Busy at MVF...

Some more about MVF before I tell you what I'll be doing...

Pop. of India-1.2 billion
Est. # of child labourers-65 million

MVF #'s
-works in over 500 villages
-8000 youth volunteers
-1600 education activists
-1500 teachers
-500 women's groups
-over 150 000 children have gone through program
-4000 bonded labourers released (also called debt slavery, when parents use their children to pay off or get a loan and the employer 'owns' the child until it is paid off-I met a family that had been in bonded labour for 3 generations).
-168 villages are totally child labour free :)

MVF is funded by the Indian gov't, UNDP and a few other Western NGO's.

MVF has 4 main programs:
-research
-technical training and support for other NGO's throughout India
-advocacy and lobbying for stricter gov't laws for children's rights/labour laws
-implementing their own projects

In short, MVF goes into communties and instead of offering a service, tries to raise awareness about child rights and mobilize a community group who will lead the project. MVF also works with the gram panchayats (self governance groups), political leaders, teachers and anyone else as respresentatives of the community. The volunteers raise awareness through street theatre, rallies and door to door visits. Children are then sent to 'bridge camps' so they can be integrated into government schools with their peers. There are also programs for bonded labour, girl children and child marriage (I met various girls aged 8-10 who were "married"). Then there are follow-up retention programs.

During the two weeks with the univeristy students from Mumbai I was able to see so much: met with various gov't officials/youth voluteers/students/stubborn parents, went to both the bridge camps and the government schools, 2 hospitals (one was completely empty as the doctor only visits once a week for an hour...for a pop. of 40 000), a rally against child marriage, went to a farm and factory where children were working and went to various villages to do case studies.

These small villages don't have bus access so we had to take rickshaws. Firstly, they are packed to the max- we fit 20 ppl into a rickshaw that is supposed to hold 4 or 5!! (Jan, they're bigger then city r.shaws). Sometimes we were in the middle under other passengers, sitting on the back or hanging out the side. haha. And it was never a direct drive...once the rickshaw driver decided to stop for lunch as we all waited and another time one of the women got out to buy some goats (who fortunately did not need transportation).

The villagers were so generous and welcoming. Everyone wanted us to visit them and invited us for lunch (sooo spicy). I have been eating goat. mmm..haha.

Sooo, while I am here I will be doing research on different mobilization techniques and their varying successes/challenges in 5 districts around Hyderabad. I will have a week for each district and will be doing interviews with parents, students, past participants, teachers, government officials, employers and focus groups with the youth volunteers, self governance groups and women's groups. Basically, it is a study that ties in community development, education and the replicatability of the project!! I am SO SO excited!!! And if the research goes well it will be sent to the 'national counsel of education research and training'!!! This starts next week so I am madly researching and trying to organize all the interviews!! Oh, and I get an interpreter as I don't know Telegu. eeeeeee.

That is all for now. Oh, and it is now officially summer and is so HOT. 40+!!