The Generosity of Self-Help Groups

The women who form self-help groups in India are among the most down-trodden and marginalized people in the country. They are often widows or abandoned women, women living in extreme poverty (less than $1.25 a day), women who have been abused, women of tribal and Dalit heritage.  Dalit can translate as “oppressed,” and it is the self-selected name for those once called “untouchables.” By pooling their resources and getting support and guidance from NGO’s such as the DHAN Foundation, SUCHI, and SCINDEA, with some help from the government, they have managed to lift themselves from absolute poverty to subsistence living and give their children some education and hope for the future. If they were bitter and suspicious of a group like us, I wouldn’t blame them.

But far from being bitter or suspicious, we have found them welcoming, funny, generous, and warm. The SUCHI and SCINDEA affiliated groups both welcomed us with traditional tribal dances that were thrilling to see. I shot some video and hopefully will get it up before too long.  The Yelagiri Hills federation of self-help groups presented us each with the gift of a small enameled brass bowl. The DHAN Foundation group met with us in their village. They received us in a dirt yard, where we sat, with our shoes off, on make-shift rugs of repurposed political banners. While we talked together through an interpreter, a couple of them went out and came back with a cold three-liter bottle of Fanta orange soda and served us in plastic cups so thin they felt like molded plastic wrap. This was a village like most, with a communal water pump, and, I am sure, very limited electricity access. The gift of cold soda must have been an extravagance for them. Often shy at first, the women would eventually be laughing and joking with each other and with us. They spoke unselfconsciously of how their husbands used to beat them and scold them for attending the self-help meetings, until they started bringing in money for the family. Charming and remarkable women, they have inspired all of us.