Thumbprint Signatures – Guest Blog.
Legend has it that my grandfather’s thumbprint doubled as his signature. I’m not entirely sure how accurate that claim is, but it’s safe to say that he was functionally illiterate. Surprisingly, half of his children managed to go on to earn college degrees. What my dad calls the “selfless spirit” of the neighbors, extended family and community members who helped them get to that point is the stuff of Patel family legends.
Unfortunately, this selfless spirit was never apparent in my many trips to India. You see, in Indian cities, there are quite often no “bad” parts of town. It’s all intermixed—an upscale apartment complex and a slum area around the corner; a high-rise retail center there, and an open air e-waste recycler right next door. Inequity abounds and, from the looks of it, people just seem to accept it. The sun rises and sets, movies must be musicals, and poverty is what it is. This has always struck me as unsettling, but especially after accompanying Rick in the slums and spending time with those most impacted by the deep inequities in India. Systems may fail these people, but how can a country of so many people look on daily as bystanders as their neighbors suffer the harsh realities of poverty?
The class posing with their teachers and Pratham staff. This is right after an impromptu talent show - no surprise, with names like Hrithik and Bipasha in the crowd!
Finally, on this visit, I had the privilege of actually seeing the “selfless spirit” in action. My uncle set up a tour for us with Pratham (http://www.pratham.org/), an educational NGO spreading literacy across India, and we visited their Ahemdabad Bridge Program. As the name implies, the Bridge Program is meant to build children’s reading and performance levels up to par with those of their (relatively) affluent classmates. Classes meet in the morning, before government schools open for the day. Students of various ages and levels attend the same class, but work on basic literacy skills or subject-specific lessons appropriate for their skill levels. As they progress, they move up within the class.
The teachers are responsible not only for managing and teaching children of varying ages and levels, but also for executing door-to-door enrollment campaigns. Often, this involves daunting tasks such navigating the tradeoffs of spending precious labor hours at school. After hearing one teacher proudly share the story of how she convinced a set of parents that their daughter should go to school along with her brothers, I am convinced that her objection handling skills would rival those of most experienced professional salesperson.
The older children giving Rick a quick lesson in Gujarati grammar and pronunciation.
One of the things that touched me the most is that Pratham’s model elevates the self-worth and social status of women in the community. Nearly all of its teachers and bal-sakhis (teaching assistants) are young women from the communities in which they work. Many have deeply troubling personal lives strewn with stories of people and systems that insist on failing them. The only thing they have in their favor is that they were able to attain a very basic level of education. Pratham helps them transform this asset into a powerful personal and community enabler. The students and staff Rick introduced me to at UMEED were testimony that other NGOs like SAATH have a similar effect.
Speaking to Saath's Umeed BPO class.
The reasons for India’s unique brand of inequity are countless and complex. That there is no visible sense of civic society pulling people to those that do not fit their very limited concept of their own kind is only one such reason, but certainly the one that explains why I had never before seen this “selfless spirit”. Thanks to this trip to visit Rick in Ahmedabad, I am certain that it’s not all just the stuff of legends.
-Mihira
finding rickshaw. 