wfn.org | UMNS# 05177-India's 'untouchable' women help in tsunami relief

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India's 'untouchable' women help in tsunami relief effort

Mar. 24, 2005	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {05177}

NOTE: Photographs and other related resources are available online at
http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=7035.

A UMNS Report
By Kathleen LaCamera*

When Ekasi Siromani heard stories of the tsunami's terrible destruction
in coastal areas near her south India village, she "felt deeply moved"
to do something.

This mother of three children-- herself one of India's "untouchables" -
spent four days packing up rice, dhal (lentil-based food staple), oil
and clothing provided by the British Methodist Relief and Development
Fund. The fund is the British Methodist Church's equivalent to the
United Methodist Committee on Relief.

In a different village, another mother volunteered her time to pack
emergency supplies as well. In addition, she donated two day's wages and
refused "to take a single pie for her labor" while she worked.	Mrs.
Ankalmma is also part of the "untouchable community." Widowed and among
the poorest in her village, she is raising four children on her own.

 "I had immense joy working for the victims," she said. "Daily I pray
for [them]."

Both women are members of long-established, local self-help groups
supported by the Methodist Relief and Development Fund and its partner
organizations in South India. Self-help groups enable lower caste and
marginalized women to secure and repay small loans that help them
sustain businesses in areas such as tailoring, weaving and farming.

"These self-help groups give both moral and practical support,"
explained Isabelle Carboni, the fund's program officer for Asia and West
Africa. "The groups can register as an official [body] and go to local
officials...They have secured lots of small victories in getting new
roads, schools and water taps particularly for their communities."

It was the members of these self-help groups -- Ankalamma and Siromani
and many others like them -- who immediately stepped forward in the
aftermath of the tsunami to aid in the mammoth task of dividing up and
distributing huge bags of relief supplies.

"I was really impressed. These women have so much to do every day,
looking after their homes, collecting water, going to the fields. They
managed their time well enough to do all of that and this extra as
well," Carboni told United Methodist News Service.

"The women also have been helping with counseling, especially with
children who are still afraid of the water.... They have become so
empowered in their own groups and communities that they want to share
what they've learned and gained with others. "

The Methodist Relief and Development Fund has raised nearly $2 million
to date for tsunami relief efforts throughout South East Asia -- more
money than the organization has ever raised before in a single appeal.

According to fund director Kirsty Smith, the success of the tsunami
campaign may help to raise the profile of other pressing global needs,
like those addressed in the UK-wide "Make Poverty History" campaign
involving faith groups, charities, government and major celebrities.

Smith observed that often "it seems to be those who have the least who
are most ready to offer whatever support they can to those who have
less.... [Aid] can provide not only the practical assistance needed but
also an increase in organizational skills and self-esteem that enable
people to offer support to others."

The British Methodist fund supports locally-based partner organizations
in 22 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  It targets resources
where the need is greatest by supporting projects based in countries on
the lower end of the United Nation's Human Development Index, and with
organizations too small to have access to other funding.

Along with UMCOR, the Methodist Relief and Development Fund responds to
global emergencies through Action by Churches Together.

More information on the organization can be found at www.mrdf.org.uk
online.
# # #

*LaCamera is a United Methodist News Service correspondent based in
England.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org