Good bye and thank you

Final post from me.

After one fast month spent with Vishakha seeing Rajasthani culture and learning every day about the NGO's work in theory and practice I certainly can say I learned a lot. I learned about the issues a women empowering NGO is facing in India on a daily basis. Going along with the staff in the field, interviewing them and the office workers about everything concerning the NGO's work has given me a clear picture of the huge and important mission Vishakha is on along other NGOs.

I've learned hands-on about Indian sociaty and culture. I've learned about the some specific problems India is facing and how Vishakha is challenging them. I've experienced the great hospitality and friendliness of the Indian people daily and I've lived in the beautiful and new environment the Rajasthani people are living. During this time I've seen centuries old palaces and temples and learned the history and legends behind them. Very much has happened during this monthof which only a very small portion is captivated on this blog. 

In addition to learning about Vishakha's work and Indian culture a wonderful experience has been getting to know the staff of the NGO better. During the whole month I've been treated with great hospitality whenever I've gone and despite how many times again I have asked the same questions. My co-workers have invited me to their houses, introduced me to their families, explained me things about India and showed me many beautiful and interesting places. Every invitation I unfortunately could not accept due to the short time I had here but I definitely am grateful for all those invitations.

I wish to thank all Vishakha workers for the hospitality received from you and the experiences I've had thanks to you. Of course I wish to thank all the readers as well and hope you enjoyed the blog..

Thank you all and good bye!

-A

Training day

On Thursday and Friday, 24th and 25th April, Vishakha had a training day  for the cluster-in-charges in Astha training centre in Udaipur. The training was about the issues the workers are facing in their daily duties specifically when dealing with the adolescents.

The lectures concentrated on health in general, hygiene, nutrition, development from a child to an adult and especially on adolescent issues. These are all matters the cluster-in-charges face when meeting with the local populace, specifically with young girls, and cooperating with the Anganwadi centres.

The lecturers were good. Despite my inability to understand Hindi, it was clear that the audience mainly consisting of cluster-in-charges liked what they heard and saw. In addition to normal lectures a movie was shown, workshops were held in small groups and activity tasks were arranged. And what I understood from the feedback sessions (mainly in Hindi, though) people had learned a lot of new important information.

There are now 35 cluster-in-charges from which more than 10 are new. First of all, the training was a great way to teach a large audience but it also worked nicely to bring the new and old cluster-in-charges, block coordinators and Vishakha's partner NGO Jatan's staff together. Between the lectures was group singing, when Vishakha's worker, a talented Musician Shivdayal, always got the group to join him in his singing and drumming. In the evening people were getting familiar with each other, telling stories and dancing. Despite the heavy information content of the two days the atmosphere was very relaxed and happy.

Training the workers in Vishakha is overall quite constant. When I asked the people who had worked for Vishakha for a longer time they said they had visited Astha training centre many times before on same kind of training events. New training days are already scheduled in the beginning of May so Vishakha sure wants its employees to know their business.