Report from BHW Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key people:  Santhosh and Rinu Thomas 

Recent Events

Activities

Just a week prior to our visit the new course began with 23 women from five States of India. There are four wardens who look after the girls. Most of the wardens were once participants in the programme and have come back to assist. This is the sixth course that they have run. 

We spent two days at the centre, talking with the girls and interviewing a number of wardens and participants. 

Recently on the campus they have had two cases of typhoid which has shown up the inadequacy of their current Reverse Osmosis system. 

Personal Stories

The Sisters Training Center (STC) serves young women in the surrounding villages by providing life skills such as sewing, tailoring, hygiene, cleaning, and how to read the Bible. 

The following is a summary of the stories and lives shared by a few of the girls from the STC. We heard from three girls in their first week of the program, two girls who have graduated from STC and returned to their villages, and two women who now serve the current cohort of sisters as wardens. Rinu oversees the STC. 

The three younger girls described the difficulty of life as a woman in a village. At about 5-years-old girls begin to draw water from the well, make rice and food for the family, and clean the home. They frequently get up well before sunrise to complete all of their duties, which rarely leave time for any sort of study. Most girls do not attend school past 10th grade because education for a girl is seen as useless and without benefit to the family unit as the girl will soon be married regardless. Child marriages are still common, especially among Muslim families. Stories of 13-year-old girls given to marriage were shared by Rinu. She grieves and describes high infant mortality among these child wives as “their bodies are just not physically ready”. 

Many men are addicted to tobacco or alcohol, leaving children and wives often physically and verbally abused. Some men have day labour jobs (US$3/day) but likely only spend their money on their next fix. This leaves women with the burden of the home and breadwinning and attempting to provide for the entire family on an impossibly small wage. On top of it all, in order for the women to get married the family must pay for the wedding which is incredibly expensive ($2,000) and includes feeding the entire village. Families frequently take on an insurmountable amount of debt in order to pay for the marriage, which perpetuates the notion that these young girls are a burden and offer no benefit to their families. 

Most girls arrive at the programme malnourished, timid and afraid. However, Rinu’s hope is each girl will grow in confidence, know what is right, and have skills to earn a livelihood, resulting in positive change for all women and children in each of their villages to which they return. 

The two young women from a nearby village who graduated from previous programmes came to speak with us. They told us that the programme is working and impacting the lives of those who attend. Both girls come from non-believing homes where one parent has died. They told us how their families noticed a great difference in them. They told us how even though life in the village is difficult, they have found hope because of STC.

Kanchan

Kanchan is a 17-year-old girl in her first week at STC. She is bright, confident and clearly a leader of the newly formed group of girls. Kanchan was raised in a small village in Bihar and describes how thankful she is to have grown up in a second generation Christian home. Kanchan’s father was the first to come to know Christ and was immediately kicked out of the home as a result. To this day, other families in the village call her father insane for sending his daughter to a place like STC.

Kanchan is passionate about others knowing Christ the way she has come to know Him. She wants to learn sewing to bring it back to the families in her village where men are absent and thus their families are left without a source of income. She hopes to teach them this skill in order that the women have a way to provide for their children as she shares the gospel with them along the way.

Kanchan is the eldest of four children and carries the burden of her little brother who sustained a brain injury and is no longer able to speak. She asks us to pray for him, the sisters, and her grandfather. 

Sister 2

Sister 2 is a 19-year-old girl who learned of the program from her older sister who also graduated from STC. She comes from a Christian home but also tells us Rinu is like a mother to her. She comes from a mixed-faith village, where the majority are Muslims but Hindus and Christians are present too. At home she completes all the housework like most girls in the village. She tells us what made the difference in her life was the opportunity to live in the city with her sister beginning in Grade 5. She tells us how the other girls her age who she grew up with in the village are deprived from the right to study and the right to an education in the village. She feels so lucky to have continued to go to school.

At STC she hopes to learn more about the Bible and how to sew. Afterward she hopes to pursue Junior college and eventually a Bachelors of Commerce. She wants to return to the village and address some of the concerns she sees in the village such as lack of access to water. Sister 2 tells us how women must take baths in the pond and have no clean water to drink. She says she may even start a small business for stitching and sewing in her village.  

Sujata Das

Sujata is a gentle, yet strong, 16-year-old girl in the newest cohort. She is the daughter of a Christian father who works as a day labourer to provide for his family of four. She tells us how excited she is to be at STC and get to learn more about God. Sujata comes from a village of only six families. She tells us her concerns for one of these families who also are Christian. The only man in the family is the son who works as a day labourer. As a result, he spends much time away from the family leaving the women extremely vulnerable to harm. She tells stories of non-believing men who attack and beat these women for their faith when the son is not there. Sujata tells us she is not afraid for her own life but asks us to pray for them.  

Partnership's Influence within the Community

This is a very popular programme in the community and in the wider Christian community. Church leaders from all over north India are sending their young people. The number has had to be limited and there are many requests to take more. The size is limited by resources and by the difficulty of getting funds into the country. 

The community is asking that they train the community as well as the sisters who come to the course. They are working on how they can do this in the most effective way. 

Ideas for the Future

Their vision is to increase the number of women in training. This has been blocked for now but at some time in the future it will happen. 

They do have a need for a larger Reverse Osmosis (RO) filter and it would be worth considering assisting with that at some time. 

They have seen the value of sewing classes for the women in the programme and want to extend the course to the women of the local community. They will write up a proposal and give it to us. The local Santal women are extremely vulnerable and open to exploitation and abuse.  

Current Issues and Challenges

The greatest challenge is not having the ability to bring funds into the country. 

The security of the campus is an ongoing and constant issue. 

The demand for potable water on their campuses is increasing. They now have 1,600 children in their school and this is placing pressure on the current system which cannot produce drinking water quickly enough. 

Prayer and Praise Points

There have been five very successful courses up to this year and many girls have been helped and found new purpose in life. Many have also found life partners from being involved in this programme. 

There is still interest in the programme and the word is spreading. The programme has a very good reputation amongst the churches and the success of this programme depends on that reputation. People are very sensitive when the training of women is proposed. There is still a lot of prejudice and lack of awareness around the roles and value of women in the communities. This also applies to many church leaders.

Comments

I think this programme continues to be a very valuable tool in the development of many poor, vulnerable women. They come in shy, dirty, uneducated and leave with confidence, many new friends and a basic understanding of the Bible and Christian ministry.