The final week

Lemon Rice

Sorry that this post is so delayed in coming.

We have just completed our last week of training with the ladies and it was a really wonderful one.

We had left them a small practise order to complete while we were away for a week & we returned to find it all made beautifully and to find them beaming with pride at having done it.

It is really noticeable that suddenly they have turned a corner & all the training has suddenly clicked and they are very competently making everything (even the earring hooks!), with little need for any direction. 

Something I have realised whilst teaching them is that the real skill in a craft is being able to know how to correct a mistake, how a simple nick of the pliers in the right place can straighten a kink and in being able to make judgments on which tool available is best to use to produce or make a certain shape or piece.  I am being to see glimpses of these levels of skills, which is an amazing achievement for them with just four weeks of training.

At least two of the women (we have had between 7 & 10 on most days) have found a real passion in jewellery making and it is an amazing feeling to have been able to give them that. 

One of the younger girls, who lives at the children’s and women’s hostel on the farm (on which the production unit also sits & is a part of) previously had a really hard time at school and so after a series of sad events she decided to leave (she is 16) and began work at the production unit.  Although she really enjoyed working there as an alternative to learning at school, she didn’t particularly take to sewing (which is what the women’s work has previously consisted entirely of) but right from the start of our training she has been so eager to learn and more importantly, to practise.  At the start she often became frustrated with not being able to accomplish things immediately but over the last two months, through our training and her commitment, she has become very skilled and still seems to absolutely adore completing a necklace and slipping it around her neck.  The change in her attitude to working at the unit is really visible and she is really vocal about being so happy at being able to make jewellery.

There are two ‘teachers’ at the Production Unit who are effectively in charge of the others and have responsibilities for organising the orders & distributing the work, as well as keeping the younger ones in check (which they seem to have found the hammers that we have introduced for jewellery making also useful for!).  They are paid a little more then the others for this (the responsibilities, not the threatening). 

Geeta, one of the teachers, has gradually taken on the role of being in charge of the jewellery side of things.  Whilst we are away she has encouraged the others to practise and develop their skills, and through this has become very skilled.

We really couldn’t have achieved so much without her quiet focus & attention to detail, coupled with, at times, her suddenly booming voice shouting at the others in Tamil to stop talking and continue working!

Even without being able to converse easily it is clear that she has really enjoyed our company, the chance to learn a new skill and the luxury of time to become so passionate about jewellery.  This week she worked out how to make a bangle, which I just couldn’t get my head around – her pride and sense of achievement when she realised what she had done was tangible.  She barely smiles so her smile then was all the more worth it.

One morning this week she brought us lemon rice, light and fresh, dotted with peanuts, soft bay leaves & a little chilli, packed in a layered tiffin and still warm to touch, like tasty hot water bottle.   Accompanied with fried wadas, spicy chickpea cakes (a little like falafel), wrapped in newspaper and bound with string to keep it together, the grease and the smell of spices seeping through the paper, almost designed to entice and make the mouth water. 

She had taken the time to make us this despite her arising at 4 o’clock, having gone to bed at only 11pm or 12 midnight.  She stays awake late, making cholis, the tight blouse worn under a sari and sewing clothes for her family, and encouraging her children to study late.  Rising in the dark of the morning, or middle of the night as I am accustomed to it being, she does the washing, all by hand of course, cooks food for breakfast and the packed lunches for the day and cleans her house.  Before walking to meet the bus that goes from the production unit to collect the ladies to bring them to work.  This is her daily routine.   Never again will I take a washing machine for granted – I can’t believe how much of a difference the initial invention of the washing machine must have made to women!  But of course here, even if it was an affordable amenity, the often scarcity of water (if it is available running close to the house rather than a common well) and the expense and unreliability of electrical power means that the luxury of a having a washing machine is along way off for all of the women here.

We have left the ladies with beads and materials to be able to make some jewellery for themselves and for the 50 or so children living at the hostel, they are delighted to be able to make them all a piece of jewellery for Christmas and they set about developing new designs for rings and for earrings more suitable to the Indian taste!  Although they are very pleased with most of the designs we have developed with them, the nature of the project means that the jewellery has to be marketable in the UK and so some styles they find amusing rather than liking them!

Geeta set about cutting out hearts from brass sheet, for pendants, and punching in letters.  She presented them to us with ‘Grace’ & ‘Lottie’ written on each prospective heart – it has become my pride possession.

We have now left them with a larger order of all the samples to complete before we go back for two days at the beginning of December to collect it, deliver last minute materials and sweets to keep them going and to say goodbye.

We both feel that after the success of this week we can now dare to hope that this can, and will, continue productively and successfully when we are back in the UK….still our fingers are crossed.