A plan is being developed within the club to partner with a Minnesota Based Non-Profit Organization, named PUSHPA, to develop an international project in India. PUSHPA was first organized by Arden Hills residents Franklin Gummadi and his wife, Shirley Franklin. Franklin and Shirley spoke to us regarding their efforts to help low caste people help themselves at a breakfast meeting in October. After Franklin retired from 3M in 2007, he and Shirley established a non-profit to work with people in Rajupalem, a village in the Guntur District of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. You can read about the history of PUSHPA at http://pushpaproject.org/about_PUSHPA.htm.
Although there are many people in Andhra Pradesh who are able to obtain an education and lift themselves out of poverty, illiteracy and economic disadvantage are endemic among the low caste people. It is considered by many to be improbable that any will escape their impoverished circumstances and the discrimination that comes with being born into a low caste in this part of India.
One of the projects that has been especially well accepted in Rajupalem is a program to teach young women to sew. These young women are usually unmarried teenagers living with their parents. While other teaching programs have not been well accepted by the parents because learning keeps the young women from available work in the local agricultural fields, sewing is a valued skill in India. Having this skill increases a young woman’s value in terms of her dowry.
Learning about the depths of the poverty and discrimination in parts of India and the reality that confronts these young women is disturbing to many of us. It would be easier to do nothing and conclude that nothing can be done, but helping Franklin and Shirley expand this project to one or possibly two new villages is our current goal. PUSHPA has been asked to establish a sewing project in Amaravathi, a different village in Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the banks of Krishna River in the Amaravathi mandal of the Guntur revenue division. A financial plan is being developed the would fund two sewing projects and efforts to find a local Rotary Club in India with which to partner are under careful consideration. 