Second Notes From India (3^rd Year)

February 17, 2004

It has been very difficult finding an Internet place and time to write, so get ready for a long read for the update on 2 months! Sorry!

In December I spent my time in Tamil Nadu doing Apprentice Support.

The womyn there managed to get a hall in a Christian Orphanage for free and two classrooms to sleep in. The Wenlido apprentices have to do a minimum of 100 hours teaching (assisted or supported by a certified instructor) before they can apply for certification.

The first workshop was taught by four of them R., M., J., and G. It went real well with 18 tailoring students. Right in the middle of it the ‘Bishop’ came asking for the women in his congregation to be taught as well. Since there is a Hindu Fundamentalist government, the Christians put themselves together with other progressive movements for support (there have been deadly communal conflicts not only with Muslims, but Christians as well).

The second Basic Wenlido workshop was organized by S. She arrived with a busload of nursing students. Two of their staff had come and were unhappy with the simpleness of the accommodation.

I enjoyed the orphans and their three caretakers (older women). The kids were between 6 and 15 and very sweet and well behaved. So grateful they were for any attention.

The third workshop was in Kancheepuram with 18 women. Again the Christians offered space for free. Surprisingly enough as M. had previously accused the priest of exploiting the nuns. The participants came from a broad range of backgrounds: bonded laborers (recently freed), widows (they have no rights in India, lowest on the ‘pecking order’), college students and teachers. Initially I felt quite a bit of mistrust toward this strange foreigner, that I am, but fortunately it melted away about half way thru.

R. came late with the sad, sad news of one of the women in her women’s group having burned herself. She was married (arranged) six months prior. Her father had promised the husband a new auto rickshaw. The constant quarrels over that as well as abuse drove her to this action. R. went to see her in the hospital where she died hours later.

In the workshop we do talk about what to do in case of someone trying to burn you…this time that was accompanied for me/us by vivid images that were painful…

After that we spent some time in the commune that is led by M. and J. They are five women and seven men. People’s forum is the name of the commune, they assist the poor and illiterates getting justice for their causes.

One man came who struck me with his sadness. He had a girl with him (3) and a boy (6). There had been terrible injustice done to him, and his wife battled for months to get justice from the collector. Then she threatened to burn herself and she followed thru doing just that in front of his office. I cannot imagine the despair that would drive these women to pour kerosene over themselves and suffer this unimaginable pain.

The following morning 12 men asked to speak with me about Wenlido and what men can do. They were men from the commune and the village. I talked to them about how men and women both are negatively affected by the conditioning of the patriarchy. In what way they as well are victims of the system. How in more and more places men are gathering to question themselves. How important their work on this level is if we are to work toward violence free societies and communities. A good two hours we debated together. It was an incredible exchange of thoughts and ideas. One man was sharing how he is being ridiculed for asking his wife for advice in front of his parents. That they have to be away from extended family and that choice had been made. The comparison from their experience of how difficult it is ‘to organize the feudals to debate on how to better treat their workers’ and ‘trying to organize the men to look at their issues’ made sense. Privilege is hard to see for those that are directly benefited.

From here we went to Chennai (Madras) meeting with IWID (Initiatives for Women in Development), where we were warmly received. Three women had participated in the TOT from this sponsoring NGO.

They took me to a Tamil movie and then off on the train to head North to Rishikesh by the sacred Ganga in the foothills of the Himalayas.

I am happy to have arrived a day early so I have time to walk along the Ganga to town, the hustle and bustle of beggars, swamis, gurus and other mortals and ‘holis’. The preparations are on for the huge ‘Kumb Mela’ (holy festival with millions of people) to be held in Haridwar with spill overs to Rishikesh to be certain. A temporary bridge has even been built across the Ganga very close to our Dajananda Ashram. Every 12 years this holy Ganga event returns to the same places.

On our return to the ashram 2 women from Gujarat had already arrived. The next day women start trickling in: six from Rajasthan, two from Uttar Pradesh, five from Delhi, two from Maharashtra. Individual intakes, opening, setting intention and group goals are on the agenda. P. who came with us from Tamil Nadu does not speak Hindi either. I appreciated not being the only one in need of translation.

Day 2 and 3 everyone goes thru the Basic Wenlido program, then on day 4 during our ‘check in’ one of the Gujarati women (21) runs out of the hall. A bit later we find her in a full-blown trauma flashback in her room. Screaming, back arching in spasms, choking and eyes huge in absolute terror somewhere far away. Someone had called the village doctor (fortunately he was at a loss and didn’t give her sedatives), the other womyn crying, sobbing, wrenching their hands in sympathy. I had to tell everyone to leave the room except my 2 helpers. I was thankful that I had made them read the book 'Waking the Tiger’ on healing trauma and had discussed it with them prior to this. I had to think ‘on my feet’, giving them instructions on what to do with their own panic, then supporting A. thru the experience. She went thru tremendous shakes and tremors, eventually calming enough so they could stay with her alone and I could return to join the group.

I explained what had happened and how they could handle their own reactions. Many of them thought she was being taken over by spirits. Could I come to their village in Rajasthan and heal two of their women like this, they asked me?

A. goes thru waves of trauma releases for the next 3 days. They become less intense with longer intervals in-between. One time it happened in the hall when we were playing with the ball. She was retriggered by the hitting sound. Again the franticness of the group members. S. and D. stayed with A., while I talked the group thru their own process. As they calmed, A.’s screams and spasms calmed. A very powerful experience for everyone on how much we affect each other’s energies. Understanding and releasing Trauma was on the schedule, but I never dreamt that we all would go thru a hand-on-experience early on!

The criterias to be accepted into the Wenlido Instructor Training were handled very loosely by the NGO’s sending their participants.

1. minimum age 24

2. participated in at least one Basic Wenlido Workshop

3. has feminist/gender perspective

4. has some facilitation skills

5. has experience working on issues regarding violence done to women

A 19 year old participant we had from the royal Rajput family in Rajasthan as well.

Unfortunately though we had to exclude 4 participants from entering the apprenticeship program. It was difficult for the entire group, but considering the already heavy workload for the more senior instructors to do the most essential apprenticeship support, there were no other options for us.

To organize the Basic Wenlido Workshop the group was to give, three women went several evenings door to door in the village of Rishikesh to invite the women/girls. One such evening I joined them. Lovely experience to be taken into their homes for yet another chai and biscuits, the father and women gathering around us. In the end we had 22 enthusiastic participants.

The ashram food was excellent and our hall right next to their temple, where they would be chanting, bells ringing and drums playing three times a day. Mainly men with their vermilions painted on their foreheads, wrapped in white on saffron cloths.

Some womyn left with certificates and everyone with the special tiger eye mala (necklace) I have been stringing up symbolizing our connectedness, and support to stay safe.

Next several of us arrive in Bombay for the World Social Forum. Unexpectedly I fall sick with a very bad virus. Fever as high as 106 for three days make me decide to get a doctor and go with anti-biotics. The last day of the WSF I join up as much as possible. An amazing event, even got to see Maude Barlow talking on Water in a workshop. Made it to another workshop on Women and poverty. Hords of people and so well organized the event. A lot of controversy as well, with the next door event of the Mumbai Resistance, organized by the left movement. That evening I managed to go to a drag show with queens from Malaysia. I thought I was in the West until I kept hearing over the mike, as please for the media not to take pictures of the customers (as this is not safe in this part of the world).

Myself (again sick with nausea) and my assistant took the train to Calcutta, where we were unexpectently received at the station. We had told them not to bother picking us up, because I wanted to go to the wild life reserve in the few days to spare. It turns out there was a big holiday, everything booked and they made alternate plans for us. Nice to be cared for, I tell you! So off we went early to our training destination outside of Shantiniketan (famous for its poet Robindra Naat Tagore and founder for an alternative university for the arts). The training centre is on a farm with a capacity of 16 guests, which we were to fill. On Dec 31 a wild elephant came thru here, creating quite a havoc in destroying part of the potato shed, pulling out some banana stocks of which he only ate the centre of the trunk. Apparently he was a huge male, who returned on Jan 2nd night, in spite of the fires the boys had all around the property. He was so quiet that they didn’t hear him enter! The jungle is right adjacent to the property. Unfortunately many mega projects like water dams, and mining are in the way of the elephants migration path. Only a few heards are left and they are running out of space. If you have the chance to watch a documentary called ‘Queen of the Elephants’ you learn all about that and this particular area here.

14 womyn arrived for the training. The most exciting news: WENLIDO IS MOVING INTO BANGLADESH! Eight womyn came from this neighboring country. There were seven Muslims, one Buddhist and two Christians, and Hindus in this bunch! Four of them were lawyers for Human Rights Organizations. This time there were no village level activists, which gave the workshop a different slant of experiences. In Bangladeshis were very enthusiastic about this work and after the initial ‘shock’ adjusted quite well to the tight schedule (that none of us are used to…).

We had our meals in a round grass roofed structure, with mud and bamboo walls. It’s shape reminded me of a yurt. The food was organic from their own fields. Sigh…

The basic they gave had two young girls who have been trafficked and village women. At the end of which we had an amazing party to which they hired the village drummer (special kind of drum). In this area Kali and Durga are the most worshipped deities. They did this incredible Durga Dance with candles in their hands and I was surprised how some of the Muslim women joined them! I can see what they tell me now: how the communal tension is mainly politically initiated.

Now I am in Delhi, heading to Rajasthan for Apprentice support. March 21 to 25 we have an all Asia Wenlido Trainer/Apprentice Follow-up in Central India. I feel happy, realizing the bulk of the work has been completed successfully. Now it is up to the senior trainers and me to support them in building confidence to actually go out there and do the work. In Bangladesh they certainly face safety concerns, as well as in some regions in India. My heart goes out to all of them…

I hope all of you are well and that spring is in the air. I hope this was not too long of a read and I am as always happy to hear from you!

In about 6 weeks I reach home and am looking forward to seeing many of you there!

In womyn’s strength, courage and global sisterhood

Gitta