the moment you've all been waiting for....

OK I'll stop stalling and tell you about Sambhali Trust. Sambhali is a non-profit organization that began about 4 years ago to serve impoverished women in the city of Jodhpur. Space was rented from the Durag Niwas guest house so girls and woman who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to attend school are now able to receive classes in English, Hindi, math, and depending on what volunteers are there at the time, different arts and crafts. The really neat thing about the way the program is run is that these additional workshops offered to the girls allow them to really experience the world outside of Jodhpur. Volunteers come from all over the world and sometimes they help with english or maths classes, but in some instances you have women teaching knitting, quilting, or currently we have one volunteer teaching the girls about photography and two other volunteers working on theatre. Although these skills may not seem very marketable, the value they have for the girls is really immeasurable. Yesterday some of the volunteers put together an exhibition to showcase photography and theatre, and the girls had a blast. There was dancing, yummy snacks, and at the end the girls were awarded for their hard work with flowers and treats. Three of the girls from the photography workshop won clothes for having the strongest photos. If you have a chance check out the volunteer, Rowan Lange's blog, i to eye where she has some images that the girl's took. If you're interested you can purchase a print and this helps the girls to start earning an income, and could possibly spark the interest of a budding photographer!

The girls here are truly incredible. Although many of them come from the Dalit (untouchable) caste, the moment they are in the center all I see are big warm smiles and a truly contagious energy. At first I thought it would be hard to communicate, but luckily smiling and nodding goes a long way to making yourself understood.