International Women's Day
on Jane in India (India), 13/Mar/2011 15:43, 34 days ago
Last Tuesday, as well as being Pancake Tuesday, was International Women's Day, the 100th of its kind in fact. Women's Day is not something I was aware of before, I'm not sure if that's because it's not widely celebrated at home, or maybe it's just that I wasn't working in development before. Anyway, it's a nice idea to celebrate us girls, especially in India where females definitely get the rubbish end of the stick.To mark the day we had a little celebration at Amo Vidyalaya (my organisation's school for disabled children). A local telecom company Bharti Infratel had generously offered to donate some resources to the school. As the school is not Government-funded, the donations are well-needed and well-appreciated. We invited some of the female staff along to visit the school and have a joint celebration of Women's Day. 13 women came, along with myself and my workmate Jyoshna. They gave the kids and teachers their new supplies - maps, a globe, sports equipment and things, and the students did a little singing and dancing for us which was sweet.the women giving the gifts to the studentsthe students - two deaf girlsI also got a chance to see the older vocational students at work. They have various disabilities, some are deaf, some blind and have all received vocational training to create products which are sold locally - carrier bags made from recycled newspaper, embroidered bedspreads, handbags, envelopes, cushion covers. I was quite inspired by this project and will do my best to promote it while I'm here.busy at workme and the group outside the schoolAnd, not forgetting Pancake Tuesday, that evening I made myself some tasty pancakes with banana and maple syrup...all in all a fulfilling day.