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!

Our new page on the IWD website

The WLP has created it's own page on the website dedicated to the International Women's Day 2012. This news story may have taken a bit too long to appear on our blog, but as the WLP's struggle for women's literacy is not limited to March 8th, we thought today was as good a day as any to share it with you. You can visit our page here:  http://www.internationalwomensday.com/womensliteracy

And we're sure you'll enjoy viewing the slideshow created by Thomson Reuters to mark the occasion of the 2012 IWD. It's packed with images of extraordinary, ordinary women from across the globe.

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.