a few phrases, but the pronunciations for which English has no equivalent have proven to be very difficult. The only other complaint I have is of the weather. Ninety degrees and unbelievably humid, I can’t even go outside wearing glasses because they'll completely fog up. The worst part is, as a woman, I am not allowed to wear “revealing” clothing; shorts and tank tops are not acceptable so I am forced to take on the heat in pants and long sleeves. I will discuss gender issues more later on, as there are many, but for now I’ll just note that I have seen very few women out on the streets, as it is not acceptable for them to be in public areas. 

The group I will be studying with for the next four months consists of twenty one students from across America and nine staff members from all over India. The group dynamic has been great so far, and everyone is very open-minded and well-traveled.

The program’s center, and where I will be living for the next few months, is located a city called Jaipur, the capital of the northern Indian state of Rajasthan. The city is unlike anything I have ever seen before: adorned with enormous, jaw-dropping palaces, yet teeming with beggars roaming the streets, the city is a fascinating mix of the old and the new, the rich and the poor, the developed world and the developing world. The streets are lively with vendors, children, and cows which roam the street unharmed as they are considered to be holy animals. Though it is a controversial topic, and many people believe that the cow was deemed holy for political reasons, it makes for some great vegetarian food. 

As is the case throughout India, traffic laws are extremely “flexible”. Navigating the streets in a rickshaw feels like playing a real life version of Mariokart; lanes lines are completely ignored, and traffic lights and speed limits might as well not exist.

The program center, where I will be taking all of my classes, completely blew away my expectations. It consists of one main classroom, a garden with a badminton court, a kitchen, library, computer lab, a few offices, and even our very own meditation room, complete with incense and representations of the gods. It is also very well air conditioned and they provide us with a delicious, Indian-flavored lunch every day.

Hindi graffiti overlooking the city of Jaipur


My homestay house is also very comfortable, and I get my own room and bathroom. With three stories, intricate woodwork, and marble floors, it is a very impressive, beautiful home. My “Auntie” (homestay mother) is very hospitable and kind. She is Sikh and of upper caste (which she does not hesitate to mention at every given opportunity). She has a twenty-five year old son and a husband, both of whom are currently away but will be joining us in a couple weeks. (The marriage was, of course, arranged). Parvesh, the house servant, is of a lower caste, which is the main factor Auntie attricutes his poor English-speaking skills to. Though I will be discussing the issues of caste and arranged marriages in more detail later on, I can confidently say that from what I have gathered from my experiences so far, both are widely accepted aspects of life, and Indians are very quick to defend them.

That’s all for now, and I hope you enjoyed my first entry as there will be many more. Feel free to leave any comments and I’ll post a link to the rest of my pictures from this week.

Phir milege (see you soon!),

Annika