Tuesday, September 7, 2010
goodbyes
Greetings all,
You may remember us from our last blog post, 30-odd months ago I think it was.
We left Kolkata a week ago now, and are slowly beginning the transition into life in Australasia. We discovered Melbourne to be a bizarre wonderland, full of dishwashers and drinkable water and edible cheese. Also, some kind of flesh-eating alien appears to have abducted all of the people.
Freeset finished work a little early on our last day and so we had a good chance to say goodbye to all of the women. Like all goodbyes, it was a surreal experience to be amongst this beautiful and mischievous bunch of young women who had been our family for the last year, knowing that this would be the last time we'd see each other in a long time. It was made more difficult by the inequality of the relationship: when and if we will meet again is completely beyond their control, as they well know.
Probably like most rich people (a 'rich' person is someone who's never had to choose between buying food or medicine, by the way) who go to the developing world to try and make a difference, we went in with the assumption that we'd be able to give something of our skills, knowledge and love to the people we wanted to serve. Hopefully, this idea wasn't entirely misplaced, but what we missed in our arrogance was all the amazing gifts that these women had to give us.
We learned a lot about generosity. We fill our large houses with stuff. The women who invited us into their lives had small houses (usually one room where the bed took up about half of the space, often more) and had only a few things - some cooking equipment, some photos and clothes generally. The absence of all the time-saving devices we take for granted - and of any significant sharing of chores between the genders - made them extremely time-poor as well. Most of our women went to work for as long if not longer than the men of their household, but cooking, cleaning and caring for children were still unquestionably their responsibility. But still, they were so eager to share their time, their homes and their possessions with us. Their only 'private' space was shared with extended family constantly, but even surprise visitors were treated like long-lost family members.
The people of our community excelled in hospitality. Although their homes were small and often quite bare, we couldn't visit one of our women without being loaded up on tea or mishtis (sweets) - and we couldn't run into one of them on the street without them insisting that we visit. At times this was more inconvenient than appreciated. Insisting that you'd just eaten simply wasn't a good enough excuse - you hadn't eaten anything of theirs yet. Nonetheless, we were constantly humbled by their eagerness to make us feel welcome in their homes and their country. In contrast, we have about a 45% strike rate in remembering to ask if our guests want a hot drink.
Many of the women had been through immensely traumatic times, and although we can glorify it, there are some awful things about living in the very simple concrete rooms they have (high food inflation forcing a limited diet, the disease that lingers in dampness, the rats and mosquitoes, the rubbish and dirt in the lanes). We in the West know, of course, that the only way to be truly happy is to live in a large house, eat out frequently, and own a wider-screen television than your neighbours. And yet, we got to know girls and women who were exuberantly joyful, full of humour and life. Apparently no-one told them that they don't have enough stuff to be happy.
You may remember us from our last blog post, 30-odd months ago I think it was.
We left Kolkata a week ago now, and are slowly beginning the transition into life in Australasia. We discovered Melbourne to be a bizarre wonderland, full of dishwashers and drinkable water and edible cheese. Also, some kind of flesh-eating alien appears to have abducted all of the people.
Freeset finished work a little early on our last day and so we had a good chance to say goodbye to all of the women. Like all goodbyes, it was a surreal experience to be amongst this beautiful and mischievous bunch of young women who had been our family for the last year, knowing that this would be the last time we'd see each other in a long time. It was made more difficult by the inequality of the relationship: when and if we will meet again is completely beyond their control, as they well know.
Probably like most rich people (a 'rich' person is someone who's never had to choose between buying food or medicine, by the way) who go to the developing world to try and make a difference, we went in with the assumption that we'd be able to give something of our skills, knowledge and love to the people we wanted to serve. Hopefully, this idea wasn't entirely misplaced, but what we missed in our arrogance was all the amazing gifts that these women had to give us.
We learned a lot about generosity. We fill our large houses with stuff. The women who invited us into their lives had small houses (usually one room where the bed took up about half of the space, often more) and had only a few things - some cooking equipment, some photos and clothes generally. The absence of all the time-saving devices we take for granted - and of any significant sharing of chores between the genders - made them extremely time-poor as well. Most of our women went to work for as long if not longer than the men of their household, but cooking, cleaning and caring for children were still unquestionably their responsibility. But still, they were so eager to share their time, their homes and their possessions with us. Their only 'private' space was shared with extended family constantly, but even surprise visitors were treated like long-lost family members.
The people of our community excelled in hospitality. Although their homes were small and often quite bare, we couldn't visit one of our women without being loaded up on tea or mishtis (sweets) - and we couldn't run into one of them on the street without them insisting that we visit. At times this was more inconvenient than appreciated. Insisting that you'd just eaten simply wasn't a good enough excuse - you hadn't eaten anything of theirs yet. Nonetheless, we were constantly humbled by their eagerness to make us feel welcome in their homes and their country. In contrast, we have about a 45% strike rate in remembering to ask if our guests want a hot drink.
Many of the women had been through immensely traumatic times, and although we can glorify it, there are some awful things about living in the very simple concrete rooms they have (high food inflation forcing a limited diet, the disease that lingers in dampness, the rats and mosquitoes, the rubbish and dirt in the lanes). We in the West know, of course, that the only way to be truly happy is to live in a large house, eat out frequently, and own a wider-screen television than your neighbours. And yet, we got to know girls and women who were exuberantly joyful, full of humour and life. Apparently no-one told them that they don't have enough stuff to be happy.
Monday, May 24, 2010
MANGOES ARE AWESOME
Recently Freeset has been engaging an NGO called ASK to do some work for us - primarily in developing our fair trade practices and certification. The business is creating a producer committee where some representatives of each of the production units are elected and the group makes decisions regarding the vision and various business decisions. So the group will be made up of 7 elected employee representatives and 3 people from management. The elections are being held in about 10 days. The women are very enthusiastic about the idea, and it will give them more of a say in how the business operates, which is great.
In a slightly different political arena, the elections for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation are coming up. At present our balcony has flags from two of the major parties (no one has any qualms about using your balcony for anything (from religious festivals to politics to light hanging). There's graffiti on every conceivable wall, and there was a story in the paper the other day about a school wall which all 3 parties had 'accidentally' scrawled on, even though electioneering on government buildings is banned.
As we write this, there's a political rally on our corner. It's about 200m away from the house, but there are loudspeakers all the way up our street and the guy is yelling as it is. On our verandah it's marginally quieter than the average NZ rock concert. We just went for a walk and it's actually quieter where he's speaking than in our house, so we joked about taking our dinner down to the rally.
Also in West Bengal, but unrelated to those elections, there's been a bit of unrest in Darjeeling (about 300-400 km to the North of here) lately. There have been various strikes and protests, which culminated a couple of days ago in the leader of one political faction being hacked to death in broad daylight by thugs from the main party while armed police watched and twiddled their thumbs. The main faction that did the thuggery doesn't like the West Bengal government, and it sounds like the authorities were too concerned about annoying the main faction to worry about such minor issues as law and order. The front page of Kolkata's major newspaper carried a colour photo of the rival leader bleeding to death.
Aside from lots of posters and occasional loud political meetings, politics Kolkata style is thankfully much more restrained, but it's a shocking contrast from the beautiful, peaceful Darjeeling we encountered. And a reminder that, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, we live in a crazy country.
In lighter news:
Our flat mum and dad (Karl and Lyn) left for their home assignment in Australia, so we now have two young women staying with us who are also working with Freeset. Tim calls it Team Oestrogen.
We seem to talk about weather most times we blog - possibly because, as at home, it is one of the common conversations. It also affects life here in a big way. With the heat at the moment (middle of summer so temp between 30 and 40degrees day and night, with high humidity), it is difficult to keep food. None of the Freeset women (and most of the people in this community I think) have fridges, so they would be shopping at least once a day. They are very cautious about how much to cook each time as any leftovers will go bad quickly.
I (Sarah) have had the privilege of an Indian fashion designer helping me for a few days - he has been in India fashion week and is going to London fashion week also. Fortuitous timing given the design computer has died needing some major work before I can access files again. So we are going back to some idea generation, pen and paper and saris... and research.
In a slightly different political arena, the elections for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation are coming up. At present our balcony has flags from two of the major parties (no one has any qualms about using your balcony for anything (from religious festivals to politics to light hanging). There's graffiti on every conceivable wall, and there was a story in the paper the other day about a school wall which all 3 parties had 'accidentally' scrawled on, even though electioneering on government buildings is banned.
As we write this, there's a political rally on our corner. It's about 200m away from the house, but there are loudspeakers all the way up our street and the guy is yelling as it is. On our verandah it's marginally quieter than the average NZ rock concert. We just went for a walk and it's actually quieter where he's speaking than in our house, so we joked about taking our dinner down to the rally.
Also in West Bengal, but unrelated to those elections, there's been a bit of unrest in Darjeeling (about 300-400 km to the North of here) lately. There have been various strikes and protests, which culminated a couple of days ago in the leader of one political faction being hacked to death in broad daylight by thugs from the main party while armed police watched and twiddled their thumbs. The main faction that did the thuggery doesn't like the West Bengal government, and it sounds like the authorities were too concerned about annoying the main faction to worry about such minor issues as law and order. The front page of Kolkata's major newspaper carried a colour photo of the rival leader bleeding to death.
Aside from lots of posters and occasional loud political meetings, politics Kolkata style is thankfully much more restrained, but it's a shocking contrast from the beautiful, peaceful Darjeeling we encountered. And a reminder that, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, we live in a crazy country.
In lighter news:
Our flat mum and dad (Karl and Lyn) left for their home assignment in Australia, so we now have two young women staying with us who are also working with Freeset. Tim calls it Team Oestrogen.
We seem to talk about weather most times we blog - possibly because, as at home, it is one of the common conversations. It also affects life here in a big way. With the heat at the moment (middle of summer so temp between 30 and 40degrees day and night, with high humidity), it is difficult to keep food. None of the Freeset women (and most of the people in this community I think) have fridges, so they would be shopping at least once a day. They are very cautious about how much to cook each time as any leftovers will go bad quickly.
I (Sarah) have had the privilege of an Indian fashion designer helping me for a few days - he has been in India fashion week and is going to London fashion week also. Fortuitous timing given the design computer has died needing some major work before I can access files again. So we are going back to some idea generation, pen and paper and saris... and research.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
We found out the other week that this area has a population density of 123,000 per square kilometre (presumably excluding about as many each of dogs, cats, rats and crows). A good half hour of searching on the inhumane labyrinth that is the Indian census website was unable to confirm this, but given that Kolkata overall has a population density of about 25,000 per km2 and this area seems much more populated, it sounds plausible. By contrast, check out this map of Auckland, which goes a fiery shade of red to warn us of areas with more than 4,000 people per sq km (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AucklandRegionPopulationDensity.png). Hence why Kolkata has decent public transport and Auckland doesn't, I guess.
In any case, given that most buildings in the area are 3 stories or below, that makes for a lot of families living in very small rooms. 41% of Indian families live in single room apartments, according to Lonely Planet, but I suspect it would be considerably higher in this area. When Tim's Mum visited, we went to the home of one of our screen printing girls. In one room of about 6-7m each way lived our friend, her husband, her son, her parents and her brother.
We, by contrast, are bouncing off the walls at the moment. Our flat has gone from 8 to just the two of us in a little under 48 hours, which is taking some adjusting to. Neels and Esme from South Africa have finally managed to find a really nice flat goodbye, which is fantastic for them. Karl and Lyn from Australia have gone to visit their kids at boarding school in South India, and Sandro and Cassia from Brazil are off to Dhaka (in Bangladesh) for 6 months of language learning. So now it's just Sarah and I in an area about 5 or 6 times the area of the friend's flat we described. Usually India is amazing; occasionally it just feels like one massive guilt trip.
What does it mean to be trying to live amongst the poor and help the poor, but in so many ways remain separate from them? How are we supposed to tell what's a 'legitimate' thing to spend money on and what isn't, or is there even such a thing? Does the old story about the extra money foreigners spend in developing nations helping develop the local economy really hold any water, or is it just a convenient way to talk ourselves out of our guilt (after all, does anyone other than Rodney Hide still really believe in the trickle-down effect)?
Anyway, enough emo philosophising. Here's what we've been up to in the 6 or so years since we last blogged:
- We managed to get to Nepal and back to renew our visas. Our friend Dan joined us and we had a lovely 4 days of hiking in Eastern Nepal (we didn't see any other trekkers, which was kind of cool), bookended by 4 extremely stressful days of trying to get to and from the trailheads and the borders, complete with strikes, dodgy roads and corrupt border officials. It was an experience though, but if you ever want to go to Nepal, we'd probably recommend sticking more to the tourist trail.
- Amongst other things, Sarah is currently co-ordinating with Freeset's marketing people and various designers who've volunteered their time and work to come up with Freeset's 2011 range of bags. Tim thinks they're looking super-cool so far.
- After a few struggles, especially in the couple of weeks either side of Nepal, screen-printing stuff is really looking up. Some of the newer women who arrived around the same time we did are getting really confident and starting to show some leadership, and we should be getting some new equipment in the next few months which give us a spare table and let us get started with a formal training programme. There's been a lot of informal training going on but it's really difficult to train properly and give people the space they need to gain confidence when you can't completely divorce learning from production. With a training table, I think we'll be able to make a lot of progress quite quickly. But then this is India - you never know!
- The weather is starting to heat up properly now. We had our first 40-degree day this last week and it will become the norm more and more. Fortunately we both have AC when we're in the office (otherwise the design computer overheats, but we reap the benefits as well) and screen printing gets plenty of breeze. Nonetheless it takes its toll on the body, especially with it not cooling down much overnight. We'll just have to learn to take things more slowly as it won't cool down until the rains come in June.
- Our health has been pretty good, but we've caught a bug each in the past week or so. The locals always say people get sick when the weather changes and it seems to work well enough in practice. Hopefully when we get over our current ailments we'll have another 2-3 clear months. Fingers crossed.
Hope this finds y'all well, wherever you are. Keep in touch.
In any case, given that most buildings in the area are 3 stories or below, that makes for a lot of families living in very small rooms. 41% of Indian families live in single room apartments, according to Lonely Planet, but I suspect it would be considerably higher in this area. When Tim's Mum visited, we went to the home of one of our screen printing girls. In one room of about 6-7m each way lived our friend, her husband, her son, her parents and her brother.
We, by contrast, are bouncing off the walls at the moment. Our flat has gone from 8 to just the two of us in a little under 48 hours, which is taking some adjusting to. Neels and Esme from South Africa have finally managed to find a really nice flat goodbye, which is fantastic for them. Karl and Lyn from Australia have gone to visit their kids at boarding school in South India, and Sandro and Cassia from Brazil are off to Dhaka (in Bangladesh) for 6 months of language learning. So now it's just Sarah and I in an area about 5 or 6 times the area of the friend's flat we described. Usually India is amazing; occasionally it just feels like one massive guilt trip.
What does it mean to be trying to live amongst the poor and help the poor, but in so many ways remain separate from them? How are we supposed to tell what's a 'legitimate' thing to spend money on and what isn't, or is there even such a thing? Does the old story about the extra money foreigners spend in developing nations helping develop the local economy really hold any water, or is it just a convenient way to talk ourselves out of our guilt (after all, does anyone other than Rodney Hide still really believe in the trickle-down effect)?
Anyway, enough emo philosophising. Here's what we've been up to in the 6 or so years since we last blogged:
- We managed to get to Nepal and back to renew our visas. Our friend Dan joined us and we had a lovely 4 days of hiking in Eastern Nepal (we didn't see any other trekkers, which was kind of cool), bookended by 4 extremely stressful days of trying to get to and from the trailheads and the borders, complete with strikes, dodgy roads and corrupt border officials. It was an experience though, but if you ever want to go to Nepal, we'd probably recommend sticking more to the tourist trail.
- Amongst other things, Sarah is currently co-ordinating with Freeset's marketing people and various designers who've volunteered their time and work to come up with Freeset's 2011 range of bags. Tim thinks they're looking super-cool so far.
- After a few struggles, especially in the couple of weeks either side of Nepal, screen-printing stuff is really looking up. Some of the newer women who arrived around the same time we did are getting really confident and starting to show some leadership, and we should be getting some new equipment in the next few months which give us a spare table and let us get started with a formal training programme. There's been a lot of informal training going on but it's really difficult to train properly and give people the space they need to gain confidence when you can't completely divorce learning from production. With a training table, I think we'll be able to make a lot of progress quite quickly. But then this is India - you never know!
- The weather is starting to heat up properly now. We had our first 40-degree day this last week and it will become the norm more and more. Fortunately we both have AC when we're in the office (otherwise the design computer overheats, but we reap the benefits as well) and screen printing gets plenty of breeze. Nonetheless it takes its toll on the body, especially with it not cooling down much overnight. We'll just have to learn to take things more slowly as it won't cool down until the rains come in June.
- Our health has been pretty good, but we've caught a bug each in the past week or so. The locals always say people get sick when the weather changes and it seems to work well enough in practice. Hopefully when we get over our current ailments we'll have another 2-3 clear months. Fingers crossed.
Hope this finds y'all well, wherever you are. Keep in touch.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Frogs and tutus
Long time no blog...
For Christmas, we spent the day with other freeset families. Lots of kids around and we had a pot-luck lunch. I even made trifle which was interesting without an oven.
Tim has started guitar lessons - and about 8 people came so each could have a guitar. They learnt to play D last week! And I looked after a baby during last week's lesson so the mum could play, and babies don't wear nappies here... you can finish the story! Just wet though, thankfully.
And Sarah has started English classes - 5 people last week and 10 this week. I'm hoping not too many more will join or it will start to get tricky. We have heaps of fun, I use pictures alot and some songs, and they're pretty quick at picking it up.
Freeset has been taking on lots of new trainees lately. While neither of us have been directly involved in this, we have heard some amazing stories.
Kerry took me (Sarah) around Sonagacchi last week, visiting women who are in line at the moment, but want freedom from this. The really noticeable thing was that everywhere was so dark. Hardly any lights in the buildings and they were fairly damp, with a number of rats too. We sat with each woman (and often relatives or madams) and spoke about Freeset, asked about their background, and Kerry made sure that they could answer one question correctly: what does Freeset do? They needed to remember one word - 'mukhti' which means freedom. It was so neat to think that these women (we have employed all 3 now I think) are now not forced to sell their bodies. Today Kerry was also out visiting and one girl yelled out to him - 'can you give me a job?' - he's asked her to come in tomorrow. Exciting stuff.
About a month ago, a 24-year old Bangladeshi woman (presumably trafficked but I don't know the details) started working here. She'd been working in the sex trade in Kolkata for 10 years. And now she's not.
There have also been a few girls wanting work to get out of the sex trade who say they're 14 (which probably actually means they're 13 as people state their age as what they'll be at their next birthday, ie a newborn is 1). Obviously this is a particularly difficult situation as we can't employ them. Freeset try really hard to get these children into school, but it is difficult when their family depends on their income.
And my favourite: The day before yesterday a woman arrived at Freeset unannounced. Kerry had seen her around but never talked to her before. He asked why she'd come. She said she'd been working in the trade and wanted out, and she'd heard that this was a place where she could find freedom. Obviously she hadn't heard this from Kerry, so he wanted to know where it did come from. Turns out she'd heard it from women she knows who work at Freeset already. Yay for viral marketing!
Still loving the last few weeks of winter weather, and Tim has started 3.5 rupee Thursday lunches (poori and curry) - that is 10cents NZ!
Currently we are living in the factory which has worked out fine. Great to spend some time with the Hiltons, and we are not feeling like we are constantly at work. The Hiltons are amazing - it was so neat seeing Annie look through some photos of the Freeset women someone had printed out and looking at them and commenting as if they were all her immediate family. Another family of 6 moved into the factory temporarily while their accommodation is being sorted. So we have 13 for meals which is intense, especially in the Hiltons' little living room/kitchen!
Work has had a few ups and downs of late - some great feedback from a massive conference in the US, and the tees orders are coming in, but we are also having some teething problems with our new diversification.
We were worried about our visa situation for a bit this week - a new rule cropped up on the website meaning that after 6 months we would have to leave the country for 2 months. Thankfully we have subsequently read that this rule has been relaxed, and we probably don't have to worry about it. It would be a little disastrous for us and for Freeset if the rule was enforced!
For a great message from Kerry about a recent incident at Freeset, go to the news page of the website: www.freesetglobal.com/news (and click on Jan 2010 Newsletter).
Adios amigos,
Sarah and Tim
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