www.freepressjournal.in weekend ZEST viii THEFREEPRESSJOURNAL SUNDAY | MAY 29, 2011 Social Media's secret weapon - Email: by Fred Wilson. http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/05/social- medias-secret-weapon-email.html A Long-Wave Theory on Today's Digital Revolution: An interview with historian Elin Whitney-Smith in strategy+business. http://www.strategy-business. com/article/00074?gko=e0cf7&cid=TL20110519 Social Protection for a Chang- ing India: A World Bank report. http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/ default/main?pagePK=64187835&piPK=641879 36&theSitePK=523679&siteName=WDS&menu PK=64187283&callBack=&report=61275 The perfect state: from Pragati. http://pragati.nationalinterest.in /2011/05/the-perfect-state/ Illusions of Democracy: by Esther Dyson. http://www.project- syndicate.org/commentary/dyson32/English EMERGIC RAJESH JAIN Weekend reading WRITE TO: Ketan Tanna, Feature Editor, Free Press Journal, Free Press House, First Floor, 215, Free Press Journal Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 21. Telephone: 022-22874566. E-mail: features@ fpj.co.in ● Reg. No. MH/MR/SOUTH-105/2009-11 weekend he school's location: Setrawa vil- lage, 110 kilometres from Jodhpur in western Rajasthan. The stu- dents: Around 70-80 girls, all aged eight years and above. The teach- ers: Two young Canadians, Amelia Steteman (23) and Jennifer Carlisoe (22). To many, this may appear to be a strange classroom but it's a regular feature at the Setrawa School, which is run by the Sambhali Trust. Here's what a typical day at this small school, set up in 2007, is like: At 11 am sharp, a gaggle of enthu- siastic girls from nearby homes walks in. They brush their teeth, take a quick wash and change into clean clothes. For the next hour- and-a-half, they are taught the basics of English and Hindi. After school, they attend a workshop organised especially for them - it could be on anything from dra- matics and general knowledge to health and art. If any of the girls displays the potential for higher education, the Trust takes on the responsibility of getting them admission into a local private school. It also takes care of the school fees along with the expenses for books, stationery and uniforms - approximately Rs 8,000 a year is needed to put one child through school. The only catch: Parents have to sign an affidavit in the presence of village elders that they will send their daughter to school at least until she completes Class X and that they will not marry her off before she turns 18. A small price to pay for a free educa- tion? Unfortunately, not in the male-dominated Rajasthani rural society, especially in the western part of the state, where sending girls to school is still frowned upon. But the Sambhali Trust has man- aged to bring about a change in this attitude, at least to some extent. "In last four years, we have put 35 girls - 10 from Setrawa - in private schools in Jodhpur. The youngest one is in Prep while the eldest is in Class X," informs Govind Singh Rathore, founder of Sambhali Trust. Besides providing educational opportunities, the Trust also promotes economic independence among women through vocational training and helps them develop social skills. The Setrawa School provides basic education to girls who can't afford traditional schooling and supplements the schooling of those who can. "We also deal with the issues of caste and encourage free interaction between children of different castes while condemn- ing prejudice and discrimination," Rathore says. Helping the school to successfully fulfill its mission is a passionate group of foreign volunteers. Amelia and Jennifer are part of the group that forms the backbone of Samb- hali Trust's work. "Each year, we recruit 25-35 volunteers on long- and short-term basis. The volun- teers are asked to do reporting for the projects, write proposals, help with fund-raising, advertise volun- teer possibilities and conduct workshops. They are also required to work at the Setrawa centres for at least a month. They live with local families, teach girls at the school, organise community work- shops and awareness activities and conduct creative courses in arts and craft," explains Rathore. South African Kerry Kisbey- Green, 18, who conducted the drama workshop at the Setrawa school last month, gives a glimpse into a volunteer's experience. She says, "Living in Setrawa is chal- lenging. The simple life and facili- ties are easy to get used to, but I have found the language barrier extremely isolating at times. The family I live with is incredibly kind to me; they really make me feel like I belong here, although our con- versations are limited by their lim- ited knowledge of English and my few words of Hindi." Some of them are also moved looking at the kind of difficulties women and girls face here, espe- cially at the hands of abusive hus- bands and alcoholic fathers. Talk- ing about it, Djamila Eliane Furth- müller, 23, a student of Interna- tional Relations at Geneva, Switzer- land, says, "I am very touched by the difficult situations and strug- gles they have to face every day, but I am also amazed to see how well they deal with it and the dif- ference the Trust's work has made to their lives." The literacy programme of Samb- hali Trust started as an offshoot of the three empowerment centres the organisation runs - two in Jodhpur and one in Setrawa - for women and girls, where they are taught vocational skills like textile productions, block printing, screen printing, embroidery and tie and dye. The finished products, such as scarves, handbags, cloth toys and tablecloths, are sold through Sambhali India, a sister company. The company returns 75 per cent of the profit from sales to those who produce them. Rathore, who has not studied beyond Class X himself, got the inspiration to set up this life- changing Trust from within his home. "I was 14 when my father, an alcoholic, died of heart failure. My mother asked me to drop out of school and run the family guest- house (in Jodhpur's Raika Bagh locality)," he recalls. "I had a terri- ble childhood. I witnessed all kinds of violence on women in my house. My grandmother was 12 when she got married to a man thrice her age. My mother was 15 at the time of her marriage. A cousin committed suicide after delivering a girl child, her fourth daughter. I ran the guesthouse for about 10 years and then decided I had to do something for uneducat- ed women, like my mother and grandmother, who suffer silently in our patriarchal society. That's why I founded the Sambhali Trust in January 2007." His mother and wife now run the family guest- house and contribute some of its profits to the Trust. Rathore also operates tours to help sustain this work. It all started with the Jodhpur Empowerment Project for Dalit and underprivileged women and girls aged between 15 and 22. A two-year course, running six days a week between 11.30 am and 3 pm, was initiated to help them become independent. A second project, Payal Sewing Centre, teaches dif- ferent sewing techniques. Today, 30 women not only learn sewing but are given English lessons in the afternoons. Next came the Setrawa empowerment centre, and the school was started some time later. There's also a mirco-credit scheme, the Sheerni Project. The Sambhali Trust conducts other interesting events as well, like a photography exhibition that it staged recently in Jodhpur, which showcased the result of a photog- raphy workshop that English pho- tojournalist Rowan Lange had con- ducted for 10 girls at the Jodhpur centre. She had given them cam- eras and trained them to use it. Meanwhile, work is also on at the Payal Sewing Centre to put up a modern theatre show after Ger- man theatre professor Heiderose Lange, 68, and German filmmaker Verena Jahnke conducted a month-long theatre workshop here. Ultimately, this is about educa- tion, not mere learning. By impart- ing education and life skills, the Trust has helped transform many young girls into bright, confident women who can stand up for themselves, have the capacity to fulfill their dreams and who are also conversant in English. Girls like Sonia Pandit, 19, who has learnt sewing at an empowerment centre in Jodhpur. She smiles as she says, "I want to become the son of my mother. I earn around Rs 3,000 every month at the sewing centre. With my first salary, I bought myself a gold nose ring and a pair of silver anklets." RAJASTHANI GIRLS LEARN ABOUT LIFE WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THE WORLD RENU RAKESH WRITES ABOUT TWO YOUNG CANADIANS, AMELIA STETEMAN (23) AND JENNIFER CARLISOE (22) TEACHING DESERT DAMSELS. T F ive-year-old Sneha, shy and recluse with deadpan looks, liv- ing on the streets of Mumbai just outside Churchgate station has undergone a tremendous change in her personality in the last two months. She's now chatty, participative and expressive, thanks to the Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) provided by Humara Foothpath NGO with the help of Dilshad Patel. "The dance movement therapy sessions have worked wonders with her. Earlier, she would be sleeping in class, not speak a single word and never take part in activities. And now, she prances around with enthusiasm. It feels so good to see her involved like this," says Nupur Shah, co- ordinator of Humara Footpath NGO. DMT is, however, not just for the underprivileged who seek relief by boogieing. It is also popular among housewives, senior citizen, specially-abled individuals, sportspersons, corporates and the youth. Atmavishwas Sybil, trustee at the Atmavishwas vocational centre for youth with mental disabilities, finds DMT to be a very effec- tive medium of expression. "I sense a lot of difference in the behavioural patterns of all the children here. They are much more calm and easier to handle. It has also made them communicative, which is good as it helps us understand them better; thereby improving our inter- personal relations. One of them is spastic and her condi- tion was deteriorating but the music and movement sessions seem to have a pleasant effect on her," Sybil beams. Dance has always been closely associated with celebrations and happiness. So it is no surprise that dance therapy practices have come about with an aim to help tackle one's inhibitions, see oneself in a different light altogether and most important of all, overcome depres- sion. "But mind you," Patel - a dance instructor, therapist and wellness consultant - emphasises, "this is not choreographed dance. It is an allied, supervised, alterna- tive health profession, which involves connecting the client's movements with his/ her thoughts. It's a psychotherapeutic technique by which the body and mind are brought into sync using certain movements and gestures, which are then moulded to create anoth- er set of thoughts to induce a feel- ing of wellness deep within." In layman terms, dance move- ment therapy is a combination of modern dance and psychoanalysis, which works on the principle that mind and body are interrelated. It uses therapeutically guided move- ments to enhance one's personali- ty by treating various psychological hitches of the person. As a well-known therapist who has been working closely with dif- ferent populations and one who's been a student of Harkness Dance Centre, New York, Patel asserts that apart from good health and fitness it also develops one's personality by increasing self esteem, imparting confidence and reducing stress. She says, "Many of my students are corporate executives who come to beat the stress and relax. It can be, without being overtaxing, a sooth- ing and fun experience too." Agrees her student Kejal Mehta - a 32-year-old housewife, "My mother and I attended her dance lessons in 2009 and it was total fun. I did- n't do it as therapy, but because I enjoy dance as it allows free move- ment." So, how does it work? To begin with, one does not require being proficient in dancing. The therapist encourages free movement, watch- es them, and analyses them to gauge the physical presence of the person, gesture, posture and cre- ativity. It can be either a group or individual session depending upon the need of the person. The healing process, then, occurs over a period of time, with the therapist guiding their movement such that it reflects the inner state of the person and triggers a feeling of awareness with the surrounding and general well-being, easing the void between their conscious and sub-conscious. The person is made to connect the guided therapeutic movements with his/her thoughts, thereby improving cognitive skills. It has been observed that it helps restore peace of mind and over- come depression by conquering the lowly state of mind one other- wise dwells with. 52-year-old Man- jula (name changed), a practising lawyer by profession, has experi- enced it all. Having lost both, her father and brother, to heart attack in a span of two hours, Manjula was in a state of depression. "But now, I feel better to some extent. The therapy is mind-relaxing and when the music starts, I forget my sorrows and the tension eases by itself," she reminisces, of her six therapy sessions. The cricketing world, too, has had its share of DMT owing to unavoid- able on-field stress, fatigue and game pressure. The Rajasthan Roy- als Development Academy, which looks up new recruits, conducted DMT sessions with Patel last year for the ongoing IPL season. Monty Desai, coach of the Rajasthan Roy- als says, "With mounting pressure on players and constant on-ground activity, we opted for DMT." Desai feels that the visualisation tech- nique along with various other modules showed positive results and helped understand their limi- tations and abilities by noting co- ordination levels from their move- ments. “Dilshad's DMT has defi- nitely helped to bring all of them in sync with one another," he adds. DANCE, WHICH WAS CONSIDERED AS AN ART FORM IN THE PAST, IS NOW INCREASINGLY USED AS THERAPY TO COMBAT DEPRESSION AND OTHER AILMENTS. RADHIKA GANGADHAR REPORTS. ON A HIGH Dance to your well-being REVOLUTION Pic: Sandeep Takke