'Bridging Worlds' one woman at a time

Santa Barbara News-Press, September 12, 2003

'Bridging Worlds' one woman at a time

By RHONDA PARKS MANVILLE,
SANTA BARBARA NEWS PRESS - Local News
9/12/03

Back home in India, Maryma Scotlin tends to the needs of domestic workers and their children, many of whom live in slums. And in Nepal, schoolteacher Indira Ghale helps women in the reviled "untouchable" caste, of which she is a member.

The women are experiencing a vastly different culture in Santa Barbara, where they arrived this week to begin three-month internships at local nonprofits: Ms. Scotlin at Girl's Inc. in Carpinteria, and Ms. Ghale at Women's Economic Ventures in Santa Barbara. Once home again, they and four others will teach other women what they have learned -- fund raising, grant-writing, outreach and business -- with peers at other agencies devoted to women's issues.

It's work that is at times dangerous, particularly in regions where women have been oppressed by violence, cultural practices, religious doctrine and economic factors, particularly poverty, the women say.

"I feel the pain of women and I want to be involved in their freedom," said Ms. Ghale, 34, a member of the Feminist Dalit Organization in Katmandu. Her goals are shared by Ms. Scotlin, who works for the Center for Women's Development and Research in Madras, and four other "emerging women leaders" from developing countries in the Middle East and South Asia.

They have been brought to the United States by the Santa Barbara-based Jagriti International, which supports the "welfare, progress and empowerment of women" in nonprofit organizations around the world through cultural exchange and educational programs. This particular internship program is called Bridging Worlds.

On Saturday, the women will speak about their lives and work during a daylong workshop at Montecito's La Casa de Maria retreat center, 801 Ladera Lane. For details and registration, check the Web at www.jagriti-international.org.

During a roundtable discussion this week at the Montecito home of Jagriti founder Mikki Andina, the women spoke of their passion for their work and the hardships they encounter, including threats upon their lives.

"We are doing work that is very difficult," said 22-year-old Ayesha Mahmood of Islamabad, Pakistan. Her agency, Struggle for Change, provides shelter for women torture victims. "We have had women with their noses and their hands cut off in the name of honor."

She counsels youth at the shelter and is in charge of Web development for the agency. Her three-month internship will be at the Centre for Victims of Torture in Minneapolis.

The women also spoke of their frustration with the big nongovernment organizations, which tend to flood a region with workers shortly after a crisis, and then proceed to discount or ignore the expertise of local women's groups and their contributions to community problems and issues, they said.

"One group will come in and they will stake out a territory, saying, 'This is a problem we are going to address,' and they keep everyone else out, including the local organizations," said Sadiqa Basiri, 22, of the Afghan Women's Network. "And nothing gets done. "

The women told stories of how, in crisis situations, workers from the United Nations and other agencies will flood into a region, driving SUVs and doing their work from the comfort of a hotel with security, telephones and Internet access. They usually are highly paid and isolated from the very people they have come to serve, the women said.

"They don't want to go to the difficult areas," said Kabita Upadhyay, 39, an officer of Tewa in Katmandu. She is in charge of fund raising and hopes to open a shelter and treatment center for women with mental illnesses. "They go only where they can drive their car," and in mountainous Nepal, the neediest people live beyond the reach of cars. "

By supporting grass-roots organizations, Jagriti International's goal is to improve the lives of women.

The interns, in turn, must promise to teach what they have learned to a wider group of grass-roots organizations which selected them to make the trip. They also must promise to reject employment with higher-paying nongoverment organizations for a year, a common practice which tends to deplete the staff at local organizations.

"This is how Jagriti International came about -- to further the work of local nongovernment organizations," said Ms. Andina. "We are trying to make people aware of the incredible capacity and work of these local organizations. That's where the power needs to be. These women are doing the work well after the (nongoverment organizations) are long gone."

As part of their visit here, the women will speak to members of Congress in Washington, D.C.