Intense week for Amelia and Claire in India - their degrees come in handy!

FEGG receives International visitors



So it’s been a busy (and noisy) week for everyone at the Foundation to Educate Girls Globally Office in Bali and we’ve learned a great deal!

FEGG was very fortunate to have two professional photographers and one assistant visit to support the documentation of the success stories Amelia has been working on. The interviews around the Pali district were translated by Parthi, a representative from another NGO, DASRA and together with the field coordinators they recorded 24 unique interviews with re-enrolled drop-out girls, Bal Sabha (girls’ council) and School Development Management Committee members. The various stories shed light on some of the issues affecting girls’ education in rural Rajasthan. Amelia is currently working to piece together the interview data to help FEGG paint a picture of the situation and the real-life challenges that face girls seeking education. Amelia was buzzed to find that many of the research concepts introduced in her Social Inquiry degree being put into practice here in remote India. The highlight of the interview series was a visit to a home in the Tribal Belt. Sitting in the dusty yard with goats merrily jumping around they interviewed two teenage girls who had worked to save the money for their books, uniforms and accommodation close enough to their school. Amelia was blown away by their resourcefulness and determination to continue their education despite a multitude of obstacles.

We suffered our first pangs of separation anxiety as we parted each day for the different projects in the field. Spending every minute together for the last two months meant we couldn’t wait to be reunited and tell each other everything that happened throughout the day. So while Amelia met lots of new people and busily took research notes, Claire was gathering footage of Creative Learning Techniques in action. One of the predominant reasons parents do not see the worth in sending their girls to school is simply that the quality of education is lacking. FEGG is developing a CLT training program to help teachers build supportive, inclusive and interactive learning environments, which increase attendance and retention in classes. Claire will collaborate with a professional in Mumbai to edit together a dvd package that will serve as a training tool for widespread use. This will be particularly useful as many schools have only one or two teachers and cannot spare a teacher for a training course. Again, Claire is thrilled to see concepts mirrored from her Adult Education degree in the ideals of CLT. The exciting methodology that Claire has been sinking her teeth into all year is now so very relevant. We need classrooms where there is continual dialogue between teacher and student and where learning how to learn is paramount.

We loved going out on the field trips every day and flopping into bed at night recalling the day’s events. We loved how busy the office was and sharing our impressions of India with our new photographer friends from New Zealand, America and Poland! Packed into the dining room for lunch with the international visitors, Safeena, Aparna, Dinesh and Parthi, we laughed at who could and who couldn’t eat chilli and who managed to eat the most chapatti. Amelia, who is lactose intolerant found a companion in Kim who also struggles in the land of ghee (unclarified butter).

We still haven’t gotten used to the apparent protocol of visiting schools. A warm welcome is followed by a stalemate-like meeting in the headmaster’s office. We soon learnt that it was pointless to refuse the countless offers of chai, biscuits and seats on arrival but we can’t help but get a little suspicious when we hear “Hindi hindi hindi Australia hindi hindi.”! This process is rapport-building but to one who is used to the frenetic pace of business in Australia, it can be frustrating to sit through awkward silences and dream about all of the things that need to be done!

Photos taken by Kim Seidl from America who visited FEGG this week.