On the Road: A Journey to India


They used to be called ragpickers. Women of India, born into the role of picking clean the streets and scouring dumps to collect, sort, bag, and trade trash for a pittance. Exposed to noxious gasses, cuts, infections, humiliation, harassment, and poverty, ragpickers live without salary, security, or dignity. Most are mothers, whose daughters are born into the same role in their life.


Alpa Ben, top, coordinates activities and operations at the Value Creation Center. Kailashben works on the mobile collection vans.  Raji Ben is a long time member, and her daughter, Pinakini Ben, now serving on the Executive council of SEWA.

In Ahmedabad, India, last week, I met some of these mothers and daughters. I was surprised to find radiant, confident women speaking both of their lives and their work transformed, no longer rag-pickers but organizers and operators of their own Value Creation Center. In an open, airy facility, I watched women at conveyer belts sort and bind recyclable refuse for corporate reuse. I learned about the app they developed, teaching other women trading in recyclables how to avoid exploitation. I heard about their secure earnings deposited directly into their own bank account which others in their family cannot access.

Kesar Ben, waste recycler. Susan meeting with organizers, Falguniben is a supervisor in charge of the VCC.

For all of these changes, these inspiring women credit SEWA, the Self-Employed Women's Association headquartered in Ahmedabad. SEWA organizes and mobilizes 3.8 million women across India—construction workers, street vendors, farmers, weavers, embroiderers—and brings finely tuned solutions to their very specific needs. Banks, heat insurance, solar power, child care, computer training, coffee shops, bargaining power, motorbike rentals . . . SEWA doesn't bring hand-outs to the table, but extraordinary hands-on support.


I was the fortunate guest of SEWA and its formidable leader, Reema Nanavaty, together with a small delegation including Ibu Ambassador, Pat Mitchell, and former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, both co-founders of the Dandelion Project, present to witness and support the incredible gains of a massive solar powered, regenerative farming program and Cleaner Skies initiative. I met weavers in a rural village, stitchers in their expansive workspace, and embroiderers from Kashmir in training. I heard women from 20 states in India, speaking freely and passionately of their work with SEWA over 20, 30, even 40 years—their lives changed by the power of their own hands, and the strength of this sisterhood.

 

Women of the weaving cooperative, Shree Shramshakti Vividhlakshi Mahila Sewa Sahkari Mandali, in Seehol, Gujarat welcome Susan;  stitching in the sewing studio.

 

Later that afternoon, at the Gitanjali print and stationary cooperative, I met more former rag-pickers who are now creating paper products out of their sister's recycling. Filling a duffle bag with block-print covered journals made especially for Ibu's Holi Hai! celebration, I looked into their faces. Here are women who have learned to craft—out of that which has been cast off, scrapped, discarded—a useful beauty. I'm excited to join forces with them and the many creators at SEWA. Women who have also learned to craft, out of unthinkable circumstances, radiant new lives.

 

Women of SEWA Gitanjali printing and stationary cooperative in Ahmedabad.

 

All the best,
SHW

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