Women Empowerment Program | Volunteer India

I did this program for four weeks. It was certainly an experience that I will not forget, and something that I would recommend to anyone.
The people who took our classes were very eager to learn and very nice people overall, they even wished my mother a happy birthday!
My tip for any future participant is to come well prepared and to have an open mind. Make use of the time that you have here

I spent a week volunteering for the Woman Empowerment program and taught English to a group of nearly fifty wonderful women. Both groups were on slightly different English levels. I had to improvise the first day with a lesson, then the next couple of days I'd have something prepare before the class. The women loved group exercises that allowed them to practice with each other and also everyone's pronunciation a loud and in front of the group. They were shy at the beginning, but always warm, welcoming, focused, ready to learn. They always had a smile on their faces. I was impressed on how driven and smart the group was and how grateful they were.
I used to teach from 12-4:30 and got back home around 5pm, so there's time to sightseeing locally in between.

Sukret was very helpful from the beginning, promptly responded to emails and any questions I had. He welcomed me at the host family house; where a lovely family ensure we felt comfortable and provided homemade meals everyday. Tip: Bring your own mosquito net if you don't want to get bitten. I installed mine using a command strip and I only got bitten once because that night I did not use it. The house has wifi, fan and a dessert cooler. You get your own room with bathroom.

The organization's driver was very kind and professional - it was fun commuting to work on a tuk tuk everyday. Due that I was traveling solo, I hired on my own a private driver to take me sightseeing in Jaipur the day before I started volunteering, went to the Taj Mahal and back to New Delhi to fly out to Nepal. Unfortunately, I did not have any additional time to spend on trips with other volunteers, but it was nice getting to know another volunteer at the host family house. If you want to see some of the places I had a chance to check out in Jaipur you can see them on Instagram @m.elissaponce

In March 2017, my 14 yr old daughter and I had the pleasure of volunteering with the Womens Empowerment group.
It was a wonderful experience getting to know the girls. At first everyone was a little shy, but over the course of the week, we became a part of the group.
This experience gave us a small insight into the local culture and the opportunity to interact, share, and positively impact the lives of the women we met.
We learned about the challenges these women face in their society, as well as the joy they get from being in a supportive environment that allows them to learn valuable skills which they can take and use in their community.
There was no set program for us to follow, so we improvised, teaching the girls a little English, then joined in with them in their henna drawing and sewing classes.
We became models for the girls to practice their new hair dressing skills, nail polish techniques and latest henna hand designs. They also taught us some great Bollywood dance moves in an impromptu dance class, providing an invaluable lesson in self confidence for everyone.
As part of the program, we also spent some time each afternoon in a children's after school program near the women's centre in rural Jaipur. The kids were keen to learn and practice their English, keeping us busy with setting math problems, marking book work and playing games.

The Volunteer with India program was a great package and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a grass roots experience.
The host family was very welcoming and caring, feeding us very well with an abundance of traditional meals. Our assigned driver, a happy guy named Totaram, promptly picked us up each day for our assignment, doubled as our weekend tour guide on our day off and occasionally took us for chai at the local stall ‘after work’.
A great experience overall - I would highly recommend this program!!

Having spent 3 weeks as a volunteer for the women empowerment program, I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone wishing to join the women program. The variety of volunteer workshops/programs balanced well with free time allowing me to explore and soak up the local community and culture. I also found the VWI team to be extremely warm, helpful and generous with their time ensuring all needs of volunteers were met. The absolute highlight for me was teaching young girls who had a burning desire to learn, My only regret was that my teenage daughter and I could not stay longer.

In March 2014 I spend two weeks volunteering with India, one week I spent working in the popular Elephant program, while the second week I spent working in the women's program.
This program is a bit different than how I imagined it. The women and girls come for the program after school or work. There are older women, and young teenage girls typically.
In this program, the women learn pretty much any skill work that they can use to generate an income for themselves. In some cases the women have been thrown out of their husband's family. With no where to go, as most of their own families will not take them back due to shame, these women need to learn a skill set to support themselves. Other women and girls come to learn a skill in order to help provide for their families.
The women learn how to sew clothes, by hand and with a sewing machine. They learn how to make patterns for clothes as well. Hair braiding, eyebrow threading, makeup, henna, and manicures are also taught.
As someone from a western culture, at first this seemed somewhat sexist to me. Volunteering in a women's empowerment program to teach them how to sew and do makeup? Kind of ironic. However, India is not a culture that is accustom to women working. Women get married to a man their family arranges for them. They move into their in law's house with their husband. They live under their husband's mother and father, and do all the cleaning and cooking for the household.
In a part of India where tourism thrives, there are many western women who want to buy a traditional Saree, get henna designs done on their hands, have their hair braided in a traditional Indian style, or have their eyebrows done and nails manicured. Learning these skills is a sure way for these women to generate income for themselves and support themselves, and even opens up a doorway for them to start their own business. What better way to empower a women than to give her a way to make her own money and own her own business without a man?
As a volunteer in this program, you primarily teach the women and girls English. This is essential, as most of their ability to make an income depends on communicating with tourists.
It is a bit challenging, as you have women and girls of all ages, some of whom are completely illiterate in their own language, and others (the teenage girls in particular, as they learn English in school) who are almost fluent in English.
If you have someone else working with you, splitting the women into groups based on skill level can be helpful.
Even if you are alone, the women all basically need to learn to speak English rather than reading or writing it. Talking with them, helping them with pronunciation, proper sentence structure, using "I" vs "me", plural forms, and just getting them used to talking in English with a native English speaker (many of the women and girls are shy) is very helpful.
Utilize the younger more fluent girls to help the ones that know less or no English. These girls get bored easily and will start to chatter amongst themselves.
Other things that would be helpful to teach them would be basic math and business skills such as how to determine how much money you need for the week, and how many sarees or henna you're going to need to sell in order to make that money (how to determine a profit.)
After you are finished, the girls usually have the "beauty" portion of their class. This time is fun for them (and you), especially the teenage girls. They may ask you to be their dummy while they do your hair, makeup, nails and practice henna.
I enjoyed this part of the day, and also is a good time to talk to the girls in English about their life, and your life back at home.
You do have a translator with you when you volunteer here, transportation, accommodation, meals, local weekend tours, and air port pick up/drop off are all included.
Overall a fun program that really opens up your eyes to being a woman or girl in a non western culture.