Ravi: Ravi recounted his memories about how he was involved in the starting of AID when he was a grad student. His concerns of what would happen if he left. Ravi lost hope as he thought AID wouldnt survive after he left so he focussed more on a science magazine. How other volunteers got interested, wanted to have a meeting and actually invited him to an AID Meeting. And pretty soon his science magazine became Dishaa. He recounted how experiments with the AID T-shirt designs led to the Gandhi image which they didnt really like at the beginning. At some point they started to look for a logo for AID and no matter how much they searched the couldnt figure out what image to use for AID as a logo. Finally as time was running out they remembered this image and used it. Pretty soon as they started to use this logo, people started to show up for AID T-Shirts with that logo and for the CSHs.
They had to identify the challenges and then work towards it as a team to get AID to be stable and growing. He talked about how colleges and universities are an important place to encourage students who are interested in supporting a cause and to voice their opinions. Its important to also write to them and thank them for their efforts so this can be fostered in all chapters.
Ravi invited volunteers Sundarshan and Deepthi from AID Bay Area on what they did during the visit of the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. The kind of info that officials from India are giving is in complete odds with what they say in respect to some of the major issues in india like Bhopal and Narmada. It is important to ask questions, to challenge the false assertions made by these officials and to communicate this kind of information back to India. All the volunteer support from here is very very useful. Whether its organizing the backend i.e a database of all the organizations we'd need to collaborate with to increase support for Dr. Binayak Sen or sending faxes and calling on Bhopal really empowers the people on the ground who are in the forefront. These are the people being shouted at, manhandled and living the struggle every single day.
I remember from the AID regional conference in a session by Arvinda, the idea and emphasis on writing and expressing opinions. To newspapers and their editors, to politicians to other volunteers and to the general public.
Ravi concluded hby saying that the support to the jeevan saathis and saathis, to the village workers to the people who go back to India to work full time from the volunteers really matters.
Arvinda:
Ravi mentioned the richness of , aspect of richness comes from people who have nothing at all.
Jeevika products... is it just marketing of goods or is it something deeper? Dialog between those who live within their ecological foot print and those who live beyond it. How does this affect all aspects of development? Agri policy, health care, energy, environment. When the two worlds meet is there a reciprocity. Is there a mutual respect? Is there a reciprocity?
Livelihood security: Why NREGA is important... to have an address, to be stable. How can you file an RTI request or how can one participate in the democratic process when there is no stable address or income?
She spoke as a mother. She spoke about children. How they have such feeble voices and cannot be heard in the cacophony of our current society. How what is happening has such a big impact on their lives but they dont have a say in it. Growth of the mind and body. Why is it important to hear the childs voice. Giving them time and space to learn and grow. Getting out of the competitive framework. Getting out of the mode of telling them what to learn and how. Same with nutrition. Breast feeding, and laws for it in India. Feeding and how children are introduced to the world. How they start to take part in the world. Diapering. How these are changing and seemingly trendy but taking us away from the basic human understanding. Who decides? How do they get the information to decide? In the industrialized world there is a small growing minority now asking for things which for centuries in India have always been taken for granted. The diapers are so prevalent. You can get them in a little town where there is not even a train station. Where are they to be thrown? Same with feminine products. Why is it important to listen to children ... not just verbally. Right to Information starts from birth. You can actually see it in practice when you see some of the traditional parenting practices. What would we like to retain what we would like to reintroduce so we dont lose them and have to to depend on our children to rediscover, reinvent and reintroduce. How the three different kinds of besan can affect the environment.
I asked about what Arvinda meant about reciprocity and respect.
The way we teach children is so focussed on telling them what to do and what is the way to do things rather than letting them discover define and understand things. Right to information is also a right to consent. Even a 2 year old has a definite idea of what she wants to do.
..... ok I have to go for my MAD ADs session.....
