Nurturing leadership

Searching for leaders among the women of Gulabgarh. We need women (and girls) with leadership skills, who can help bring more women on board, offering them inspiration through their own acquired skills and progress. Leadership potential is there; it's just a matter of harvesting it and then sharing the fruits.

Our W.L.P. volunteer Alessandro

Today we want to introduce you Alessandro - he will travel in June to Gulabgarh to visit our women from the Women's Literacy Project, get to know them and to work in the school (Himalyan Cultural School of Paddar).

This is very exciting: for us, for Alessandro and of course for our women.

Here's a short interview we had with him:

Name: Alessandro Bordoli

Age: 23

Coming from: Vero Beach, Florida, United States of America

But living at the moment in Spain; the reason:

Teaching English for a year at a School of Languages in Santiago de Compostela.

I finished my Bachelor’s Degree last year in Political Science and Economics at the University of Florida. My eventual plan is to go to law school (perhaps in the area of international law) and then politics, but I decided to take a few years off to see new places and experience new cultures before I settle into school and a career. My family is Italian and we visit our relatives every summer in Italy, so I have traveled extensively throughout Europe, and I have always valued international experience.

Occupation: Language and Culture Assistant – I teach about the culture of the United States as a supplement to the English courses offered at the school

Travel Dates:

Departure Date: June 5^th, 2013

Visit in Gulabgarh: June 8^th to June 15^th (about one week working at the school and helping Tashi)

Tashi picks me up in Srinagar and then takes me to Gulabgarh for one week.

What brought you to the W.L.P.?

I met Mari de la Fuente this year, a fellow teacher here in Spain, and we had talked a lot about volunteer opportunities. I have always dedicated several hours a year to volunteering and always seek out new opportunities. I had a specific interest in volunteering in a long-term program in Africa or Asia for this coming summer, since I have almost a month (June) free. Unfortunately, most volunteer programs ask for sizable program fees, and this is something that is difficult for me to afford as a student with a large amount of debt owed for my university education.

Mari mentioned her past experiences with Tashi and the W.L.P. in India, and I thought it was perfect. I quickly emailed Tashi, and from our first email exchange I could tell this was the opportunity I was looking for. I am thrilled to be able to travel away from the normal tourist destinations and experience the true culture of this region, so far away from my own home.

Why are you interested in this project?

I love to volunteer. My parents came from very poor backgrounds, and have found success through hard work, but they have instilled in us (my 5 brothers and I) an awareness that not all people have been as fortunate as us. They have taught us to always give back, and to help people. This experience in Gulabgarh is especially exciting as it is an international one, and in a place that I have never been.

What are your feelings when you think about your visit?

Excited, as this is an opportunity that I have always sought. However, of course I have the normal feelings of nervousness going to a new place, traveling by myself, and going to a region of the world that most people know mostly as an area of conflict.

Are you interested in volunteering, too?

Just send an email to Tashi – lonpoadventure@yahoo.in

Women's literacy project, Gulabgarh - How the women of Gulabgarh found me

Ever heard of Gulabgarh? Where is that? On the edge of the Indian Himalayas? I thought the Himalayan range was in Tibet and Nepal ... in India, there are mountains? ....

This was the way I felt when I first heard of Gulabgarh. I myself, for the first time in India, had no idea of this country: its diversity, its colors, the culture, the landscape, the people. Just respect. A sentence of Michael Obert, a German travel journalist, could have been mine: "For a long time the idea of a trip to India inspired fear to me. I did not feel ready for the subcontinent and I feared that nothing might become of it. "

Today I can say, yes, India has not left me. What fascinated me, among many things on my trip to India (tour of Rajasthan), were the women. The barrenness, poverty, simple life, and then these proud and so sincere women. Quite strange, but they have left me the least. They activated me to think about me and my own life, as a woman. I myself grew up in Germany, well protected, with a good education, a college degree and a good job.

Later Tashi Chering, my Indian guide, told mein his reserved manner, about the W.L.P., which he has founded. As the result of a linguistic misunderstanding (yes, my English skills are upgradeable), I initially thought that it was a literary club for women (sorry!) and was interested only partially in the project.

Later, it turned out to be a mistake and I learned that the W.L.P. is a school for women in Gulabgarh in which the women are getting a chance to learn to write, to read, to count and to learn English. I looked at my Indian map for Gulabgarh and learned that many women living in the remote region of Paddar, in which Gulabgarh is located, have received no school education. Everything I had heard about the project, for me had hand and foot and I trusted Tashi.

But still – isn’t it better to support a project that is advocating directly for the education of girls? A project that takes care of the future of the girls in India?

But who take care for the girls on-site? Who is learning with the girls? Who makes sure that the girls get an education as equal as the boys? Who are the good examples for these girls? And who educates the boys of today that later, as fathers, they will make sure that their daughters will get a very good education? The moms!

And when I realized this, I realized that I want to support the WLP.

I am not a feminist, but I think we women of the world should stick together. And my thanks go to Tashi, who sticks, as a man, also by women J.

And yes, the Indian women cannot get rid of me. Even on my last trip to India I was introduced to a very remarkable Indian woman.

78 years, short grey hair, jeans and sneakers, studied medicine in London, born 2 sons, made a career as a doctor in Delhi and be divorced from her husband at age of 40 because of a "bad marriage". Unfortunately, I forgot to ask her name.

The power of this woman - I wish it for myself and for the women of Gulabgarh.

Greetings, Andrea

Volunteer work in India: Soumya Pande and Carmen de la Fuente, two sides of the same coin

Thank you, Cristina Negreira, for your wonderful report. Our congratulations on a job well done, which offers new and interesting insight into a major, current issue. We love it!

Cooperación na India: Soumya Pande e Carmen de la Fuente, dúas caras da mesma moeda

Our Very Own Magi

On this special day of gift giving, we would like to share, not the story of the three wise men, but that of a very kind and generous wise woman called Teresa, a sponsor of the Women's Literacy Project who has donated extensively to our cause.

As a teacher, Teresa knows that illiteracy is at the root of the great gender divide that exists in India. Hence, she is aware of how the lives of the women of Paddar will improve through literacy.

We know Teresa well and can easily speak of her intelligence, her wit and her commitment to helping the needy. Through her generosity, she has helped sustain this literacy project since its launch in 2010. She has always asked to remain anonymous, but we felt we needed to pay homage to our most generous and concerned benefactor on this day of giving and solidarity.

Ladakhi sounds like this

We thought it worthwhile to dedicate a post to Ladakhi because many of the WLP students belong to the Ladakhi nation and speak one of more varieties of the language. Of course, in the WLP school, the women are learning "only" Hindi and English script, at least for now. On the other hand, children who attend the Himalyan Buddhist School (H.C.S.) in Gulabgarh also learn Bhoti, in addition to Hindi and English. How lucky they are to know so many languages!

Festival in Leh. Photo by Raul

But what is Ladakhi and where does this language come from? To answer this question, we've decided to share the information about Ladakhi contained in the Wikipedia; we couldn't have done a better job ourselves.

"The Ladakhi language (Tibetan: ལ་དྭགས་སྐད་, Wylie: La-dwags skad), now also called Bhoti, is the predominant language in the Ladakh region of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India, and is also spoken in Baltistan. Ladakhi is closely related to Tibetan, and the Ladakhi people share cultural similarities with Tibetans, including Tibetan Buddhism. 

Ladakhi has approximately 200,000 speakers in India, and perhaps 12,000 speakers in the Tibet region of China, mostly in the Changthang region. The language has several dialects including Ladakhi proper (also called Lehskat after the capital of Ladakh, Leh, where it is spoken), Shamskat, spoken to the northwest of Leh, Stotskat, spoken to the southeast in the Indus valley and Nubra, spoken in the north. The varieties spoken in Upper Ladakh and Zangskar have many features of Ladakhi and many other features of western dialects of Central Tibetan.

Ladakhi is usually written using Tibetan script with the pronunciation of Ladakhi being much closer to written Tibetan than most other Tibetan dialects."

In case you'd like to know what Ladakhi sounds like—at least a few consonant sounds from the language—we've included the short Keynote presentation below.

For Engracia

Women we admire. Women like Engracia López, one of the WLP’s most respected benefactors. Her story is the story of so many women from around the globe: widowed young, she raised her family through her own effort.

This determined, hardworking woman knows what it takes to survive very hard times. That is why she understands the women of Gulabgarh, their eagerness to become literate and in the process, to prosper and progress, to feel respected and appreciated, to achieve dignity.

Engracia is a wonderful woman who relishes the different roles she has fulfilled throughout her life: mother, worker, friend, neighbor. At the age of 82, she continues to learn and to be an active participant in society.

All of us can learn from women like Engracia. That is why the WLP wishes to share her story with a group of women who are just now beginning to understand the importance of their own education, personal growth and pro-active participation in society.

Thank you, Engracia, for all your help and for trusting in the Women’s Literacy Project of Gulabgarh.

Every woman has a story to tell, each and every one of them has wisdom to share.

A personal note of thanks

We recently met with Fernando Ojea, one of our sponsors in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, to honor him with the traditional khata or hada (silk scarf) in thanks for his generous contribution to our project. We also took the opportunity to keep him up to date on the progress of the WLP Gulabgarh.

Being able to count on people like Fernando shows that the WLP is not only raising awareness of its mission among the population of Gulabgarh, Paddar, but also generating involvement among citizens from outside the community and even the country.

Our supporters understand just how important it is that we pull together to help resolve this global issue which so greatly affects India, one of the world's biggest and most important emerging economies. There can be no development without literacy, no growth without the participation of a country's citizens regardless of their gender, no hope without women's personal development.

For the WLP, our benefactors are not anonymous. It is true that our project is growing and our sponsors are still relatively few, which perhaps makes it easier for us to keep track of those who have contributed to our success stories as well as to fostering the project's continuity. However, even as the number of WLP supporters increases, we aim to acknowledge the effort of each individual in furthering this education initiative, whether that means holding a personal meeting or reaching out to them through our blog and Facebook page.

Thank you Fernando, for your commitment, for believing in the Women's Literacy Project of Gulabgarh and for trusting in our effort.

Making growth inclusive in an emerging economy

Here's a very interesting and inspiring interview with Chanda Kochhar, managing director and CEO of ICICI, India's largest private bank.

According to Ms. Kochhar, there is a greater consciousness towards gender neutrality in the emerging economies such as India, where increased growth opportunities mean new growth opportunities for the women of these countries.

It is also interesting to learn how certain aspects of traditional culture,  such as the joint family system, can coexist with development and even contribute to helping men and women work together and build understanding between them.

Imagine how much more can be achieved in a 100% literate country!

WLP bylaws

The project members are now working--and just about finished--on the WLP bylaws. As part of its mission, the organization aims to develop activities and design special actions to uplift, encourage and motivate the illiterate women of the most remote and underdeveloped areas of Paddar.

In order to achieve its goals, the WLP will focus on shifting the attitude of the community of Paddar from a heightened awareness of the crucial issue of women’s literacy, towards a commitment to help eradicate female illiteracy and finally towards assuming a more pro-active role in this effort. 

Encouraging lifelong learning among the illiterate female population of Paddar is another key issue that the WLP will address.

In the future, the project will further strive to empower the women of this rural area and reduce gender inequality through digital literacy. The WLP firmly believes that by equipping these women with the skills needed to become digitally literate, the society aspires to help bridge the great digital divide that exists between rural and urban India.

UN spotlights the empowering effect of boosting women's literacy

The video is from 2010. Unfortunately, women's literacy continues to be a crucial, unsolved issue in 2012.

Giving meaning to consumerism

A group of women from Gulabgarh—among them students of the W.L.P., accompanied by the project chairman—have set up a stand to exhibit their handcrafted designs at a 10-day-long craft fair in Jaipur, organized by the Rajasthan Rural Non-Farm Development Agency in association with the Indian Council for Cultural relations (ICCR). Craftsmen and craftswomen from 18 different Indian states signed up to participate in the event held at Jawahar Kala Kendra.

A growing awareness of the value of their traditions, culture and know-how are what led these women to set up a stand at the Jaipur fair. Back in their village, selling their hand knitted socks and other crafts will also help them to complement the family budget.

We hope that the W.L.P. has contributed in some way to the women’s appreciation of what they are able to design and create and in increasing their entrepreneurship and sense of worth.

The Gulabgarh group’s participation in the fair also demonstrates what initiatives such as the “comercio justo” (fair market) and others have shown: that it is possible to reconcile solidarity with consumption.

About Us

Perhaps you've been wondering how this project works, who funds it, how you can help? Well, now you can download our "About Us" newsletter with lots of information about the W.L.P. and about what you can do to help this education initiative to continue.

AboutW.L.P_English

Why focus our efforts on increasing female literacy?

We'd like to share an insightful quote with you:
"When people are able to believe that they can improve their lives through their own efforts, when they realize that some newly created opportunity is denied to them by illiteracy, then they will learn how to read, write and count."

Edgar Owens And Robert Shaw, Development Reconsidered: bridging the gap between government and People

Illiteracy in India

Interesting article published on "The Viewspaper" website.

Image source: The Viewspaper.net

Ever tried writing Devanagari script?

Becoming literate in India means having to study both the English alphabet and Devanagari script. Are you willing to give Devanagari script a try? I am and that's how I discovered this great page: Devanagari Script Tutor.
Of course, in the remote village of Gulabgarh, there is still no access to the Internet, so the students learn to write the old fashioned way, with pencil and paper.

Thank you!

This is a homage to all those who have helped this project become a reality. Thank you for having taken a few moments of your lives to reflect on the lives of a group of women in far off India. Thank you for helping with whatever you were able to contribute to make literacy, dignity and self-esteem a reality for them. Thank you for trying to make their lives--their world--better.
Thank you: Andrea, Engracia, Esperanza, Fernando O., Gonzalo, Isabel, Lola, Sabela, Teresa, staff of the EOI de Santiago and all the other sponsors who prefer to remain anonymous.

Now that the project is a reality, we need to work hard to help it continue to be one.

Maria's story

I spent this past summer in India, volunteering once again in the village of Gulabgarh. During a very pleasant summer evening, a group of men and women gathered together in the home where I was staying.

There had been many weddings this year in the village, and it is customary for people who were not able to attend the celebration, to later organize a family reunion in their own home to honor the parents of the newlyweds.

As a sponsor of the W.L.P., I was asked to address the ladies who had not yet enrolled in the project, to try to encourage them to do so. I decided to tell these women the story of my grandmother--with the help of Tashi Chering, of course!

I was only 5 when I moved with my parents to the U.S., where I grew up, so I remember very little really about what life was like then for women in the small fishing village called Caión, located in the northwestern corner of Spain. I do know, however, that it wasn’t easy. In Galicia—that’s the name of our region—women used to be taught from a very early age how to take care of a home, a family, work the land, everything except how to care for themselves. In fact, they usually completely forgot about themselves, including their own education. If this was still true in the 1960s and 70s, can you imagine what it must have been like for the women of my grandmother’s generation?

My grandmother Maria was born in 1902 in a tiny, isolated village of Galicia, called Lendo. She was incredibly strong and tenacious, an intelligent and adventurous woman whose dream had always been to travel to Buenos Aires. There were no schools back then in these areas, but Maria was determined to educate herself. She learned to read and write on her own so that she could understand the letters that her brothers’ sent to her from Argentina.

So, this self-taught young woman eventually became a sort of local scrivener who would help her neighbors by reading them the letters they received form their loved ones, immigrants in far off Argentina or even the U.S.  During the Spanish civil war, she read and then wrote the replies of the mothers, wives or fiancées of the men who had gone to war.

These readings gathered neighbors and family together in my great-grandparents’ home, where they sometimes shed tears and others laughs about what was recounted in those letters! After the readings my grandmother would write her neighbors’ replies for them. Knowing how to read and write was obviously important for my grandmother, a woman who lived through such tragic events as the Spanish Civil War and the post-war period.

I don’t know whether Maria’s story finally inspired these women, but their success stories certainly motivate me. They encourage me to keep sponsoring this project that I am so enthusiastic about.

In later posts I'd like to tell our readers the inspiring stories that I heard about the women of the WLP.

The future of these women, the future of this emerging economy that is India depends on the development of isolated, rural communities such as this one. Hopefully, this nation will one day proudly claim that its literacy rate has reached one hundred percent.

Study: Women's Literacy in India Falling Further Behind

More than two-thirds of the world's 793 million illiterate adults (two-thirds of them women) are found in only eight countries and India is one of them. If the second most populated nation on Earth is to assume its role as a world economic leader, before becoming digitally or financially literate it must eradicate adult illiteracy.

In today’s information society, education is the driving force behind a strong economic and social development. Unfortunately, according to results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted by the OECD, the largest emerging markets in the world—the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China)—may be losing educational ground against the so-called FICS (Finland, Ireland, South Korea and Sweden).

Things look greener on the China side of the fence. The Asian giant is said to be “winning the school race”, coming in first in recent PISA studies. India, by contrast, is leading the BRICs in digital exclusion, partly due to adult illiteracy. Most Indians cannot afford or access ICTs and lack the education to use them effectively. While European economies, hard hit by the global crisis, are working to raise their citizens’ financial and digital literacy, this high-growth economy is faced with another challenge.

 Statistics show that illiteracy and poor economies go hand in hand. The state of Bihar—India’s poorest—has the lowest women’s literacy rate in the nation. Values are lower in rural areas than in urban ones. In Jammu & Kashmir, a largely agricultural state, only 41.82% of its women are literate.

Read more: Study: Women's Literacy in India Falling Further Behind (technorati.com)

Women's Literacy Project

Adult illiteracy is not something that should be taken for granted, as alarming statistics reveal:  More than two-thirds of the world's 793 million illiterate adults (two-thirds of them women) are found in only eight countries and India is one of them.

Unfortunately, statistics also show that illiteracy and poor economies go hand in hand. The state of Bihar—India’s poorest—has the lowest women’s literacy rate in the nation. Values are lower in rural areas than in urban ones. In Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), a largely agricultural state, only 41.82% of its women are literate.

Education is the driving force behind strong economic and social development in today’s information society. India must then strive to eradicate adult illiteracy all together, focusing specifically on abolishing female illiteracy.

Why should this be a specific major goal for the Indian authorities? As one of the founding members of the Women’s Literacy Project says, “In India, when you educate a man you are educating an individual, but when you educate a woman, you are educating an entire community.”

The Women’s Literacy Project of Gulabgarh, a village in the district of Paddar, state of J&K was created in November, 2010 by Mr. Tashi Chering, to eradicate female illiteracy in the area.

Thanks to the generous contribution of concerned citizens from abroad, the chairman of the project, Mr. Tashi Chering, is able to rent a room, hire a teacher and purchase school supplies. So far there are about 25 female students taking time off their family and home to learn to read and write in Hindi and English and the number will hopefully increase.

Obviously, part of the effort must be centered on raising the population’s awareness regarding women’s literacy. Literacy gives women self-confidence, thus increasing their participation in decision-making processes. It heightens social consciousness and increases the chances at success of the literate women’s daughters.

A year after the project launch, awareness of the advantages of literacy has evidently grown. What is more, the students’ children are thrilled with their mothers’ desire for self-improvement and their increased self-esteem. Simple, but inspiring success stories speak for themselves:

Before the project began, one of the students was helping out at her husband’s shop. Now that she is able to read, write and do basic arithmetic, she has set up her own small business. Still another woman told the project chairman how delighted she was now that she is able to read signs to guide her through the hospital, when visiting a sick family member.

Endeavors such as the W.L.P. Gulabgarh lend support to government initiatives by introducing personal, focused actions in remote rural districts. Women who learn collectively can begin working collectively towards becoming a vital force in the growing economic and technological power that is India.

Your support can keep this project going. Please help the women of Gulabgarh to improve their role in society and put an end to gender-based discrimination. For more information contact Mr. Tashi Chering at lonpoadv@gmail.com or visit his webpage at http://www.lonpoadventures.com