Pabitra and Shipra teach children at a Lutheran World Service India Trust learning center in the Udayan Pally squatter settlement.
have Bangladeshi, Bengali and those from many other states in India.” The difference among the squatters, at least, is that they live side by side much more peaceably than in other parts of an often stratified society. Different castes also are there, where elsewhere in the country they may not interact so closely. “For these squatters, survival is the major factor. They live in harmony with one another,” Biswas said. For those in the squatter settlements, living in a sea of unknown faces in an already crowded city makes dignity hard to understand. “No one would ever have noticed these school dropouts,” said Shipra (last name not given), a teacher who is from the settlement community himself. Shipra is now in his second year at college, studying to become a teacher. He gives of his time to teach at the settle- ment learning center. “The self-help groups are empowered to talk about issues around them. They would have never achieved this kind of self-understanding [without the learn- ing centers],” he said.
Women in the New Neo-Para squatter settlement in Kolkata are part of self-help groups encouraged by Lutheran World Service India Trust, a localized (now independent) program of the Lutheran World Federation.
teacher Sutapa Mitra. “It is believed that it will only lead to bad jobs. So we have to convince parents that education is not just for employment.” Working with the youngest kids is really about encour- aging parents to continue sending their children to school. Then there are the older students. The center motivates parents to help their children re-enter school. After six to seven months of preparation through a learning center, the child can be readmitted into school.
“I went to school up till sixth grade,” said 13-year-old Surajit Mandal. “But I started coming [to the center] when my friends came.” Through the learning center, he is now back in school.
Mithu Gayan is 18. Her father hauls cement bags and her mother is a domestic worker. Back in school now, she says she wants to become a science teacher. “It has been a big help coming to this learning center,” Gayan said. “My parents can’t help, but they have encouraged me so much.”
Living in harmony
The squatter settlements are a microcosm of India’s cul- turally and religiously diverse society. “We have Hindus, Christians, Muslims living side by side,” Biswas said. “We
The centers are the result of groups understanding their needs, and then recruiting and interviewing instructors like Shipra to teach their children.
The Lutheran agency negotiates with local councils and schools to recognize the needs of the people. It also helps identify job markets for residents. Organizing the men can be difficult, since staff can come only during the day when they are out working. Hence the self-help groups are composed mostly of women and emphasis is placed on the young, the next generation. “We have to plan for our future,” said Soma (last name not given), a local coordinator and organizer. “[Lutheran World Service India Trust] won’t be here forever.” Improving education and the financial base doesn’t mean everything is positive. Increased family incomes can lead to higher dowries for young women, a system that is culturally ingrained. Some families still struggle with hav- ing women in leadership roles.
Still, Mukti said, “we have developed the capacity to talk among ourselves and to outsiders, to know how to seek help. We can bring up issues of health, child care and maternal health. This has all given us confidence [and] energy. We talk about household matters, share recipes, even about how our husbands treat us.”
Kalpana (no last name given), another New Neo-Para group member, chimes in: “My husband is still opposed to me coming to this group. But I still come because I like it. It gives me something fresh, something different to do and care about.” M
To help support this and other development work, give at the ELCA website (
www.elca.org); by phone 800-638-3522; or by mail to ELCA World Hunger, 39488 Treasury Center, Chicago, IL 60694-9400.
August 2011 31
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52