For the Girls

Two nights ago we had our first Jhiri girls' meeting.

Upon finding out that basic women's health topics are rarely discussed here, even between mothers and daughters, I decided to talk to Sumita about putting together meetings for the girls of Jhiri. We had a lengthy conversation about all of the issues that girls in this village face: marriage as young as 15, and babies at 18; lack of access to health information; zero support for the pursuit of higher education; little freedom to make decisions of their own. We quickly put plans for a girls' meeting into action, although it was not so easy. During the days the girls are in school, and as soon as school is over they go home to work in the fields. After dark, which falls around 6:30 now, the girls are not easily allowed out of the house. We were not sure if we could find an appropriate time for the meetings. After convincing parents that we would meet for only an hour, and that only girls would attend, and that Sumita and I would be present the whole time, we were able to schedule bimonthly meetings at 7:30 every other Saturday evening.

This past Saturday during school, we could tell that the girls were eager to meet. I was feeling really excited, and I was so honored that the parents trusted me and Sumita enough to let their girls into our care at night. (We have spent a lot of time with most of these girls' families because each of them is in school with us. I actually stayed with one of these families for six days about a month back. We are even pretty tight with the dads, which is really amazing in such a gender-segregated culture). HKS (our org.) started a small library in an empty space in the village, and so we decided to hold the meeting there. We were happy with the number of girls who came, and even happier with the way the meeting went. It was mostly just chit chat this time, but I could tell that these girls felt comfortable with us, and I look forward to discussing more in depth topics, from health to each girl's family life.

Sumita and I had a conversation amongst ourselves about the best way provide information and support to these girls while still respecting the local culture and its traditional gender roles. In the end, we decided that we will definitely be able to provide information about health, and even about topics like opportunities for higher education, but when it comes to touchy subjects like early marriage, we will do our best to just listen and be supportive in whatever way we can.

It is such an amazing and strong group of girls, and I have so much fun with them everyday. Hopefully these meetings will help strengthen my relationships with them. It seems like everyone, including me, stands to benefit a lot from this new addition to our schedules.

** I want to note that even though girls here face some of the issues I mentioned, they also are trusted with many important responsibilities and roles. The women share an amazing culture in their own sphere here—one that I have been lucky enough to be included in sometimes. No topic is ever completely one sided, so I just want to add this little disclaimer on the topic of gender issues.

PS: We just today sold Rs. 45,000 worth of cloth after I sent some letters and samples out last week! That's a pretty good amount by small hand loom co-op standards :)