Extremes

Today was a day of extremes. Just a few hours apart, I sat with a group of older women (respectfully called “grannies”) facing extreme difficulty, and then adolescent girls, about to graduate from high school, with an eye toward a hopeful future.

In the morning, Mimi and I went to visit the grannies. Throughout their lives, these women worked in the fields to support their families and did not have the opportunity to go to school. The grannies, in their 60s and 70s, are worn out from years of physical labor and child-rearing, and many have medical issues that prevent them from working any longer. For years, Nishtha had received funding which allowed it to provide the grannies with food, medical care, clothing, and basic home repairs. Recently, the grant was not renewed, leaving many of the grannies without support of any kind. It’s not hard to understand why donors do not focus on the elderly; it is easier to demonstrate the sustained impact of grants for younger generations. Unfortunately, without funds coming in, the grannies own families are removing them from their homes because they no longer “add value” and are now officially a drain on already-strapped households. As I listened to their stories, I saw some women crying, and before I left, each one came up to me to clasp my hands and look at me searchingly. They need very little, but unfortunately have no way to get it. According to Nishtha, it requires $12,000 annually to support its program for 80 grannies in the Baruipur area, or roughly $144 per participant, per month.

Later on, I joined a meeting of girls who had just finished the 12th grade and have been active participants in Nishtha’s girls’ empowerment program. Following a story about a child bride who had been abused and abandoned by her husband, and reluctantly accepted back into her family, the girls had a very thoughtful discussion about how this girl’s story might have turned out more positively. Worlds like “education,” “training,” “support,” and “love,” came up again and again, and many of the participants saw opportunities in this tale to enlighten communities about the position of women in Indian society. It was clear that years of education and leadership training had positively impacted the group members, expressed in their confidence and self-possession. It is likely these girls will soon be change agents in Indian society, empowering other young women and painting for themselves a more positive future than their mothers may have dared.