Passing On The Gift

"Sharing and Caring" and " Passing On The Gift" is a Simple Statement, yet it is powerful enough to have changed so many lives in a considerably short span of time. Heifer International made me realize this Subtly, Sensibly and Effortlessly.


Visiting Heifer International Projects in India was an eye opener for me. I had an enriching experience with Clive Baillie, Dawn Baillie, Brigitte Lacombe, Merian Lacombe, Whitney Robinson, Pamela and Avani Malhotra and R. Prabhaharan from Heifer International India. Account of it may be read on a Blog Post by Annie Bergman Copywriter for Heifer Project International  on Heifer's Blog and with whom I had a great pleasure working for three days and these are the most memorable days of my life. It was indeed an amazing learning experience for me. Here is a brief account of my experience.
On Day One of our visit we met a group of women who had no source of income before they were assisted by the Project for "Community Development through Livestock Rearing" initiated and supported by Heifer Project International [HPI], USA with their project partner "IBTADA" an NGO working towards the Girl Child Education and women empowerment in Alwar area. They received assistance in the form of livestock and now over a period of less than 3 years they are able to distinguish themselves with the state they were in prior to receive such assistance. Goat rearing has alleviated their standard of living considerably and women are imparting this growth in the form of goats to other members of the group and community which has conclusively improved the community's state of living.
The idea of Goat distribution by Heifer International is very considerate in a manner as these people are not able to afford water buffaloes given their state of seasonal employment and erratic income structure. They were distributed Goats as a part of project.
On Day Two we met a group of women who have significantly and expressly empowered themselves and have carved a niche for themselves in the backdrop of cunning restrictions by the society. The project has brought about a definite substance in their lives which they were unable to realize before the Gender Training they were given under project. During one such training session we observed they were simply asked to mention the restrictions (if they feel there were any) on them as a women, to which they denied unanimously but when called for symbolic demonstration by ways of tying Black Ribbons (one for each restriction) we witnessed that how unknowingly and without even realizing it they tied a lady with ribbons on almost every part of her body signifying restrictions posed on her, on mouth signifying restricted speech, hands signifying deprivation of education, on feet signifying her restricted movement and restriction that moved me most was the restriction on their stomach signifying ruthlessly that women are meant for procreation and bearing a male heir for their family and as long as she is unable to bear a male child procreation is just hit and trial for her until she achieves it resulting into large families which they are unable to support, educate and maintain. But after Gender Training they have started respecting themselves for what they are now and are able to understand that children should not be discriminated on gender basis rather treated equally ensuring their holistic development which was imparted subtly under project.
On Day Three we met the women from old project areas where the project has been functioning for over 8 years now. They are "Original Groups" who received their livestock in order to support themselves also this is the group where these Self Help groups have been functioning very smoothly and orderly for around ten years now being old project areas. They are running their own banking system to support the members of group and community. We met a lady Anandi Devi, 47,  who is the leader of the group by the virtue of her innate qualities and has been working as a Para Veterinarian for more than 14 months now and as per her estimation she has already treated over 1000 goats and water buffaloes after she got formal training for the same by IBTADA. She is a role model for the village Moreda and everyone in the village respects her and treats her equivalent to Veterinary Doctor and Anandi Devi feels proud about it and is determined to tread on the path to pass it on to others.


To sum up the entire project and assistance by Heifer Project International and IBTADA has brought a significant change in their lives and it has acted as a trigger to their self worth, self esteem and sense of responsibility towards themselves and for those around them. The efforts by women who were deprived of social life, self employment, self identity, who were restricted and homebound, who were not even able to comprehend and realize their worth are now able to taste the success and fruit bearing efforts in the recent past and are self motivated now to keep it going and "Pass It On To The Next Generation".


Passing On The Gifts is mere significant of wider implementation of ideas and resources for sustainable development effortlessly.