Armene Modi spoke to our club at the September 3, 2015 dinner meeting.  Doylestown Rotarians are familiar with Armene, as she has worked with the club on Rotary Internal Grants in India.

 

Armene updated the club on the dairy cooperative project that we supported several years ago. They started with 30 cows (all of which were pregnant); now there are 120 cows. The women in the co-op milk their cows and then bring milk to the milk center. The co-op consists of 100 members, not all of whom have cows. When the grant was initially awarded, they went to an NGO that supplied the cows; the NGO continues to assist in training the women. These women are villagers who would otherwise have been expected to be domestic maids for their husbands; however, they have been learning leadership skills through the co-op.

 

All of the equipment for the co-op was provided by Rotary. They did not want to give the cows to the women for free because that would not have made the project sustainable. The women who formed the co-op paid a small amount for their cows (approximately two dollars). The co-op then decided who were the board members and staff and decided whom to give the cows. The women had to pay any amounts loaned to them back. It was a revolving fund loan. The monies were paid back to the co-op from the funds obtained by selling milk.

 

The women in the co-op decided upon its name (Shakti) which means strength in Indian. The project itself has become self-sustaining. The men are not allowed to take the salaries for their wives. The women have to come to the co-op and take their money. Armene said that notwithstanding this, the men love the project because it adds income to their families. The men go to the co-op when they want loans for something like purchasing motorcycles.

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Armene then talked about the proposed water project that will involve our club in a Rotary International Grant. Currently, the water supply for the village is irregular. Armene showed several slides depicting Pune Rotarians and villagers. The slides also depicted some rather pathetic-looking ponds which currently form the water supply for the village. The water in the ponds does not supply enough water to last a full year. The project, however, will improve the ponds so that they can hold water for a whole year. The ponds will be built by the villagers. The project itself may take 6-7 months to complete; however, it will probably take a couple of years to get the funding secured so that the project can be completed. The cost of the project is $30,000. 

 

Thank you Armene for your visit.