Micro businesses in a large Colony

Wednesday September 6 Bharathapurem  

Wednesday we traveled to a larger leprosy  colony, Bharathapurem,  that Rising Star Outreach has had a significant amount of influence. 500 people live here. Who lives in a leprocy colony? Because people live together in extended families, people who have a family member with leprocy would live there. Not everyone who lives here has leprocy. 

We met with the head of the community, Mary Pria. She told us that for the past 10 years Rising Star has helped this community. Mary has been the colony leader for eight years, so much of the improvement happened under her leadership. Rising Star has helped with structural improvement and businesses. 

The structural improvements we saw were a community computer room to teach basic computer skills, a community garbage receptical, a well, a covering for the sewer, bathrooms, a community hall, and a day care center. 18 people have gotten jobs from the computer skills learned alone.  Each infrastructure item required a formal application. 

They told us that the toilets built by rising star have helped people not to get bit by snakes when they went outside to go to the bathroom - basic sanitation. Remember, is is the land of cobras. 

The community members have been able to get micro grants to start small businesses. We saw all sorts of small businesses that got their seed money through a mini loan system through Rising Star.  Everything gets paid back to help start other businesses. It was very inspiring. Most of the recipients of the micro grants were women that used to stay at home and now they had control of their lives and the lives of their children.  Some were desperate because their husband drank the family's wages and the women and children were left destitute. 

Through an interpreter, we spoke to a number of business women that were putting their kids through school or going to University. These little home-based businesses were changing the lives of this and the next generation. Here were clothing makers, clothing sellers, jewelry makers (some through another supporting company, Pearls for a Purpose) and small shops selling small food items.  One woman had a cow and she sold the cow's milk and was putting kids through school with the milk from the cow. I bought something from every business so I could to support their businesses.  I purchased a few bracelets, a bathing suit cover up, some gum, a soda, a painting, and some anklets. No pressure.  

The micro grants are between $150 and $300 and go to a group of 12-20 people.  They repay them over 10 months.  Yes $150 can change lives. 

Another business that was there was a painting school. An artist came to visit the Rising Star school and wanted to do a fundraiser, but the Rising Star administrator wished the artist could start an art school so that the people affected by lepracy could create a business and sell their work and be happy creating. They had lots of brightly colored paintings. I bought one. 

We went to the senior center we sang some camp songs and Camille sang some beautiful songs in the women's dorms 

Ps I hope I got all the details right!!  

In the afternoon we met with some staff members who answered our questions about life in India. 

There are cows everywhere. On the sidewalk, in he middle of the road,  in the middle of a very urban city. They are everywhere!!  Along with their cow pies. It is good luck to feed the cows. We wondered-  what happens to the old cows?  Cows are reveared. They give milk and clothing as leather and are a higher lifeform.   When the cows get old they get sent to the slaughterhouse in the state of Tamil. In other states it is illegal to kill or eat a cow. So they let them die naturally. I looked in the window at what was served at McDonnalds and it was all crispy fried chicken burgers.  The wandering cows all belong to people. They let them wander as people feed them. At night they come back home. If you have a cow you must buy animal insurance in case something happens to your wandering cow.   I did see an Interesting newspaper headlines about cow vigilantes trying to rescue the cows from the slaughterhouse. Cow questions answered. 

We asked about the kindergarteners at the Rising Star boarding school. We spent time with them on the playground. Do they have a hard time without their families?  

Yes they get homesick and cry.  We just feed them and let them play with their friends. They get over it. Because the school has such good scores, the parents know that it is best to send them. Each class has a room mother that sleeps with them and takes care of them and watches out for them. There are times when the school has periodic breaks after terms  and the kids are able to go home.  The school helps with transporting the kids to their homes. The parents can visit once a month. 

Not all the kids who came from the colonies were able to come to Rising Star. There is a waiting list. A percentage of local kids come here too to try to have a good relationship with the local village, bit all the he villagers who want to come are not able to come. There is a high desire for this school because their test scores are significantly better than the local schools and they are among the top schools in the state. 

We asked about arranged marriages who had them?  A non-arranged marriage is called a love marriage.  

Most of the staff had an arranged marriage. It is normal for Indians live with their parents after they marry. I thought it would be in the husbands family's best interest to arrange a good match since the new bride will be living with them. Your marriage is arranged by your parents. If you don't marry it is a failure of your parents part. The parents conduct a series of interviews with a people in your caste. Marriages are in the early twenties for women and mid twenties for men. The caste system is very much alive in India. We asked what would happen if you had a love marriage?  You wouldn't live with your parents and would be shunned for a while until the couple had a baby and then the family would usually reconcile.  A few of the staff members had love marriages, or marriages their parents did not arrange. 

I think that covered our answered questions.