Roxana Siu; Coimbatore; 01/09/09

In Coimbatore, we went to visit an Ngo, Shanti Ashram, and it became utterly apparent to me, the strives that India as a country, is trying to help women, particularly in the rural areas, to become empowered. Their micro-macro business model, which follows the principals of Mahatma Gandhi, seems idealistic, but what is surprising, is that it actually works! The amazing people working here believe that by educating and helping these women save money, this extra expenditure will go towards their children, and in turn, by educating the children, the future of the family and the community will benefit. This NGO goes into rural villages and establishes self help groups that help women to become money makers. I was a bit skeptical at this level of idealism, especially in a country where, until the last decade or so, women leadership and empowerment were non-prevalent. We went to visit some of the self help groups, to see how such a business model was working, and I was taken aback, at how enterprising these women, with little to no education, and they are able to embark on their own businesses to earn money for their family and community. For majority of them, these women even earn more money than their husbands. We went to visit a site in which a self help group created a canteen in a secondary school. This no only helped the women earn money, but provides them with skills in management, budgeting, and most importantly, empowered self esteem. The children attending this school also benefited, by receiving a nutritious snack or meal, where as before, they would go outside to get food from carts alongside the road. Another self help group, when offered the chance to receive an education on making her own bio-technology fertilizer, took it and made a very enterprising business for her. What surprised me the most was her knowledge of marketing the product, in which she did not receive any education for. Upon hearing that she will be receiving visitors form the United States, she hired a photographer to take pictures of us looking at her fertilizer plant. She is now able to market her product in w\such a way that will help her sell even more fertilizer than her competitors! Indians believe that by helping the rural areas, the whole country can be raised economically, morally, and psychographically! I believe that such a mind frame and business model should be taken upon all countries, because such a model can only be a benefit.