The bags are ready! The tailoring assessment period is over… contracts are signed! The six months tailoring project begins!!! AND… We already know 70 more words in Malayalam including: Budhimutt joli= hard work; thunni= fabric; and (my favorite!) uhchabashanam… oru mani!= (lunch time!) I’ve truly enjoyed working with the women this week. I was very glad to find out that they are as exited as we are about being part of this tailoring project. Our
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People say I make strange choices, but they’re not strange for me. My sickness is that I’m fascinated by human behavior, by what’s underneath the surface, by the worlds inside people. – Johnny Depp. This is one of my favorite quotes. For the past few years I have thought of this quote from time to time, and in returning from our trip to Pondicherry, it crossed my mind again. We visited the Sri Aurobindo Ashram
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Negotiation has become an important practice in these last few weeks. I have learned that anything and everything is negotiable in India. Meeting times, prices, partnerships with other organizations, crossing an intersection, everything requires a bit of negotiation. And more importantly, all things require compromise. A day in the small town of Mananthavady affords much practice in negotiating skills. And whether it’s buttons or bananas, Jenny knows when to let up and when to stand
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These first two weeks in Bangalore have been very exciting and incredibly hectic. For now, our team consists of our director, Jenny Koleth; her two little daughters who are 5 and 6 years old; Aunty, her mother in law; Victoria, the other volunteer, and me. We walked through half of Bangalore in search of the right material for the model bags for our community’s tailoring cooperative project. Who would have thought that getting fabric and sewing
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