First Week in India

There was definitely an adjustment period during my first week at the Kodaghalli workspace. After the first few days of figuring out how to best sleep in spare room in the workspace and what to eat, I began to enjoy the small creature comforts of morning coffee from the main road at the edge of the village. My fellow interns have named this street ‘Broadway,’ because it seems to be a hub of activity in the village; where the men drink their tea before work and the children wait for the bus if they go to school outside of the village.

In regards to the work that we’ve been doing in the village, the interns and I have been a bit frustrated because there isn’t as much to do in Kodaghalli in reference to some sort of material tasks or temporary successes. The workspace is very well run by the women of Kodaghalli. The real goal will be instilling a ‘sustainable’ confidence in these women that will help them understand that the goods they produce are of a highly marketable quality in India and elsewhere. Another goal that is a bit more nuanced than various day-to-day tasks is to encourage the women to think in more of long-term way about their earning potential and savings. One thing that we did do in order to accommodate this ‘long-term’ understanding was helping the women set up bank accounts in Bannur.

Next week we are going to be traveling to other workspaces that are not necessarily as productive or safe as Kodaghalli’s. These villages will be much more isolated so it may prove to be an even bigger adventure of us interns (we heard that there are elephants!). Stay tuned.