Day 5 & 6

where do we start, don't even know what day it is!!

the dodgy tummy remark was premature as we now have 2 down, hopefully no more to go...

Saturday was filled  with a visit to creative handicrafts, where we were able to interact with a variety of self help groups involved in the textile industry.  Thanks to Jonny Joseph for his hospitality.

After a somewhat late departure from Don Bosco, Mumbai we were hastily thrown into a few taxis to renegotiate our route to Mumbai Central to catch our connection for our overnight train to Gujurat.  If you are wondering what Indian first class trains are like don't imagine the Orient Express!  it really has to be seen to be believed.  We arrived in Baroda at 6.00am and climbed aboard our bone shaker bus for a 2 hour journey to our new accommodation at Don Bosco School, Kawant.

Here we experienced an amazing welcome from all 210 boys at the school who sang to us and presented each of us with a marigold, it was very moving.  The hospitality of everyone here has been astonishing including an evening cultural performance by the boys and girls from the nearby convent school who sang and danced their hearts out.

We have had several outings to visit women in rural villages and these experiences have been something very special.  e.g. today we met a very shy group of women who lived a very simple life supporting their families through agriculture.  They sang to us and adorned Tracey with traditional costume including their very valuable silver jewellery.  It is encouraging to see how successful SHG have been in this region and we are constantly struck by their sense of complete community.  They speak again and again of the confidence being involved in a SHG has given them.

We had a very interesting presentation from the Baroda Regional Director of NABARD (National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development)

He was able to give us a full account from the banks perspective of the structure of banking industry, the self help groups and the linkages between the two.

He explained in some detail the financial details and requirements in the implementation of the SHGs.  We understand he travelled a great distance to share his experience and expertise with us for which we are very grateful.

We are awaiting dinner (if lunch was anything to go by this will be another gastronomic delight!) and have been given access by the school staff to use their equipment to place this blog as there is no internet access in Kawant.  We have been told that the internet is down because of a Kite festival on 14th January as many of the kites have become entangled in the wires. (that's not an excuse we've come across before!)

Hence the lack of video and photo upload over recent days but hopefully we will upload soon.  Sorry need to rush to dinner now will update you as soon as we can.