Internship with Doosra Dashak: Moeena Das

I am hoping I can bring in Moeena Das as a regular blogger, but until then, here is a post she shared with me. It is from a blog on Wellesley College's internal network about her summer internship at Doosra Dashak in 2007.

I am currently in the state of Rajasthan in India, finishing up my internship with Doosra Dashak, an education NGO that operates throughout the state. I spent about a month living in Ghanerao, a small village in eastern Rajasthan, where I was primarily involved in working on social mapping in Ghanerao and the surrounding villages. Social mapping is the process by which one gets an overview of a village situation, from the level of education amongst the youth to the conditions of facilities such as the local schools and health clinics. Doosra Dashak targets youth in the 11-20 age group and works to educate them, teaching them everything from Hindi to sexual and reproductive health, as well as how to effect social change in their communities.

My initial impression was quite honestly that of complete disorientation, mainly because the area I was living and working in is home to some of the most disadvantaged groups in India. The large majority of families are far below the poverty line and most women are married off between the ages of 10-15 and have their first child by the time they are 13-19. I was also living the life of an NGO worker at a grassroots level—I worked close to 15 hours a day, 7 days a week for over a month. This was considered the norm, and I had some colleagues who worked 16-18 hours per day!When I wasn’t working in the block office (Doosra Dashak has 9 blocks in Rajasthan, I was working in the Desuri block in the Pali district), I spent time at the 4 month long residential camp for girls, where illiterate girls from the local tribal groups and castes were educated. I started work in Desuri barely a week after the camp had started, so it was a wonderful experience to observe the change in these girls over the course of the 4+ weeks I was there. Some of the best experiences were when parents would come from their villages to visit their children—the fact that they were letting their children, particularly girls, out of the home for an extended period of time to receive an education really was quite amazing, particularly since the value of education for girls in particular is nonexistent.

Looking back, my fondest memories are my conversations and interactions with the girls and when in the villages, especially my interactions with 13-year old Tulsi. She was incredibly vibrant and energetic and loved song and dance—she was at the girls camp with her sister and sister-in-law, while her brother, husband and brothers-in-law (all 14 years old and under) were at the boys camp a few kilometers away. Her mother was constantly ill, leaving her father to do all the housework and cook meals for the first time in his life. This was certainly not the norm in their village, yet he did so and according to one of my colleagues, was also very enthusiastic about his children attending the camp, and visited them regularly. Spending time with these girls, most of who were married, photographing them, hearing their stories, and observing their strength and resilience was inspiring. It is quite a startling experience (and this was more when I was in the field doing social mapping or when I interacted with mothers or family members visiting the camps) to meet women and interact with women my age and younger who are already mothers to more than 2 children and are managing their families and constantly having to figure out some way to put food on the table.

As someone who has had countless opportunities, I was also sad. Sad because, beneath the strength and resilience, beneath the reality they were facing, they were still little girls. I did an activity with the girls, where I asked them “Aap Kaun Hai?” (“Who are you?”) and made them go around and give me verbal responses—most replied with their name or something such as “Sister” or “Daughter”, yet when I asked them to draw everything that represented who they were, they drew pictures of jump ropes, balls, mangoes, flowers and their houses. It was very interesting for me to repeat the process with girls in the 7th and 9th class at the village school in Ghanerao. The verbal responses were incredibly different—they included aspirations such as teachers, doctors, nurses, and the few big ones such as computer engineers or news reporters. Yet these dreams and hopes too, won't be achieved—I say this based on interactions and conversations I had with the villagers during my stay, and from the data I am working with, for most girls drop out by the 9th or 10th class.

In closing, I have to say one thing about cell phones; I have been in India for nearly 10 weeks after an absence of a year, and the technological advances are simply mind blowing, particularly in the rural areas. I brought this up with some of the girls and some of the families I met, and a common response was along the lines of “Well, I get one roti (bread) a day, but my family has a cell phone.” How do they charge it (since most families are without electricity)? With a battery solely used to charge the phone! That's just a snippet from this summer-- I tried to condense it as much as I could and make it as accessible to those who haven't really had exposure to work such as Doosra Dashak's. In case you want to check out Doosra Dashak's website the address is http://www.doosradashak.org/ . It hasn't been updated in some time and can be a bit difficult to navigate but the essence of the organization and it's programs are there. Also take a look at Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti's website http://www.bgvs.m2014.net/ (I worked for them in 2004 with the Midday Meal Programme research and analysis in the slum areas of Jaipur).