Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

In New York, I had met the social entrepreneur who started Barefoot College, an organization that teaches the illiterate and semi-illiterate rural poor amazing technical things, like becoming solar engineers without learning how to read. The college also brings together representatives from women?s groups from 68 neighboring villages once a month to discuss things like education, sanitation, and violence against women. In male-dominated Rajasthan, most village women have no voice, but the tide is shifting. These women spend 2 days in camaraderie with each other, offering support and advice. I had lunch of dhal, rice and chapatti on a worn metal plate, sitting shoeless on the floor of the mess hall with a few women from the meeting. We exchanged sideways glances and fleeting smiles. I took a few portraits so that I could remember these brave women who found their voices.