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There are quite a few Dalit women who work in the stone quarry located close to Katchaikatty, a small village about an hour away from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The work in the quarry involves using explosives to break big rocks off mountains and then break those rocks into smaller pieces. Women complete the latter task, often with their bare hands. Most of them have small kids that play in and around the stone quarry. At the best of times, mothers and children risk potentially fatal injury during mine blasts. For all this, they are routinely discriminated against and paid less than the men who work in the same quarry. The Voice of the Community Rural Development Center (VOCRDC) supported by AID Notre Dame since December 2003 is pleased to have made a dent in this misery. The Center aimed to relieve at least 25 women from their work conditions by providing an alternative through tailoring. It trained them, gave them working capital in the form of sewing machines at the end of the program, and finally, helped them find markets in neighboring Vadipatty and Madurai. Sewing machines were a particularly productive resource since there were no tailors in this village and people had to go to nearby towns to get clothes stitched, an expensive undertaking that had to be restricted to festival times. One woman who specialized in women’s clothes was able to earn Rs. 1800 a month in her new job. In addition, the Center started tuition centers in Katchaikatty and surrounding villages to reduce the number of school drop-outs in classes I to XII. Women at the VOCRDC tailor training center After Rajkumar Sankaralingam, an AID-ND volunteer visited VOCRDC in March 2004, the chapter approved the bulk of the request but to encourage self-sufficiency, it suggested that the women apply for subsidized loans from NABARD affiliated banks to buy the sewing machines. Last month, the Notre Dame chapter completed work on its project with VOCRDC. On the report card: - Ten tuition centers in surrounding villages, each benefiting 30-40 children.
- Twenty-five women trained in tailoring and garment-making, eleven of whom received sewing machines in grant, and the rest loans for machine purchase. Each of the women are now making Rs. 60-70 daily, away from the quarries.
Loan or grant, VOCRDC has performed a vital service for the quarry workers: it has presented an alternative to exploitation.
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Jagadish Venkataraman has been a volunteer and project coordinator for AID Notre Dame since Jan 2003. He was also involved in Tsunami related relief work with AID Chennai. |
