http://viewchange.org Videos from ViewChange.org (Filtered by topics: India) en-us Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/with-my-own-two-wheels As a tool for development, a simple bicycle can mean transportation, employment, even access to education and healthcare. With My Own Two Wheels weaves together the experiences of five individuals into a single story about how the bicycle can change the world, one pedal stroke at a time. Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/with-my-own-two-wheels Bicycle, Economic development, India, Ghana, Koforidua, World Bicycle Relief, Zambia, Disability, Health, Environment >> TITLE: Look for solutions, not problems. - Dan Eldon >> TITLE: Hubub Films Presents >> TITLE: With My Own Two Wheels >> TITLE: 5:30 AM, Chapola, Zambia >> FRED HANYINDE: My name is Fred Hanyinde. I was born here in Chapola in 1975. I am 35 years old. I got married in 1997. My wife's name is Emelda Chulu. She was born in 1983. We have four children. >> FRED HANYINDE: I am a farmer. The soil here is fertile. I grow many types of crops. I grow potatoes, corn, sunflowers, cotton, groundnuts, and peas. I also have a garden where I grow vegetables like tomatoes and cabbage. The most important things in my life are going to church, then being a caregiver, then football! These are things I love. >> TITLE: Zambia is roughly the size of Texas. It has an estimated population of 12 million. 1.1 million are infected with HIV/AIDS. Many of these HIV/AIDS patients live far from the nearest clinic. Their only regular care comes from volunteer caregivers, like Fred. >> FRED HANYINDE: I decided to become a community health caregiver because of my brother, who suffered from HIV/AIDS. The issue was very close to my heart. The Bible says that, "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, so you do unto Me." As a caregiver, my job is to visit and take care of the sick. The main problem with our clients around here is how they are kept in their homes. They are stigmatized. Most of them say, "The people around here don't want me." Their families tell them, "We are not the ones who gave you that disease. That is of your own doing." Sometimes families give patients their own plates, because the family is afraid that they will be infected as well. Because of this, patients are normally happy when we caregivers come along. We shake hands and do all sorts of things together. They become very free with us, and they tell us problems that they wouldn't tell their own families. >> TITLE: 7:15 AM, Koforidua, Ghana >> MIRRIAM ODURO: My name is Mirriam Oduro. I am 27 years old. >> MIRRIAM'S FATHER: She wants to explore. She is something like -- she is adventurous. Sometimes, when she wants to do something, I will even try to discourage her. But, she will have the courage to pursue. >> TITLE: In Ghana, people with disabilities are often stigmatized. Many find it difficult to fit in, let alone find a job. >> MIRRIAM ODURO: I was a kid, and I had a dream that a dog bit me. Then my mom told me that I started shouting, "A dog has bitten my leg there." The next day, I couldn't even stand on my feet. I was paralyzed. >> MIRRIAM'S FATHER: I found it very difficult to get even school for her. Because at the normal -- or at the regular school -- they didn't want to mingle up with people with crutches. >> MIRRIAM ODURO: When I was a kid, I found life difficult. At that time, I didn't want to come out. I didn't want many people [around]. I didn't want people to see me walking. >> MIRRIAM'S FATHER: Some people, when they see them, they admire them, they have sympathy for them. But some people too, when they see them, they just shun them. >> TITLE: 8:00 AM, Sone Sangvi, India >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: My name is Bharati Phakad Date. I am 14 years old. I live in Sone Sangvi. My favorite actor is Mithun Chakraborthy because he always plays a humanitarian, someone who helps other people. There are a lot of people who live on the streets. I will help them. There are so many people in this world who do not even get one meal a day. I will help them. >> TITLE: In India, 81 percent of girls attend primary school. Only 49 percent of girls attend high school. 46.4 percent of women are illiterate. Many women in Bharati's mother's generation were married by the time they were Bharati's age. >> TITLE: Bharati's Mother, Bharati's Father >> BHARATI'S MOTHER: My life, my generation, was full of darkness. If you are uneducated, then it is as if you only have one eye. >> TITLE: In 1998, Armene Modi founded Ashta No Kai to empower women in Bharati's community. >> ARMENE MODI [Founder, Ashta No Kai]: For about a couple of years, we only focused on adult women and literacy for them. And I noticed that many of the girls who came to the class were very, very young girls, with a mangalsutra, which is a gold and black beaded necklace that they wear around their necks, which in India is a symbol of matrimony. And they had babies on their hips, and I started to ask, "What's going on, and why are such young girls married off already?" And there's a famous Indian saying, "Why water a plant that is going to grow in a neighbor's garden?" >> TITLE: 9:00 AM, San Andres Itzapa, Guatemala >> CARLOS MACHIN: My name is Carlos Enrique Marroquin Machin. I am a native of San Andres Itzapa. I am 41 years old. My farm is three kilometers from here. We call it El Chibul, because it is much higher up than the town. Now, in the month of September, we grow beans, ejoteros, that is, green [unripe] beans to sell to the market. I also just planted huicoy, carrots, lettuce, corn, piligua. Also radishes and beets. We grow it all. They say I have the hand of God, because I have five children. My eldest daughter is 18 years old, Carlos is 17, Antonio is 14, Jenny and Carolinia are 11, and Christian is almost six. >> TITLE: Guatemala is still recovering from a long and brutal civil war. >> CARLOS MACHIN: When the armed conflict started, I was a child. I had a very painful experience. I was tortured, because I was accused of hanging out with the paramilitaries. After that, after growing up, I did not have the chance to have a childhood as my children do now. It was lost. >> TITLE: The civil war wreaked havoc on the indigenous Maya community. In the rush to rebuild, the residents of San Andres have paid a steep price. The air quality in the region is now so bad that many farmers can no longer work in their fields after 9 AM. Some, like Carlos, are looking for a new way forward. >> TITLE: 10:00 AM, Chapola, Zambia >> FRED HANYINDE: I used to walk. Whether the patient was near or far, I used to walk. Rain or shine, I used to walk. I asked the caregiver program for a bicycle, but they never gave me one. They said, "You are only using it for useless programs." But we needed to help sick people in the community, so we used to walk. >> TITLE: Caregivers like Fred often walk 15 to 20 kilometers to visit a patient. They must visit these patients two to three times every week. In 2005, World Bicycle Relief partnered with Rapids, one of the largest caregiver programs in Zambia. Their goal: To increase the effectiveness of caregivers by giving them bicycles. >> JOHAN BRUYNEEL [Board Member, World Bicycle Relief]: What I find so particular about it is that it's so simple. It's measurable, something that we take for granted, and that in other areas of the world is something that changes lives. One bike, it is 134 dollars per bike. And I know that that bike is going to go somewhere and it's going to change the life of not only one person, but probably of a whole family. >> TITLE: Fred is one of 19,000 caregivers who now make their rounds by bicycle. >> FRED HANYINDE: The bicycle helps me reach patients in good time. For example, if I go by bicycle to visit a patient at 7:00 AM, I can reach the patient early and come back early. The bicycle makes visiting patients easier. Now I can visit a patient as late as 4:00 PM and still make it home by sunset. >> TITLE: 12:00 PM, Sone Sangvi, India >> ARMENE MODI: In many villages, there were only schools until seventh grade. There were no high schools. So we worked in ten villages at that point of time, and there were only three high schools. So then I asked the parents, the mothers, "Well, what happens to the boys, how do you send the boys to school?" And they said, "Well, we give them bicycles." And I said, "Well, what about the girls," and they said, "Oh no, it's a waste of money to give a bicycle to a girl, she's going to turn around and get married. So I thought, my god, if it's only a bicycle that's keeping girls from going to school, let's go ahead and give it to them. >> TITLE: Thanks to Ashta No Kai's Bicycle Bank program, Bharati and her friends are now able to get to high school by bicycle. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: I am going to Nimgaon Bhogi High School. I am learning in the ninth standard [grade]. I like mathematics because I like solving mathematical puzzles. The bike has been really useful. Now, the time that I save commuting to school can be used to study. Also, now I can ride to school with my friends. It is a lot of fun. >> BHARATI'S MOTHER: She now feels very motivated and enthusiastic to attend school. I have to make sure that my daughters get a good education. It is our duty. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: I want to become a district supervisor, because then I can make big decisions, and also have the power to implement them. I would be able to make decisions regarding the welfare of the poor and downtrodden. I would be able to help transform society. I want to eradicate poverty from this country. >> TITLE: 2:00 PM, Koforidua, Ghana >> MIRRIAM ODURO: This is my bench, yes. I have all the tools that I need at my bench. >> TITLE: Mirriam is now a mechanic at Ability Bikes, a bicycle shop cooperative established by Boston-based Bikes Not Bombs and staffed entirely by disabled Ghanaians. >> DAVID BRANIGAN [International Programs Director, Bikes Not Bombs]: The first day, there was one young woman named Mirriam Oduro. They came up to me and said, "David, I want to be a part of this project." And I said, "Okay, that's great, you want to learn how to fix bikes." And she said, "Yes. David, I'm serious. I want to learn how to fix bikes." >> MIRRIAM ODURO: That day, they [the other mechanics] were laughing at me because I bent my [wheel]. So, when David taught me and I started doing it, I finished mine, and David came and checked it. He said, "Oh wow, you have done well!" They are sitting there [saying], "Mirriam, can you help me with my rim?" I said, "You are sitting there laughing at me. You want me to help you? I won't do that!" Then David told me, "Mirriam, you can help them." So I helped them. >> MIRRIAM'S FATHER: She is always adventurous. She wants to go beyond what everyone expects of her. She doesn't seem to be handicapped. She doesn't seem to be worried about her problem at all. >> DAVID BRANIGAN: It's a pretty amazing thing to have this aggressive male come with his bike and say, "Hey, my bike needs to be repaired. My wheel is going like this," right? And then everyone looks at him and they say, "Okay, we'll fix it for you." And then they take the wheel off and give it to Mirriam. And the guy's expression is like, "What? This woman, this disabled woman is going to true my wheel?" And what ends up happening is that she trues his wheel for him. And sometimes there are men sitting there, just watching, as Mirriam is repairing their wheel, something that they can't do themselves, and there's this female, physically disabled, mechanic fixing their wheel for this person. >> DAVID BRANIGAN: I know that her life is changed by it. I know that she now sees herself in the world as an influential person. She sees herself as having skills that other people don't have, that are valuable to her community, and even to the world. She sees herself as now representing other physically disabled people who were in her position before, without work, and in a position now to advocate for them, and for recognition of the enormous amount of unemployed disabled people in Ghana. >> DAVID BRANIGAN: She is a woman working in a field that is generally dominated by men. So she's even expanding the boundaries of women, and other women who are able-bodied look up to her as an example of how women can be in the world. >> MIRRIAM ODURO: It makes me happy. It helps me to achieve something. And I feel proud. My name is Mirriam Oduro. I am a mechanic. >> TITLE: 4:00 PM, San Andres Itzapa, Guatemala >> TITLE: In 1997, Carlos helped start Maya Pedal, an organization dedicated to creating environmentally friendly tools to empower rural Mayans. Their invention: the bicimaquina. >> CARLOS MACHIN: First of all, the bicimaquina is all recycled. We start from the bicycle. The bicycle is the fundamental part. To this we attach the old machines that used to be powered by other sources, like gasoline. With the bicimaquina we try to join together elements that have been discarded [bicycles] with elements that used to pollute. >> CARLOS MACHIN: First, the bicimaquina does not pollute the environment. Second, it fills the gap between the artisanal and the industrial. It is a middle ground, because it is going to allow the user to complete tasks faster. Third, it helps the economy quite a bit, because it reduces expenditures on fuel and energy. It helps to minimize the costs of both running and maintaining the machine. It is simple. >> TITLE: The community of Cruz Nueva has two bicimaquinas: a bicimolino (corn grinder) and a bicipulpar (coffee depulper). >> WOMAN 1: Oh God! It used to be a lot of work. We only ground at night, and could only grind a little at a time using our old tools. This is what we used before. But now that we have the bicimaquina, we don't use that one anymore. Now it is different. Yes, it has helped us a lot. With it I can strip corn very quickly to make my tamales. I can now grind my corn very quickly. Now grinding corn is a communal activity. The bicimaquina helps all of us. >> CARLOS MACHIN: It also helps the family to learn to use the resources that are at their disposal, that surround them. It helps them learn how to do things in new ways that don't pollute. They learn how to do things in a better way. >> MAN 1: We export coffee to the United States and, in another year, maybe Japan. The bicimaquina has helped facilitate this. Those two bicimaquinas help us to use less diesel or gasoline or electricity. It is a little better, no? Really, there's a lot of pollution. Those two help us pollute less. >> CARLOS MACHIN: For someone who hasn't seen a bicimaquina, the concept is impressive because they are astounded by what it can do. If someone has a heart attack, we are going to try to revive him or her. That is what we are trying to do with these bicycles. >> TITLE: 5:30 PM >> TITLE: 8:00 AM, Santa Barbara, CA, United States >> TITLE: Sharkey Esquives >> SHARKEY ESQUIVES: You feel the fresh air. You can feel how fast you are going. You feel like you're going a hundred, you're going, like, only ten, fifteen! You can feel all that wind coming to your face; you're feeling all fresh and everything. It feels good, better than a car. >> SHARKEY ESQUIVES: It all depends, the day and the mood. If I feel like riding my bike somewhere far, with my headphones, I go to my racing bike. It has blue tires, blue frame with some chrome on it. With the beach cruiser, if I feel like riding with my friends, with my homies, anywhere, I take my beach cruiser or my mountain bike, whichever one comes in handy. >> TITLE: Sharkey is a volunteer bike mechanic at Bici Centro, a community-run bike shop that sells refurbished bicycles and teaches patrons how to repair their own bicycles. >> ED FRANCE [Director, Bici Centro]: You have recreational road riders, who can generally afford bikes up to two, three thousand dollars, more. You have recreational mountain bikers, same deal, and those folks will tend to replace bikes every few years, even. You have the die-hard enviro bike commuters, but that group is not just the classic image we have of a bicycle commuter, the white, well-educated cyclist who's decided to simplify their life and to live environmentally, and thus they're going to bike. In Santa Barbara, at least half of that five percent of people getting around by bike are working-class folks who rely on that bike, probably not necessarily out of choice, because people ride whatever they can, you know? And again, that's half of our active bike commuting population. And so, our feeling at Bici Centro, as the group of founders, was that that group wasn't being served. >> ED FRANCE: I feel a lot of sympathy for people in Shark's position, because out of high school, the possibilities are really bleak. What do you do? Continue hanging out with the gang? He probably has some hard job prospects. >> SHARKEY ESQUIVES: It has kept me from the streets, from kicking it with my homies, kicking it with everyone, not knowing. Getting busted, getting locked up every time. Bici Centro has helped me in stopping it. I could be here, I could come here, and it?s kind of like a job. Come here, throw all my stress in here, and go home and just chill, and just pass out. It?s like a regular day, doing a regular job like a regular person. I've always been proud of working in here. Been helping a lot of people from different spots, people from a different world, different states, different age. You get the smallest kid to the biggest, oldest, like, "O.G." -- old man -- whatever! You could get anyone in here who doesn?t know anything about bikes, we teach them. >> SHARKEY ESQUIVES: My life has changed plenty. A lot of people know me better from working at Bici Centro. They'll be like, "Aren?t you that person who helped me fix up my bike?" I?m like, "Yes, I'm the one who fixed it." They'll be telling me, "Thanks for fixing it, it's running good." My name is Sharkey, I'm from Santa Barbara. I'm from Bici Centro, I'm a volunteer, and I?m 21 years old. >> ED FRANCE: This is just the same story over and over: people with enormous potential that are overlooked throughout the world. But we need our solutions that are intermediate. We have all these overpowering solutions. We want to have electricity! Well, we'll just dig up that mountain and we'll just make electricity, and we'll just run railroad cars and trucks. All we do is overpower things or neglect things. >> CARLOS MACHIN: We as human beings need to take care of the world, not the world take care of us. Because we have been given wisdom, understanding, and all this. >> DAVID BRANIGAN: The majority of trips that people need to take in their lives -- if you're in Guatemala, or Ghana, or in Boston -- are bikeable. >> JOHAN BRUYNEEL: If we have a problem with transportation, we wake up in the morning, we look at the sky, and we say, if it's cloudy, do we go by car, or do we take the bike? The transportation story or transportation problem in Africa is totally different. They don't have the choice. They either have to walk-- kids have to walk two to three hours to school and from school, or caregivers have to walk all day long, in the best circumstances they can see maybe two or three patients. It's a completely different view on what a bike can do. We don't see the use of a bike other than, we have the choice. >> ARMENE MODI: Having a bicycle and being able to access education can have such a huge impact on aspiration levels, on educational levels, on quality of life. >> DAVID BRANIGAN: That bicycle is increasing their mobility. It's increasing their ability to go places. It's broadening their scope of their life, of what resources they can access. >> JOHAN BRUYNEEL: Bikes have been part of my life, naturally, for always, and I've never thought about not having a bike. What a bike can do, to me, just made too much sense, and I couldn't afford myself to say, "I'm not part of this." >> ED FRANCE: It is a comprehensive development tool. Development that happens for an entire country starts with one person. And if every single person in that country begins to become empowered, and begins to have access to resources, the entire country's going to develop. >> CARLOS MACHIN: We know that we don't have to speak for the machine. The machine speaks for itself. >> FRED HANYINDE: You can go and see a patient and still make it home. The bike makes the work of a caregiver lighter. >> SHARKEY ESQUIVES: You fix that one up; he's going to tell his friend. His friend is going tell another friend. >> MIRRIAM ODURO: It gives you mobility to do something. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: I was very happy when I got the bicycle. I felt really good riding my bike. >> CARLOS MACHIN: The machine speaks for itself. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/women-master-the-art-of-farming Varsha Jawalgekar reports on a group of inspiring women in Patna who have mastered the art of traditional farming and are collectively doing everything that was once done by men only. Now, they can sell their produce and make money for their families. Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:59:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/women-master-the-art-of-farming India, Agriculture & Food, Gender, Agriculture, Patriarchy, Gender equality, Farmer, Collective farming, Patna district, Bihar >> VARSHA JAWALGEKAR [IndiaUnheard, Bihar]: From history, it is apparent that women discovered agriculture. But, neither in India nor elsewhere are women recognized as farmers. They don't have access to agriculture. In farming, the hardest process is controlling the plough. And in most places in India, women are prohibited from holding the plough. In Bihar, women have never been recognized as farmers. Social organizations based in Bihar's capital city Patna, namely Ekta Parishad and Praxis, conducted a piece of participatory action research where it was found that only one percent of women in Bihar have ownership of land. >> PRADEEP [NGO Worker]: The practice of giving women a low status in a patriarchal society should be abolished. The image of women as farmers needs to be established in the society so that women have access to land and are able to sell their crops in markets. >> VARSHA JAWALGEKAR: Coming from a background with such disparities, Munnadevi seems a ray of hope. She is a woman farmer. She is from Bara village in Patna district. >> VARSHA JAWALGEKAR: How did you start collective farming?>> MUNNADEVI [Bara Village]: I organized a meeting of all the women in this village and collected two rupees from each one. I thought of using this money for the benefit of the women. I also took some help from my brother (an activist from the Ekta Parishad NGO) and decided to start farming for a living. So we got seeds and started sowing them. Since there is not much rain here, we started irrigating our land by renting a water motor. >> VARSHA JAWALGEKAR: What is your opinion about women taking up farming in your village?>> RAGHUNI MANJHI [Bara Village]: Good to see every girl and woman from this village being part of this collective effort. >> DHORA CHOWDHARY [Bara Village]: There are always gains and benefits. >> VARSHA JAWALGEKAR: How do you feel about this initiative?>> DHORA CHOWDHARY: I feel nice. This collective farming will definitely yield fruits in the future. >> MUNNADEVI: These women like to work hard to earn money for food. >> VARSHA JAWALGEKAR: What do you have to say when men laugh at you?>> MUNNADEVI: They should continue laughing while we will continue farming. >> SUBHASH: In Bara village, women started collective farming in 2008. Taking inspiration from this, women from neighboring villages have taken up collective farming.>> VARSHA JAWALGEKAR: Munnadevi has decided to farm. Once again, there are changes afoot in Bihar. I'm Varsha, reporting for IndiaUnheard from Bihar. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/eco-friendly-bricks-from-fly-ash Unprocessed fly ash is a toxic and environmentally harmful by-product of thermal power. Yet an innovative Indian company has come up with a way to recycle fly ash by turning it into eco-friendly bricks, cheaply made and used in construction. Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:59:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/eco-friendly-bricks-from-fly-ash India, Environment, Sustainable development, Fly ash bricks, Fly ash, Environmentally friendly, Chhattisgarh, Construction, Raipur, Video Volunteers >> SARWAT NAQVI [IndiaUnheard, Chhattisgarh]: Fly ash is a by-product of thermal power. Let us find out how this fly ash is used to produce bricks that are used in the construction industry. >> SARWAT NAQVI: What are the benefits of bricks made up of fly ash? >> VIVEK CHAURASIA [Brick Factory Owner]: Fly ash is quite harmful to the environment if it is used in thermal factories. But, if fly ash is used as a by-product from a power plant, it could be mixed with other raw materials and made into bricks. In this way, it is eco-friendly and is put to good use. >> SARWAT NAQVI: Can you tell us more about these fly ash bricks? >> VIVEK CHAURASIA: Fly ash bricks are made mainly using three things: fly ash, gypsum, and lime. Sand and gravel are used as well. Fifty to sixty percent of this mixture consists of fly ash. All raw materials are mixed and pressurized in a machine to make bricks. This is a three day nurtured brick. You could toss this any which way, yet it wouldn't break. The most important process is the curing. >> SARWAT NAQVI: How much curing is required? >> VIVEK CHAURASIA: Twice a day, for a period of seven days. After seven days, these bricks are ready to be sold. >> GOPAL [Building Contractor]: Ninety percent of people prefer this brick. Government engineers approve it. All the housing boards and other government construction in Raipur are using it. Its strength is suitable for heavy construction. And, it is clean too. >> SARWAT NAQVI: So what is the benefit of these bricks in comparison with traditional red bricks? >> ANJOR DAS [Building Contractor]: It is comparatively cheaper. They are bigger than red bricks. Fly ash bricks require less water to prepare. >> VIVEK CHAURASIA: A majority of government projects, panchayat work, and housing board constructions would mandatorily have to use fly ash bricks. >> SARWAT NAQVI: Chhattisgarh's environmental protection board has included fly ash bricks into third sector industry. There is a 35 percent subsidy on it. So in order to conserve the environment, this is a very good initiative. I hope these bricks are used more often in order to sustain a good environment. This is Sarwat Naqvi from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, reporting for IndiaUnheard. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/project-rhino Arjun lives in one of Calcutta's many urban slums. For the first time in his life, he has the opportunity to attend school. His father earns a dollar a day pulling a rickshaw around city streets and has never received an education. He is grateful for the chance his son has to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor and ending the cycle of poverty for their entire family. Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:06:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/project-rhino India, Education, Poverty reduction, Rickshaw, Cycle of poverty, LinkTV Picks >> FATHER: I am a rickshaw puller. I ride from morning until night. >> RUHI PRASAD [Project Rhino]: That's one of the oldest means of earning a livelihood in Calcutta. The unfortunate part of it is that they earn not more than a dollar a day. These men are trying to feed families that run into five, ten people, so most of them have very tough lives. >> FATHER: I don't want my son to pull a rickshaw like me. >> RUHI PRASAD: If you have no money for education, what is your son going to do? So the child grows up seeing the father pulling the rickshaw, and for lack of having anything else to do he ends up doing the same job. >> SISTER: My family is illiterate. Nobody in my family has ever gone to school. >> ARJUN: I do chores, like go to the store, get water from the pond for rice, and buy the firewood. >> RUHI PRASAD: You realize that if you don't bring education there, you're never going to be able to break this vicious cycle. You need an external force, and that's what we're trying to bring in with Project Rhino. We are trying to bring education to children. >> SISTER: The first day of school he was afraid. But I told him to go to school and learn. >> ARJUN: The first day of school I was scared. I didn't know anyone. >> RUHI PRASAD: I think one of our biggest mistakes was not being prepared for the response. We were flooded with so many people. There is definitely a huge amount of potential. There are more than 100 students waiting to get in. We are not able to go in because of the resources. And that's hopefully our five-year plan, to be able to address and reach out to more people, more children. >> ARJUN: I like going to school now. When I grow up, I want to be a doctor to help others. >> FATHER: My son wants to be a doctor. This is my heart's desire. >> TITLE: It costs one dollar a day to send Arjun to school. To send another child to school, visit www.projectrhino.com. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/a-baby-business The thin line between human trafficking and international adoption is frequently blurred by children's homes in India. "A Baby Business" is an eye-opening investigation into the growing business of selling children to Western adoption agencies, children who were put into shelters by loving parents without the means to support them. Thu, 18 Aug 2011 09:14:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/a-baby-business India, Human trafficking, Governance & Transparency, International adoption, Human rights, Orphanage, Link TV Presents the World, NDTV Profit The thin line between human trafficking and international adoption is erased in this film on the shady practices of children's homes in India. "A Baby Business" is a moving expose on the growing business of selling children to Western adoption agencies who have been put into shelters by loving parents without the means to support them. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/overcoming-domestic-violence "Overcoming Domestic Violence" presents four reports about individuals and organizations in working in South Asia to protect women who have been abused and to educate the whole community about prevention:<br /><br /><a href="http://bit.ly/sosans-story" target="_blank"><strong>Sosan&rsquo;s Story</strong></a> Eight years after the fall of the Taliban, targeted violence against women in Afghanistan is back at an alarming level. Women of all ages are enduring brutal physical and sexual abuse in their own homes. A few lucky ones find their way to one of only six shelters in the country. <br /><br /><a href="http://bit.ly/breakthrough-bell-bajao" target="_blank"><strong>Breakthrough</strong></a> Studies show that more than 35 percent of Indian women have experienced physical violence at the hands of her boyfriend, husband or her in-laws. The Breakthrough organization&rsquo;s Bell Bajau (Ring The Bell) campaign inspires abused women and their friends, neighbours, and colleagues to break through the taboo and do something.&nbsp; <br />&nbsp;<br /><a href="http://bit.ly/gulabi-gang" target="_blank"><strong>Gulabi Gang</strong></a> Sampat Pal is a campaigner with a mission: to ensure that those born into the lowest caste have an education, avoid child marriages, and earn a decent wage. But, while Mahatma Gandhi famously preached non-violence, Sampat Pal and her thousands of followers in pink saris believe that patriarchy, abuse of women, and corruption demand a new style of justice.&nbsp;&nbsp; <br /><br /><a href="http://bit.ly/amra-shakti" target="_blank"><strong>Amra Shakti: We Are All Powerful</strong></a> The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee educates women about their rights and empowers them to take control of their destinies. See what happens when a group of women come together to seek equality. <br /> Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:01:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/overcoming-domestic-violence India, Gender, South Asia, Domestic violence, Violence against women, Gender equality, Link TV Presents the World, NDTV Profit Studies show that 35 percent of Indian women have experienced physical violence at the hands of a man. In these documentaries, South Asian women find ways to stop domestic violence. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/viewchange-one-good-idea <strong>"ViewChange: One Good Idea"</strong> presents four stories about individuals and organizations who are taking on the biggest global challenges:<br /><br /><strong>India's Free Lunch</strong>&nbsp; Since 2001, all Indian primary schools have provided pupils with a free midday meal. Since then, truancy rates have dropped and child health is soaring. <br /><br /><strong>Project Peanut Butter</strong>&nbsp; In Malawi, children with malnutrition are being given a radical new treatment that is cheap and very effective: fortified peanut butter. Best of all, mothers can administer the ready-to-use food at home, eliminating the need for hospital stays.<br /><br /><strong>Banking on Change</strong>&nbsp; J.S. Parthibhan is a bank manager with a difference: he's interested in people, not numbers. Through micro loans, he's helping villagers in rural areas of India develop a sense of entrepreneurship and self-respect. <br /><br /><strong>Vidiyal</strong>&nbsp; Village women in Tamil Nadu are using mobile phones and computer technology in innovative ways to benefit their agriculture-based businesses. <br /><br />Watch on NDTV Profit or profit.ndtv.com Saturday 10pm / Sunday 5pm IST.<br /> Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:26:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/viewchange-one-good-idea India, Agriculture & Food, Microfinance, Technology, Change Makers, Malnutrition, Malawi, Link TV Presents the World, NDTV Profit, Poverty Big problems versus a little inspiration...a surprisingly fair fight. See what happens in India, Malawi, or anywhere else, when you take one good idea, big or small, and run with it. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/viewchange-hiv-prevention-looking-back-moving-forward Since the first official confirmed cases of HIV 30 years ago, millions have died, particularly in developing nations. But now there's hope in treatment and innovative prevention strategies. Take a journey to find out what's working in HIV prevention -- and providing hope for the future -- in this new half-hour documentary produced by ViewChange in partnership with PSI (Population Services International). Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:08:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/viewchange-hiv-prevention-looking-back-moving-forward HIV, Health, AIDS, Sub-Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe, Africa, AIDS pandemic, Reproductive health, Population Services International, Kenya >> DEBRA MESSING [Ambassador, Population Services International]: Next up: It?s the pandemic that has touched millions -- AIDS. Thirty years after the first confirmed cases appeared, where are we now? And what?s working in HIV prevention? Find out in this special report from PSI and ViewChange.org.>> VOICEOVER: ViewChange is about people making real progress in tackling the world's toughest issues. Can a story change the world? See for yourself in ViewChange: HIV Prevention - Looking Back & Moving Forward.>> DEBRA MESSING: I'm Debra Messing, Ambassador for PSI. It?s been 30 years since the Centers for Disease Control confirmed the first cases of HIV in the United States. Since 1981, more than 30 million people around the world have died of AIDS-related causes -- particularly in the developing world, where the disease has devastated entire families, communities and generations. But thanks to the medical advancement of antiretroviral therapy and progress in prevention, saving lives is now possible. Aid groups and governments have been working hard to bring innovative HIV prevention methods and tools to scale -- and it?s working. In Mozambique, one young relationship counselor is getting creative. Working with a local radio show, she is finding ways to make condoms exciting -- and even sexy. >> TITLE: Reclaim the Condom>> TITLE: Reclaim the Condom, tve, Mozambique>> VOICEOVER: Like all countries in southern Africa, Mozambique suffers from HIV/AIDS. Every year, millions of dollars are spent on prevention campaigns, including promoting condoms. But the battle is far from won, and one person thinks she knows why.>> SHEILA MANJATE [Sexual Health Counselor, North East Secondary School]: I don't know how many students there are, maybe eight thousand. To pick up condoms? I have the records here. Maybe a hundred per month. >> VOICEOVER: At the North East Secondary School in the capital Maputo, 22-year-old Sheila is a trained sexual health counselor. In her office, young people come to her with their intimate problems.>> BOY 1: I'm having a problem with my girlfriend. >> SHEILA MANJATE: And you did not use a condom?>> BOY 1: Often we didn't use it.>> SHEILA MANJATE: Because you trusted her?>> BOY 1: I risked it because I trusted her, but I mistrust her at the same time.>> VOICEOVER: The message is clear -- selling condoms as barriers against HIV can suggest couples don?t trust each other. So Sheila?s convinced it?s easier to sell condoms as contraceptives. Today in her office, she?s tearing down the public health posters. For Sheila, condoms are the main weapons against HIV/AIDS, but they must have the right image. The unbranded "white" condoms are the ones distributed in schools and clinics. Much better, she says, those more sexy, branded ones. >> VOICEOVER: Sheila lives at her grandma?s. A churchgoing Christian, she wants to train as a lawyer. She says what some in the big health agencies think privately.>> SHEILA MANJATE: The condom is too associated with HIV and so it has become stigmatized in the people's minds.>> VOICEOVER: She?s backed by market research, which shows trust in relationships is the main reason for not using condoms. Sheila knows sex and romance sell, so why not use them to promote condoms? She is working on a radio program to try her message on a wider audience. It's for 99FM, a popular national radio station. Today is the big sell. >> SHEILA MANJATE: I'm very nervous. I'm in the hands of God.>> VOICEOVER: Sheila?s off to see the head of the station. But will he buy her maverick message?>> SHEILA MANJATE: Our idea is to make a pilot program.>> NELSON CAMAL [Station head, SNYC 99 FM]: Yesterday I attended a Millennium Village ceremony in Chibuto. They had a box of condoms like this one. I didn't want to take any.>> SHEILA MANJATE: Exactly.>> NELSON CAMAL: But what are we going to say in the program? No to the AIDS condom, or are we going to say AIDS condom, yes?>> SHEILA MANJATE: No, our objective is to say yes to the condom.>> VOICEOVER: Not only have they given her airtime, 99FM has given Sheila her own team. Their slogan: "For Your Up Moments!" Public health campaigns find it difficult to link condoms with pleasure. But can you really sell condoms better branding them with sex than with illness? Early morning, and time to take the show on the road. Today to Xinavane, 100 kilometers north of Maputo. For her program, Sheila wants people to talk openly about their sex lives. She hopes their stories will reveal why they should use condoms. She's taking the message to the local school, to see how it plays. >> SHEILA MANJATE: Our mothers fell pregnant at the age of 14, 15, 16, 17; they lived their sexuality at the moment they felt the time had come. I want you to tell me: What do you do to live your sexuality, without having the same problems our mothers had? What did you say?>> MALE STUDENT 1: I use the condom.>> SHEILA MANJATE: You used the condom. Thank you. Ping pong, another one. What do you do?>> FEMALE STUDENT 1: Condom.>> SHEILA MANJATE: Condom. Who else?>> FEMALE STUDENT 2: Fidelity.>> SHEILA MANJATE: Fidelity. Who else?>> FEMALE STUDENT 3: Condom.>> SHEILA MANJATE: Condom. Who else?>> MALE STUDENT 2: Fidelity.>> SHEILA MANJATE: Fidelity. Who else?>> FEMALE STUDENT 4: Condom.>> SHEILA MANJATE: Condom. Who else?>> FEMALE STUDENT 5: Be faithful to my boyfriend.>> SHEILA MANJATE: Be faithful to your boyfriend? I have to be faithful to my boyfriend, but I also have to be faithful to the condom, because the day my boyfriend drops me, the condom will stay with me.>> TITLE: Sheila continues to encourage a change in the perception of condoms with young people in Mozambique. >> TITLE: ViewChange>> DEBRA MESSING: In India, where millions are living with HIV, reaching at-risk populations through peer education is crucial. And as this story shows, the most powerful messengers for HIV awareness come from unlikely places.>> TITLE: ViewChange>> TITLE: Peer education is a powerful tool in the prevention of HIV, but also in creating awareness and supporting those receiving care. >> MADAN KOIRALA: First I'm going to play soccer. I'm going to shoot two goals. Obviously we will win! I have many qualities. I am handsome. I am a role model for the people watching. >> TITLE: Madan>> TITLE: Element: Madan, Element, India>> MADAN KOIRALA: I was a drug user before. My ambition was to use drugs, and die. I am from Nepal. I came to Delhi just to use drugs. One of my friends sent me a message saying the drugs were good in India. I said, "Okay, let's go." I spent all my money. I was totally broke. I thought, "I'm going to die, I can't live any longer." Suddenly, I changed my mind. >> TITLE: New Delhi, India>> MADAN KOIRALA: I got a message that there is a rehab center where we can get treatment, and I said, "Okay," because I am a drug user and I needed treatment. I changed my lifestyle, and in the meantime I met my girlfriend, who is really cute! Life is not only for using drugs, eating food, and sleeping. >> TITLE: Millennium Development Goal #6: Stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and other major diseases>> MADAN KOIRALA: Now I am employed at Michael's Care Home, and I have to take care of HIV positive people who need treatment and help. Whether they're HIV positive or not, I always see them as a human being and in need of care and treatment. In India, people think that if you're HIV positive, you've got AIDS and you're going to die soon. Actually they're quite different. "AIDS" means you're sick, but being "HIV positive" just means you have the virus. Still people are very scared. They think that if someone's infected with HIV, we'll get infected too. No, we can't get it through the air, we can't get it from mosquito bites, we can't get it from kissing, and yet still there's all this discrimination. They're made jobless, homeless, and they're kicked out of society. Let them live! There are lots of examples of people who are very sick, and then they take the ARV medicine and live normally. This is anti-retroviral medicine, "ARV" medicine. >> MAN 1: It reduces the multiplication of the virus. >> MADAN KOIRALA: In India, only around twelve thousand people are getting this medicine. But there are over five million people infected with HIV. They should fight for them to get ARV medicine too. We need ARV medicine to be available free to everyone who needs it. Finish! There's something inside me that I can expose to the whole world. I am Madan Koirala, and I am HIV positive. >> TITLE: HIV+>> MADAN KOIRALA: If you look at me, can you make it out that I'm HIV positive? No, no one can tell. >> MADAN KOIRALA: The message for the new generation is: positive living, positive thinking. No discrimination and stigma. There is hope. Now clap your hands!>> DEBRA MESSING: Operating in 67 countries around the world, PSI is one global health organization at the forefront of HIV prevention. PSI believes that health services and products are most effective when they are accompanied by robust communications, which ensure that people are widely accepting and using prevention methods. And they?ve found that some of the best communicators about safer sex and HIV prevention are not necessarily the typical experts. For example, hairdressers in Zimbabwe are chipping in with their own straight-talk to patrons -- and have helped Zimbabwe cut its HIV infection rate by half. Last year, I traveled with PSI to visit one special salon in Zimbabwe where women are sharing life-saving information with one another -- truly unforgettable.>> TITLE: ViewChange>> TITLE: Braids Not AIDS, DFID, Zimbabwe>> VOICEOVER: As the economy in Zimbabwe begins to recover after years of chronic mismanagement and hyperinflation, there are also encouraging signs of a decrease in HIV prevalence. In a country where over one million children have been orphaned by AIDS, now an innovative HIV prevention program is showing remarkable success by using hairdressers to teach their female customers the facts about HIV and AIDS. But in a country with a collapsed medical infrastructure, the burden of HIV and AIDS is massive. There are around 60,000 deaths from AIDS each year, and an estimated 1,200 new infections each week. Experts in Zimbabwe say prevention through behavior change is the key to managing the spread of the disease. >> KUMBIRAI CHATORA [PSI Zimbabwe Deputy Country Director]: When we talk about behavior change, the key word there is changing. Changing from what you used to do to a new behavior. We want people to adopt safer sexual behaviors. It could be condom use, it could be knowing your status, it could be having fewer partners. All that for us is behavior change, anything that you do to protect yourself from HIV infection. >> VOICEOVER: But in a male-dominated society like Zimbabwe, reaching women with the correct information and empowering them to make decisions can be difficult. >> WENDY TAKUNDWA-BANDA [DFID Zimbabwe HIV Program Manager]: Generally women are the more vulnerable sex, and when it comes to making decisions related to sexual health, men are the dominant character. So women don't have much say. >> VOICEOVER: As a result, 60 percent of all people living with HIV in Zimbabwe are women. Dorothy Nyamukapa is a hairdresser in Kuwadzana, a low-income high-density suburb of the capitol Harare. Dorothy is one of 1,500 hairdressers that have been trained as an HIV peer educator in a program run by Population Services International and funded by the UK's Department for International Development. >> DOROTHY NYAMUKAPA: Because I am a woman it is very simple for me to approach them. I ask her which family planning she uses. When she told me, I started to introduce them to "Care.">> VOICEOVER: In this way, hairdressers like Dorothy have sold over three million female condoms in the last six years, preventing thousands of new HIV infections. Barbra Nyandika, a regular at the salon, began using the female condom with her husband Obit two years ago. >> BARBRA NYANDIKA: I went to my husband and told him about female condoms. Then he said I have to bring it so that he can see it. Then I have to introduce it to him and he said that it is very nice, that we have to continue using it. >> VOICEOVER: This initiative is spreading across Zimbabwe. Sylvester Nzaras runs a barbershop from his backyard in the commuter town of Chitungwiza, south of Harare. Here, men are also being exposed to the prevention message and the benefits of condom use. While huge challenges remain in Zimbabwe, the success of programs like this has contributed to a significant decline in HIV prevalence, a drop from over 24 percent to less than 14 percent over the last six years. >> TITLE: ViewChange>> DEBRA MESSING: But how will we really achieve large-scale change? One of the ways is by promoting HIV prevention methods that are easily affordable, highly effective and are able to show results now. Methods like voluntary male circumcision, which can reduce heterosexual HIV transmission by 60 percent. But first, grown men must be convinced to overcome their fears, as we see in this story.>> TITLE: ViewChange>> TITLE: PSI Botswana's Male Circumcision Campaign - TV Spot>> TITLE: Scaling Up Male Circumcision, PSI, Sub-Saharan Africa>> VOICEOVER: All right team: remember that we have to work at winning this match as a team. Circumcision cannot win this match alone. He needs the help of all of the defenders to keep HIV from scoring. >> TITLE: Men in Sub-Saharan Africa are choosing male circumcision (MC), a cost-effective method that reduces the risk of HIV infection in men by 60 percent. Beginning in 2007, PSI launched an unprecedented MC campaign supporting service delivery, communications, and advocacy efforts in Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. These are the stories of men and families being impacted by male circumcision. >> FUNGAI CHIBAYA [MC Client, Zimbabwe]: My name is Fungai. Near where I stay, there is a very big billboard encouraging male circumcision, so I just decided one day that I should do it. I'm shaking a little bit, like goosebumps. I think the procedure is going to go well.>> TITLE: PSI provides pre- and post-procedure counseling in countries where male circumcision is offered. >> FUNGAI CHIBAYA: I've learned a lot about male circumcision. They say it has a 60 percent chance of HIV reduction. >> TAKAVINGWA KOMBONI [MC Client, Zimbabwe]: My name is Takavingwa Komboni. My wife encouraged me to come to MC because she actually thought it would be good for me to be circumcised. Some of my friends said, "You can go at your own risk." I'm curious to know what's going to happen after I'm circumcised. >> SYMPATHY MPOFU [Clinical MC Nurse, Swaziland]: The local anesthesia is given to assist him in reducing pain during the surgical procedure. The procedure starts with the doctor cutting and removing the foreskin. Afterwards we dress the patient with gauze. Then the patient is escorted to the recovery room to recover for 30 minutes. >> TAKAVINGWA KOMBONI: As you can see, I am now coming out of the theater room. The circumcision is over, and I feel like a man. It has been very good, and it is not as painful as I thought.>> FUNGAI CHIBAYA: The whole procedure was just fine. >> TITLE: Changing perceptions, one person at a time. >> JABULANI NCUBE [MC Client, Zimbabwe]: One of the best benefits is the reduction of the HIV/AIDS transmission rate. That gave me the zeal to go for it. I felt it would be the best opportunity for me to prevent myself, and the person that I love, from contracting such infections. >> STEVEN CHIKOMBERO [MC Client, Zimbabwe]: I've since introduced some of my team members to be circumcised. Everyone now knows that I'm proud to be circumcised. >> TITLE: Women are important partners in this process.>> KUDZAISHE CHIFAMBA [MC Client, Zimbabwe]; It opens up dialogue within the relationship, which is not common in our environment. >> MOLEBOGENG MADISHA [South Africa]: So this is both of our decision, and I decided to accompany him as a support system. I also heard about the importance of male circumcision. >> TITLE: Communication is key to male circumcision scale up. >> JABULANI NCUBE: What I learned is that people are not well educated. They have a belief that it's cultural.>> KUDZAISHE CHIFAMBA: Dialogue needs to spread further than just young couples. >> TITLE: By bringing services to scale within the next 10 to 20 years, male circumcision could significantly reduce the number of new HIV infections. >> JABULANI NCUBE: It is the right channel to reduce the HIV/AIDS pandemic in our nation.>> TITLE: Effective communication. High quality service delivery. Thirty-eight million by 2015: scale up male circumcision now, impact the future of HIV. >> STEVEN CHIKOMBERO: A lot of things have changed in my life. Besides the confidence that I have, I also feel much more secure.>> TITLE: ViewChange>> DEBRA MESSING: Targeting behavior is also crucial in HIV prevention. In Kenya, people are talking about Mpango wa Kando -- roughly translated into "having a long-term relationship on the side." It?s an all-too-common arrangement that also happens to be one of the riskiest behaviors for HIV transmission. But the government of Kenya, together with USAID and other groups, is using mass media to change this behavior and turn the tide of HIV transmission.>> TITLE: ViewChange>> JIMMI GATHU ["Mpango wa Kando" Spokesperson]: Are you married? So you're sitting with your husband, right? Do you know if he has a girlfriend?>> TITLE: Roughly 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, twenty million plus in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Kenya, one behavior is playing a major role in transmission: concurrent sexual partnerships. >> JIMMI GATHU: There is only one way to stop HIV from destroying your marriage. It's simple. Guys, leave your side arrangement. Avoid HIV. >> HIV and Concurrent Relationships, PSI, Kenya>> TITLE: PSI and the government of Kenya address this issue head-on through a groundbreaking communications campaign: "Mpango wa Kando." >> DR. NICHOLAS MURAGURI [Director, National AIDS/STD Control Program]: Forty-four percent of new HIV infections are attributed to people who are either married or are in partnerships. These people in partnerships also have other partners, who also have other partners, who are not using condoms. And therefore, the chance that in that network somebody has HIV -- it spreads like bushfire to the rest of the families.>> TITLE: Your spare wheel could have a spare wheel who has a spare wheel who has a spare wheel who has HIV. HIV now spreads fastest in marriages. Here's the reason why. >> JIMMI GATHU: I must admit that one of the things that surprised me was the aspect of also women playing a part in it. >> DR. NICHOLAS MURAGURI: We got a strong voice, people said, "No, no, no, you are condemning men only. Women also do that." So we made some TV spots for women as well. >> JIMMI GATHU: Mama, how are you? So you are in an outing of your woman self help group? So that man standing next to you is definitely not your husband, right? Do you know research shows nearly half of all new HIV infections are happening in marriages like yours?>> ERICK WAGA [Research Consultant for PSI]: Concurrent partnership really is a great factor in the spread of HIV because you find that these people, when they have these partners, trust comes in. So you find that these partners stop using condoms throughout all the partners. >> LUCY MAIKWEKI [HIV Deputy Director, PSI]: PSI Kenya started to take on the campaign boldly, because primarily there are very few organizations that do national level mass media communications.>> TITLE: Giving Kenya something to talk about. >> TONY NJUGUNA [Creative Director, SCANAD]: For this particular brief it became quite an interesting angle for social marketing. We?ve got a social responsibility to improve the lives of the people that we are trying to talk to.>> TITLE: Social marketing (so shel mar kit ing) n. 1. The application of marketing concepts and techniques to influence behavior among a target audience in order to benefit themselves and society. >> LUCY MAIKWEKI: We pre-tested various concepts, various taglines, various names and eventually we came up with Mpango wa Kando, which was what people felt describes this loving, long-term side relationship.>> JIMMI GATHU: Somebody needed to say something. And so we did. Shock transmits, then, to how important this campaign is. >> TONY NJUGUNA It makes sense, it's logical, and I think that's what really made the campaign work: that it's real; it's a social message. >> TITLE: Sparking conversations in the community. >> DR. NICHOLAS MURAGURI: The Mpango wa Kando campaign is obviously achieving its goal. Part of the goal was to start a debate, so you'll hear people discuss it in pubs, in family outings, in the church. These things were never discussed. >> TOM NGARAGARI [Behavior Change Communication Coordinator]: They identify with the campaign, and then now the discussion starts. The good thing is that they are coming together and talking about it and finding solutions to it. >> TITLE: Moving forward...>> LUCY MAIKWEKI: Looking at what will motivate people now to move from awareness to actual behavior change. >> TITLE: ...to prevent HIV/AIDS. >> DR. NICHOLAS MURAGURI: If you look around, all families, all Kenyans, don't want HIV. You cannot talk about the issue of HIV and not talk about concurrent partnerships. >> LUCY MAIKWEKI: For me, success in the long term for this campaign would be lower HIV prevalence amongst people in married, co-habiting relationships.>> DR. NICHOLAS MURAGURI: It's something that cannot be done overnight, it's something that we need to work on until it becomes a social norm change that discourages people from having concurrent multiple partnerships.>> TITLE: ViewChange>> DEBRA MESSING: Thanks to prevention and treatment, the global rate of new HIV infections has dropped by 25 percent between 2001 and 2009. Around the world, we?re learning lessons from innovators in every sector. We?re learning to adopt messages that equate change with something everyone wants -- a happier life. We?re learning to invest in local talent, because they know how to reach their neighbors and what motivates them to change. And on the soccer field -- or at the hair salon -- we learn that reinforcing the right messages about HIV/AIDS is making a difference. >> VOICEOVER: Want to learn more about HIV treatment, prevention, or anything else you saw here? Head over to ViewChange.org/TV, where you can watch, read, and get involved in projects that are making a real difference. Watch the films you just saw, and over 350 more from around the world, at ViewChange.org/TV.>> TITLE: [End Credits]>> TITLE: A co-production of Population Services International and Link TV. To read about PSI's HIV prevention programs around the world, visit www.psi.org. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-revolutionary-optimists In the slums of Calcutta, children are serving their communities by leading vaccination drives, working together to empower themselves, and safeguard the future of their community. Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:27:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-revolutionary-optimists India, Polio, Health, Child, Polio vaccine, Vaccination, Developing country, Slum, Kolkata, Sundance Institute >> TITLE: Polio still haunts parts of the developing world. How can we eradicate it for good? In one Calcutta slum, the children are the answer. >> AMLAN GANGULY [Founder, Prayasam]: When I first went to a slum, the adults say that, "We don't have any time to listen to all this, because we know nothing will happen." So we tried to organize the children, make them peer educators or group leaders, so that they can bring about changes within their own community.>> MAN: I think there are many houses where people go out to work in the morning and return at night. There are children in those homes, but the parents take them along with them. Yet, on their houses too they write "P" and the date. The children there have probably had the vaccine, or have they really had it?>> CHILDREN: No.>> MAN: The problem is with these gaps that are left.>> TITLE: Daredevils Volunteer After-School Club>> MAN: Who are in this group? What will they do? They will go to the Group A area and create awareness. The people who use autos have plenty of money to hire PA systems and spread their message. But we who work here, do we have so much money?>> CHILDREN: No!>> MAN: This is called a megaphone. What is it called?>> CHILDREN: Megaphone.>> GIRL: Listen, listen, listen! This Sunday, we will give a polio vaccine at Ramdhani Club. All of you, please bring your children along!>> BOY: If a person's hand becomes disabled, how can he manage to work the rest of his life? There is not much he will be able to do. In my opinion, no one from my area should be so afflicted.>> MAN: These boys and girls are here. They are working in this area. Alright? You can tell them that you have a problem getting time out from your work. They will help you by taking your children to the club themselves. They will arrange for the children to have the polio drops and then bring them back home. Okay?>> GIRL: Bye-bye.>> AMLAN GANGULY: Previously there was around 40 percent of the children, they go to the vaccination center. Now, there are at least 80 percent people. And, within two-three years, I think that all of RSE children will be vaccinated.>> BOY: We wish to work even harder. We want to visit schools. It would be great if our one day's work can increase the number of children from 75 to 100. Why are they not bringing their children by themselves? They are their children, but they are also our brothers and sisters. It is also our duty and that is why we are insisting on this. Today if we are asked what our self-interest is in doing this? My reply is I don't want my brothers and sisters to be disabled or lame. This is our interest. We shall see to it that the children grow up well.>> TITLE: [end credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/element-bremley Bremley comes from Manglia, India, where his clan tends to the local forest. He is seeking investors for a social enterprise to plant thousands of trees in an effort to combat climate change and benefit his local community at the same time. Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:04:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/element-bremley India, Environment, Carbon sequestration, Climate change and poverty, Meghalaya, Plant nursery, tve, Sri Lanka, LinkTV Picks, Element: Action on Earth >> TITLE: Element>> BREMLEY: My clan is the caretakers of the Lyngdoh Sacred Forests in Meghalaya, India; so really, taking care of the trees is in my blood. But all this seems so far away from London. >> TITLE: London, U.K.>> BREMLEY: I need to be here to get my social enterprise going. We?re going to plant millions of trees, starting from seven countries, to fight climate change. I?ve got to get investors to get my plans underway. I know it?s worth it, but sometimes I feel so disconnected from where it?s all happening. I really need to get back on the road, get back in touch with why I?m doing this. >> TITLE: Sri Lanka>> BREMLEY: It?s all starting here in Sri Lanka. We?ve got one tree nursery going. I haven?t seen it yet, but I can imagine it. >> TITLE: Bremley>> BREMLEY: Rubber trees grow fast here. >> BREMLEY: I?m like Spiderman, spinning my web. >> BREMLEY: First we plant them, then when they?re five years old we?ll be able to tap them and make things like surgical gloves and condoms out of the rubber. >> BREMLEY: Oh boy, that smells really bad!>> BREMLEY: The trees will absorb carbon from the atmosphere, and the rubber will give jobs to the people here, so you?re fighting climate change and poverty. At least that?s how it works in theory. >> BREMLEY: We?re off to our little nursery. This is the first time that I am going there so it is very exciting. This is the base. This is the launch pad. Wow, it?s a nice place. This is what I?ve been dreaming about. Actually seeing it happening. These seedlings are like my babies. >> BREMLEY: How old are these? Two weeks? >> CHANDRA: One week.>> BREMLEY: One week old. >> BREMLEY: It?s only a few seedlings now, but eventually there?ll be millions of trees. And not just in Sri Lanka. We want to do organic plantations in at least six countries, including India. My heart is set on making it happen in India. I want to go home. >> TITLE: India>> BREMLEY: My clan?s sacred forest is one of the only forests still standing here. All the trees around it have been cut down. And you know, this used to be the rainiest place on Earth. But now, with no trees around, it?s like a desert. That?s why it?s important for me to plant here. Getting the plantations going in India is going to be much harder. I have to convince the local chiefs to let us plant trees on their land. If they don?t agree, the whole project could fail. And I really don?t want that. >> BREMLEY: Finally home, sweet home. Hi Mommy! I?ve got to prepare myself. Just got little time. I?m really nervous, because I think it?s going to be really hard to make the chiefs work together. I really hope I can make this take off. >> BREMLEY: First of all, I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for coming to this first meeting. >> BREMLEY: The chiefs are interested, but it will take a lot of trust for us to work together. They?re a bit worried because things have gone wrong in the past. I need to convince them that this will work, and even change people?s lives. Including mine. I met Chandra at the Sri Lankan nursery. >> BREMLEY: This is your land. Thank you for hosting our little babies on our land. He showed me how everything worked there. Well, tried to.>> BREMLEY: I just threw the bucket and the rope in the well!>> BREMLEY: He?s my age, but he?s an orphan. >> BREMLEY: Oh my god, I?m so sorry I dropped your bucket. >> BREMLEY: He has to look after his four siblings, but he was unemployed before. He told me that being a rubber expert was his dream. And now his dream is coming true. And now he?s making my dream come true by taking care of the nursery. If the chiefs agree, then maybe there could be more people like Chandra. >> BREMLEY: It was amazing. Just with a group of five or six people, we have close to about three thousand hectares already. >> BREMLEY: It looks like we?re going to be planting trees at home again. Life in London doesn?t seem so disconnected now. I know there are people out there who believe in this like I do. It?s early days, but we?re starting to make things better. >> BREMLEY: It?s always easy to destroy things, and it?s very hard to create and regenerate things. And that?s what we?re in, this business. It?s regenerating, recreating. And save the planet. >> TITLE: Element>> TITLE: www.element-tv.net>> TITLE: For more information, please visit: http://www.tve.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/element-madan Madan left his home in Nepal to move to New Delhi for the sole purpose of accessing cheap, powerful drugs. Just as he was on the brink of death, he found a rehabilitation center and got clean. Now he's devoted his life to helping those with HIV and AIDS, and is spreading a message of hope to the younger generation. Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:04:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/element-madan India, HIV, Millennium Development Goals, HIV positive people, AIDS, Antiretroviral drug, Health, Nepal, New Delhi, tve >> TITLE: Element>> TITLE: Who's counting?>> MADAN KOIRALA: First I'm going to play soccer. I'm going to shoot two goals. Obviously we will win! I have many qualities. I am handsome. I am a role model for the people watching. >> TITLE: Madan>> MADAN KOIRALA: I was a drug user before. My ambition was to use drugs, and die. I am from Nepal. I came to Delhi just to use drugs. One of my friends sent me a message saying the drugs were good in India. I said, "Okay, let's go." I spent all my money. I was totally broke. I thought, "I'm going to die, I can't live any longer." Suddenly, I changed my mind. >> TITLE: New Delhi, India>> MADAN KOIRALA: I got a message that there is a rehab center where we can get treatment, and I said, "Okay," because I am a drug user and I needed treatment. I changed my lifestyle, and in the meantime I met my girlfriend, who is really cute! Life is not only for using drugs, eating food, and sleeping. >> TITLE: Millennium Development Goal #6: Stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and other major diseases>> MADAN KOIRALA: Now I am employed at Michael's Care Home, and I have to take care of HIV positive people who need treatment and help. Whether they're HIV positive or not, I always see them as a human being and in need of care and treatment. In India, people think that if you're HIV positive, you've got AIDS and you're going to die soon. Actually they're quite different. "AIDS" means you're sick, but being "HIV positive" just means you have the virus. Still people are very scared. They think that if someone's infected with HIV, we'll get infected too. No, we can't get it through the air, we can't get it from mosquito bites, we can't get it from kissing, and yet still there's all this discrimination. They're made jobless, homeless, and they're kicked out of society. Let them live! There are lots of examples of people who are very sick, and then they take the ARV medicine and live normally. This is anti-retroviral medicine, "ARV" medicine. >> MAN 1: It reduces the multiplication of the virus. >> MADAN KOIRALA: In India, only around twelve thousand people are getting this medicine. But there are over five million people infected with HIV. They should fight for them to get ARV medicine too. We need ARV medicine to be available free to everyone who needs it. Finish! There's something inside me that I can expose to the whole world. I am Madan Koirala, and I am HIV positive. >> TITLE: HIV+>> MADAN KOIRALA: If you look at me, can you make it out that I'm HIV positive? No, no one can tell. >> MADAN KOIRALA: I'll break your camera! >> MADAN KOIRALA: The message for the new generation is: positive living, positive thinking. No discrimination and stigma. There is hope. Now clap your hands, yeah. >> TITLE: Millennium Development Goals: Eight goals for a better world by 2015. Everyone counts. www.element-tv.net>> TITLE: Element. For more information, visit http://www.tve.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/a-dollar-a-day-bombay-jungle Khurshida Bano and her family live in a slum that is being demolished by the government because of its proximity to a national park. Architect P.K. Das works with the Slum Rehabilitation Authority of Bombay to relocate the slum residents. Will they be able to navigate a bureaucratic system filled with corruption to successfully relocate people like Khurshida? Mon, 20 Jun 2011 08:06:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/a-dollar-a-day-bombay-jungle India, Slum, Governance & Transparency, Water & Sanitation, Mumbai, A Dollar A Day, Poverty reduction, Poverty, Electricity, Economic development >> TITLE: EMF Films and Global Visions & Associates present>> TITLE: A Dollar A Day: Bombay Jungle>> TITLE: A film by Frank Vellenga>> VOICEOVER: Within the city of Bombay, or Mumbai as it is now called, a battle is waging. Like many megacities around the world, as populations grow, space becomes more and more precious. In Bombay, the battle lines are drawn between the "nobodies" and the "somebodies." Ironically, their battlefield is the border area of a vast national park, a hilly area populated by wild animals, and thousands of people who cannot afford to live elsewhere. But now, due to a political decision to reclaim the forest, lifelong squatters are being violently uprooted and forced to move. And unless they can prove they are "somebodies", they have no rights, and no access to shelter and other basic needs.>> MAN 1: The people tried to stop the bulldozers. But they broke our homes. They beat a lot of people. My son also broke his leg. That's what happened.>> MAN 2: On March 27th around 10:30 am the bulldozers came from up there. The people were there by the rim. People from the Congress Party had come. Both men and women had come and formed a human chain. Until about 1 pm they didn't do anything. After that, the police started to beat the people and they started bulldozing. >> P.K. DAS [Architect]: What we have is the city of Mumbai, which is surrounded by sea on almost three sides of it. And you have a profile that then has creeks, and in the heart of it, actually, which is amazing because Mumbai is one such city that has a national park within it, within its boundaries. Now, what is happening is that this national park has been encroached by slums over the years. Some of them have been actually here for over fifty years. The High Court gave a ruling that the national park needs to be protected, and therefore ordered for eviction of over 80,000 families.>> VOICEOVER: Even in the poorest slum areas, systems are created by dwellers to accommodate their basic needs: water, shelter, and a clean spot to relieve themselves. To be evicted from a slum is to be denied even these primal rights.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Here you can still make ends meet. Two square meals a day are what we barely make. We don't have any land back in the village. Nor do we have anything here. Just this house. We depend on this house only. We all live in this house. Where else can we go? Where will we stay? We don't have that much money. We cannot rent a house. We all live together, even with our grandchildren. Our two sons do everything and look after us.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Please, give me a bit of bread.>> P.K. DAS: Sadly, the court did not consider the rehabilitation as being important. That's why housing rights organizations like ours got in the picture of demanding rehabilitation as necessarily being a condition prior to demolition. What we finally did was, we negotiated with a private owner who has a piece of land here. This happens to be an exhausted quarry. This rehabilitation is carried out under the principles of the state government. Three players are responsible. The state government contributes sanctions and other facilities of infrastructure. The private developer brings in the investment required for construction. And you have the community of the slum dwellers who are affected. These three form the alliance of the partnership for the slum's redevelopment.>> RAMESH SHAH [Real Estate Developer]: Here we are going to build three towers with two apartments on each floor. This is also for upper-class people. It is a three or four bedroom apartment. Each apartment is about 200 to 260 square meters in size. The total number of people that can live here is 300 to 400 people can live here basically.>> SUMER SHAH: I have to see it first. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?>> VOICEOVER: For Ramesh and his father Sumer, the trade-off for the right to build a luxury apartment complex is to also build low-cost housing for uprooted slum dwellers.>> SUMER SHAH: It is lying with you, what can I tell you? The invitation is with you, so what can I say? Yes, send it to me. My chap is sitting there, so let him take the invitation with him. Yes, send it to me at my residence.>> VOICEOVER: This Bombay "jungle" is not only about the land, it is also about the bureaucratic system that has put the cart before the horse. Long before completing the low-cost housing, bulldozers began the slum demolition, further compromising already shaky living conditions.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: This wall was broken at that time by those bulldozers. The house is totally unbalanced now. It can fall on us any time. This house is not stable anymore. We are staying here at a big risk. The three walls are out of balance, in the living room as well. We are at great risk. We live in fear.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Mohammed, how much did you pay for the chickens? How much did you pay?>> MOHAMMED: It's 60 kilograms.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Have you worked out the calculations?>> MOHAMMED: Let me sell some and we'll see.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: But how will you work it out?>> MOHAMMED: Let the sale happen.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Will we at least break even? We owe people money. How will we manage to get rice and flour?>> MOHAMMED: We will return the money, but let's first earn and then pay back.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: How will we do this? At least work out the logistics.>> MOHAMMED: Let's at least make some sale. We can pay them back once we've made some money. We cannot sell at a loss, you know that.>> SAIRA BANO: Water leaks from everywhere, it's a big problem. I keep vessels here and there. I also cover the roof with plastic, but it is of no use as water seeps in from everywhere. We have been here for a long time now. My husband passed away here. I have two children, they both work. I came here because of my aunt Khurshida, and because of the bad situation in my village. Things were bad there. So I thought why not come to Bombay. Maybe I will be somebody, my kids will have a good life. It was a very poor situation over there. That's why we left.>> TITLE: Chandivali - relocation site for slum dwellers>> P.K. DAS: Look at Mumbai's demography. It's a city of approximately 12 million people. Of the 12 million people approximately 60 percent, that's about 7 to 7.5 million people, live in slums. They constitute the majority of the city's population. Unfortunately, due to lack of planning, we have not provided adequate land for housing of the urban poor.>> RAMESH SHAH: The level is up here. This is seventy-two. This is fifty-nine. The difference is one to one and a half meters.>> P.K. DAS: The idea of clusters, that's what we are working on. In clusters people will live as communities, or as groups together, the way they're used to living in their present areas. Apart from the clusters, we also have little neighborhoods with their own open spaces. Multiple open spaces form the main idea of this plan.>> UJJWAL UKE [CEO, Slum Rehabilitation Authority]: Suppose a railway, a road, or any vital public project has to be built. In such a situation the slum dwellers have to be shifted from that spot to another spot. Here we are having a situation where a whole complex is coming up with various facilities all earmarked for the people of the Sanjay Ghandi National Park. The land is needed by the Forest Department, because encroachments in the forest have to be removed. Instead of keeping them homeless, since these people have been staying here since first January 1995, it is the duty of the government to give them alternative accommodation, as per law.>> P.K. DAS: Let's say this is a slum pocket, filled up with slums. The policy says that the builder, who comes in and re-houses the slum dwellers into a part of this land, provides housing to them. The balance land that is available is then developed and sold in the open market. The profits provide housing for the slum dwellers. This is the logic, the principle. >> UJJWAL UKE: For a period of time the city does need the watchmen, it needs the postmen, the paper deliverymen, the taxi driver. These people can't afford housing of 600 rupees and above. They need houses of a smaller size.>> RAMESH SHAH: In 1990 we started this project. The last two are the end of number one and two Sumer Tower. Then we started with number three and four, and this is number five. I am going to build there also; we've already built Wimlachal Tower. On the next road we are building an identical tower, 22 floors high.>> TITLE: High Court>> VOICEOVER: In order for slum dwellers to be eligible for relocation, there?s a catch -- they have to prove that they?ve lived in the slum since 1995. And in order to prove that, they must verify their identity through official paperwork. The many who cannot produce documentation that proves their status as "somebodies" are caught in a desperate conundrum. Lawyer P.A. Sebastian sees the glaring flaw in a system that defeats the very citizens it relies upon to serve the privileged, and is passionate about helping them get access to their basic needs and fundamental rights as Indians.>> P.A. SEBASTIAN [Lawyer]: There's a system that generates slums. The people who stay in the slums are not responsible for that. The people who denounce them as criminals, trespassers, they are responsible. Their system has generated the slums, because it suits them. It gives them cheap labor and luxury. On 2000 rupees, no person can live in a place of his own which he legally possesses or owns. You can't do that. He has to live. You can demolish their houses because they are illegal. But you can't deport them. If you deport them, if you throw them out of the city, then there is no India. India ceases to exist.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: We did have electricity every now and then, but we do not have a meter here. Sometimes the electricity was given to us directly by the meter people. Then the forest wallahs cut the electricity lines. Now, we haven't had electricity here for three months. Not only in this house. The whole of Krantinagar is without electricity. The Forest people say, "Don't give them water and electricity." Because they are afraid that, once given to these people, they will not move from here anymore.>> VOICEOVER: By denying people shelter, water and electricity, authorities are actually denying their existence. The responsibility is on each individual to prove his or her identity. >> SAIRA BANO: I have to go to that meeting, but I don't have proof of any kind.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Of course you should go there.>> SAIRA BANO: But how?>> KHURSHIDA BANO: You will not achieve anything sitting at home.>> SAIRA BANO: That's true.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: You need a voting card. Otherwise nothing will happen. You have two kids. You really should go there. Now you don't have a ration card and you are not registered.>> SAIRA BANO: But no one ever told me anything. I have no idea what to do.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: You should go there. Otherwise nothing will happen.>> SAIRA BANO: But who will listen to me?>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Sitting at home, nobody will give you a house. Nobody is going to say, "Here is a house." You have to make an effort. >> VOICEOVER: People who have lost their papers, like Saira, feel so disenfranchised that the extra efforts that have to be made seem overwhelming.>> P.A. SEBASTIAN: They always complain. Residents have no place to walk on the sidewalk because trespassers, illegal occupants, occupy it. They say that the people in the slums pollute the air, and citizens can't breath good air, fresh air, clean air. Which means: They are citizens and residents, but the people in the slums are not citizens and residents. In the last three months not much progress has been made, but in Chandivali houses are being built. How many houses are being built there?>> MAN: Around 16,000 houses is the target. Of which 8,000 will be allocated as soon as possible.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: They have taken the money from us, by fooling us.>> P.A. SEBASTIAN: You can say this in court: That it is has been three months now, and there is still no water or electricity.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: I don't think the court will listen to us. The city just couldn't give us water and electricity. After we paid them, they came to threaten us.>> MAN: They think that you will refuse to move out when they give you water and electricity.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: How can we move away from here when we have nowhere to go?>> VOICEOVER: P.A. Sebastian encourages his clients to keep fighting for their rights and to be sure their papers are in order. Khurshida and Saira heed his advice by checking their status at the Rehousing Registration Office. >> TITLE: Rehousing Registration Office>> KHURSHIDA BANO: These are my papers.>> MAN: Your number is 715.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: That's right.>> MAN: Where is your voting number?>> KHURSHIDA BANO: The voting list is here. There is one from 1990 and one from 1992.>> MAN: And 1995?>> KHURSHIDA BANO: We voted then, but we don't have a receipt of that.>> MAN: Where is the 1995's voting receipt?>> KHURSHIDA BANO: I think this is 1990.>> MAN: There is a verdict by the judge. They will check whether you're on 1995's list as well. You have 1990, but do you have 1995's voting number?>> KHURSHIDA BANO: We have made an application for that.>> SAIRA BANO: My house was demolished, but I rebuilt it. I still live there.>> MAN: Have you paid money?>> SAIRA BANO: Money?>> MAN: To the Forestry people?>> SAIRA BANO: No.>> MAN: But you have a number?>> SAIRA BANO: My papers are -->> MAN: Did they put a number on your house? Even though bulldozers ruined it, you had to remember the number. The Forest guys gave a number to every house. That is, put it in their register. This authorizes a person to a house.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: During the tear down of our homes, there were a lot of police that beat us. They broke all the pots and pans into little pieces. >> MAN: This is forest land. You don't have any rights. The court decided: 1995.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: But they did not even listen to the court. They just started bulldozing. People have died. When Shabana came, they stopped. Thanks to the support we got, we are still here.>> MAN: Listen to what I have to say: I don't want anything from you. When your house is demolished, we will give you a new accommodation. We do it in a different way than the people of the Forestry Department. The Forestry people collected 7,000 rupees and filled their pockets. Their attitude is, "Just drop dead.">> KHURSHIDA BANO: I will look for them. I need those papers to take care of everything. Here they are. These papers need to be laminated. Will you keep an eye on the place?>> KHURSHIDA BANO: I would like to have these two documents laminated. How much will it cost?>> MAN: Twenty rupees.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: When can I get them back?>> MAN: In fifteen minutes. You really have to take care of these papers.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Yes, that's why I'm having them laminated.>> P.K. DAS: We opposed forced evictions. We demanded that a viable or an acceptable rehabilitation scheme must precede eviction. People have not merely come here to just get a house. They have come to work in the city and earn their living, which they can't earn back in their villages. So it's a question of livelihood. They can't be displaced from their income. It is a basic human right.>> SIGN: Slum Rehabilitation Authority - Reception>> UJJAWAL UKE: The Chief Secretary has given an affidavit in the High Court, and I will also be making an affidavit. Next week we meet and we take a final decision on this matter, because I don't think I can afford any further delays on this project.>> P.K. DAS: But Mr. Uke, this is a very unique example and -- one second. Let's discuss a few larger issues. This is a very unique project. It is a very interesting tripartite. This is going to be a model example for slum rehabilitation, at the same time, clearing up an area of the national park, which needs to be protected.>> UJJWAL UKE: In the past we've always had the SRA and the developer, the SRA and the NGO. This is the first time the three of us have come together for the benefit of the citizens of this city.>> VOICEOVER: While striving to reach their common goal in this unique joint project, tensions arise as each representative protects his organizational interests. Meanwhile, the community continues to wait for decisions to be made.>> MOHAMMED: 250 grams costs you twenty rupees.>> MAN: Give him five rupees. Are you happy now?>> VOICEOVER: As project delays continue, the slums also continue to expand, reaching deeper into the national forest and clashing with its wild inhabitants.>> SIGN: Wild animals in forests dislike sound of mobiles. Please switch off your mobile>> ASHOK KHOT [Ministry of Forestry]: By the end of March we have to remove them. Before that we removed already 20,000 encroachments. All these 60,000 people, when they encroached, along with them the dogs came, the chickens came. Then sheep, goats, then cows, buffalo, all these animals came. Leopards, like any animal, if they can get an easy prey, and for leopards the dog is one of the easiest preys. There were a number of dogs in the area where the attacks were taking place. About fourteen incidents of leopard attacks have taken place, in June. A lot of these attacks were taking place only in a remote place and late at night. I don't think anyone should enter in the forest. In another case, an early morning walker, he went into the deep forest at three o'clock in the morning. He was trying to do yoga. That is not a place to do yoga. Unfortunately he was killed while sitting there. This leopard doesn't attack a large animal, or a man who's walking. If a person is sitting, or if a small child is there, then he doesn't see the difference between a human being and an animal. He wants his prey, so it attacks. It is not the leopard's fault. It is the human being that is encroaching. The men, they're at fault.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: We are the residents of India. We have a right to be here. Everywhere in India, in Maharashtra, Delhi, Calcutta. Since we are born in India, we have every right to stay anywhere freely. Who are these people from the Forest Department to tell us to leave? Is it the property of the people from the Forest Department by birth? Indira Gandhi said India belongs to us all. We made her Prime Minister. She said that the whole of India is ours. Who are these Forest Department people to say that this land belongs to them? Has God decided that?>> WOMAN 1: They release tigers.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: And now our children suffer.>> WOMAN 2: These tigers are not from a circus. The Forestry people release them. There are a lot of tigers there. One tiger is enough to frighten people. They deliberately starve the tiger to death, so that it will attack.>> MAN: We all come from Krantinagar. Our neighborhood has been destroyed. This new housing project is taken shape under supervision of the Nivara Association. These clusters are numbered from one to six. A cluster consists of 16 buildings. On each floor there are seven apartments. The work starts early in the morning. Bamboo scaffolds are there for plastering that starts tomorrow. This means that 80 percent of the work is completed. Please, follow me.>> VOICEOVER: Ramesh pushes to complete the luxury towers. He is doubly invested in finishing them, since he and his father will profit greatly from them and will also live there themselves.>> RAMESH SHAH: This is going to be my living room, and this is going to be my dining. For formal occasions. This is going to be a guest room. This is going to be a regular dining room. A regular dining room for every day. This is going to be for every day and formal dinners over there. The view is excellent. From the Oberoi Hotel to Narriman Point you can see the buildings. I am going to stay here myself also. Nowadays I am staying with my parents. After all, my father is the owner of the house. So, I am going to stay with him. He is not going to stay with me.>> VOICEOVER: While Ramesh makes the luxury building construction his priority, Khurshida and her community must wait, and wait, and wait.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Sonu, please get me some milk and tea.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: They gave us false hope. They keep on saying we're getting a house soon, but we've been waiting five years. How much longer? We should be informed, for the sake of the future of our children. How much longer will it take? Today they say this, the next day something different. I really don't understand it anymore. I might go crazy here.>> MAN: The mafia and the police are in it together. Both knew precisely to whom this land belonged. Listen to me. Whose place is this? The police. Why would a cop want to sell this place? The mafia and the police let us build our home after taking a bribe from us. I'm telling you the truth.>> SAIRA BANO: We stay until we are being kicked out. When they start to demolish, we will see. Until then we will stay and live here. I don't have any other place to go anyway.>> SIGN: Slum Rehabilitation Authority, Fifth floor>> UJJWAL UKE: This is a joint scheme between the NGO, the developer, and the slum dwellers. You can say this is an agreement between us and the developer. Certain payments have to be made; on behalf of the developer, we are making these payments. We'll receive the check. But you have to pay this gentleman. There he is.>> P.K. DAS: Speaking about the devil.>> UJJWAL UKE: Come in. We were talking about certain things, which was short. Keep it off the record, please. While in this transition, we were talking about certain things, which I'm not officially supposed to tell.>> RAMESH SHAH: Mr. Das, this project we started in 2003. You know you too have to pay money sometimes. Why are you taking so much time? Because of this, the project is delayed.>> P.K. DAS: I'm sorry Ramesh; this decision to delay the project has arbitrarily been taken by you. Let me complete. I'm sorry to intervene.>> RAMESH SHAH: One second. We are talking about money from March and from January.>> P.K. DAS: I've got your point. You have arbitrarily decided to delay the project. This project is not singularly yours. This is a State Government approved scheme in the larger public interest, for the social priority of clearing the National Park and to start rehabilitation.>> RAMESH SHAH: You are saying, I am a developer. So what's that question about misleading?>> P.K. DAS: One second. The contribution that the slum dwellers are going to make is not for the total value of the project. It is less than about 10 percent of the total value of the project.>> UJJWAL UKE: My only concern is, we have to go on with the project, it has to be completed.>> P.K. DAS: We have come to an understanding.>> UJJWAL UKE: You have to narrow down the differences.>> RAMESH SHAH: And you pay! That's all. That's my only request.>> UJJWAL UKE: I believe that now, that you've narrowed down your differences.>> RAMESH SHAH: From their account, already, from my pocket, I have paid.>> UJJWAL UKE: I would not like to go into whatever your accounting differences are. My only request and desire is that you narrow down the differences and come down to a level by which you can see eye to eye, and start the project in earnest.>> VOICEOVER: Of course, all of this infighting eventually lands on those waiting to be relocated, year after year.>> RAMESH SHAH: That's not the issue. Okay, okay. I'll get back to you by the evening.>> VOICEOVER: Although Saira has not yet been able to qualify for relocation, she still has hopes that she can come through, for the sake of her children.>> SAIRA BANO: Our dream is to get a house, so we could all live there. My children are afraid that their mother will die just like their father. Once I can get my two children to marry, I can die peacefully.>> RAMESH SHAH: For slum people this location is too expensive. People are squatting here on the sidewalks. In principle, it is very costly to live here. Today the squatters are not paying anything for maintenance, for electricity. They are not paying any water taxes. They will have to start paying the water taxes and the electricity and all. Today they are getting it all for free.>> VOICEOVER: Expressing an attitude that is felt throughout the world, Ramesh represents the "haves," who simply don?t want to see those "have-nots." Not in their neighborhoods, not in development deals, nor anywhere in their community, except when they are needed to perform a service. But even if Saira?s dream is invisible, she is not. Nor are the basic needs of millions like her, regardless of their official status.>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Come, I'll show you the apartment that they're going to give me. I've seen it once already. It's in here. It's from here on. You can go in here. Come along, we're going inside.>> SAIRA BANO: Is there no door?>> KHURSHIDA BANO: This is the living room and this is the kitchen. This is the toilet.>> SAIRA BANO: But the toilet in the kitchen? Isn't that unhygienic?>> KHURSHIDA BANO: There will be an extra door. And there's a tap and all.>> SAIRA BANO: Two doors?>> KHURSHIDA BANO: Here you can open the doors and air it out.>> VOICEOVER: While Khurshida has a chance to step out of poverty, Saira?s future remains in question. When her home is bulldozed, where will she go? Without an official identity, the system that needs her labor denies her existence. She has no rights -- not to shelter, water, or electricity. Certainly not to her dream. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/life-running-out-of-control-2 In the mid 1980s, scientists unlocked the genetic keys to manipulating our world. Suddenly everything seemed possible! There would be no more hunger or malnutrition; diseases would be vanquished and poverty wiped out. But twenty years on the situation looks very different, especially in India. Watch the trailer on this page or the full documentary live on NDTV Profit or <a href="http://profit.ndtv.com/" target="_blank">profit.ndtv.com</a> 9/10 July Sat 10pm/Sun 5pm IST. Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:06:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/life-running-out-of-control-2 India, Biodiversity, Genetically modified organism, Agriculture & Food, Seedbank, Environment, Navdanya, NDTV Profit, Link TV Presents the World http://www.viewchange.org/videos/carriers Carriers is a compelling tale of five lorry drivers, their dreams, their lifestyles, and the parallel economy that links their lives to the rest of Indian society. The social exclusion of 6 million Indian truck drivers pushes them to risky behaviour and addictions. Watch the trailer on this page or the full documentary live on NDTV Profit or <a href="http://profit.ndtv.com/" target="_blank">profit.ndtv.com</a> 16/17 July Sat 10pm/Sun 5pm IST. Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:06:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/carriers India, HIV, AIDS, Sexually transmitted disease, Bollywood, NDTV Profit, Link TV Presents the World http://www.viewchange.org/videos/smile-pinki Winner of the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject), Smile Pinki tells the uplifting story of two young children in India born with cleft lips. Thanks to the efforts of Smile Train, an organization that pays for surgeries to fix clefts, thousands of children around the world are given a second lease on life every single day. Fri, 27 May 2011 08:02:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/smile-pinki India, Health, Cleft lip and palate, Poverty, South Asia, Smile Pinki, Smile Train, Varanasi, Education, Megan Mylan >> TITLE: The Smile Train created this film to raise awareness about the plight of millions of children who are suffering with clefts. Every year, we provide free cleft surgery for hundreds of thousands of these children. This is the story of two of our kids. Smile Train: Changing the World One Smile at a Time.>> TITLE: Principe Productions presents a film by Megan Mylan>> TITLE: Uttar Pradesh, India>> DOCTOR: We are offering surgery for children who have a cleft lip or palate. It's a free operation. If you know anyone -->> MAN 1: There is a boy in our village. He has a cut lip.>> DOCTOR: Has he had surgery?>> MAN 1: No.>> DOCTOR: That's why we're doing this. Please send him.>> MAN 2: Is the fee waived only for the check-up?>> DOCTOR: For the operation, medicine, everything.>> MAN 1: Everything is free?>> DOCTOR: Yes.>> MAN 3: Is the hospital here in Banaras? >> DOCTOR: Yes.>> MAN 4: Is it just one day?>> DOCTOR: Registration is one day, free surgery happens every day.>> TITLE: Smile Pinki>> DOCTOR: This picture you are seeing shows a child born with a cleft lip. I'll leave some flyers. If any of you find out there is someone like this, go tell their parents that they can get free treatment. It's nothing to feel shame about and the surgery is very simple. You will tell them?>> CHILDREN: Yes.>> WOMAN: There is a little girl.>> MAN: Close by, there is a girl with a cleft lip.>> WOMAN: Anjulata's little sister, right? What is her name?>> GIRL: Pinka.>> DOCTOR: Pinki? Okay, thank you. >> DOCTOR: Which one is Mr. Rajendra's house? >> YOUTH: Rajendra who?>> DOCTOR: Whose daughter has a cleft lip.>> BOY: Over there. >> DOCTOR: Are you Rajendra?>> RAJENDRA [Father]: Yes.>> DOCTOR: Is this your child?>> RAJENDRA: She got it because of the eclipse.>> WOMAN: While she was in the womb, there was an eclipse.>> RAJENDRA: It was God's will.>> DOCTOR: It will all be fixed. Why don't we sit down? See, I am affiliated with GS Memorial Plastic Surgery Hospital. On March 18th, we are setting up a registration day for kids who have a cleft lip or palate. We would like you to come on the 18th. We'll get her registered, do a diagnosis, and set a date for the operation. So, will you come?>> RAJENDRA: What can I say? I barely have enough to feed them. If I had money, it would already be done.>> WOMAN: That's it. They said when her teeth come in, we should get the surgery done.>> DOCTOR: But you can't?>> WOMAN: Of course not.>> DOCTOR: It's completely free. We operate all year long on as many kids as we can find. Okay? Does that sound good? You will go? So, how will you get there?>> RAJENDRA: We will walk to Araura.>> MAN: It takes three hours to walk to Araura. The rest, we'll have to find transport. We will make it one way or another. After the operation, when can we come home?>> DOCTOR: You need to stay in the hospital for seven days. >> MAN: Seven days?>> DOCTOR: What do you think about her future now? >> WOMAN: It will lift a huge burden from my head.>> DOCTOR: While you're there, you'll need to make arrangements for food.>> WOMAN: Yes, we will.>> MAN: Do we have to pay them any money?>> DOCTOR: No! You don't pay anything to the hospital. You just need to bring food. Hello. Yes, speaking. Yes, go ahead. Bring him in on the 18th. Please call me back in an hour or so. People donate money, that money comes to our hospital, and then we provide treatment to you.>> RAJENDRA: Since this is in Banaras, it should be quite clean.>> DOCTOR: Yes, it is a private hospital.>> RAJENDRA: Had I known, I would have brought her to you soon as she came into this world. But, I did not know. If it's done, she will be able to live a decent life and get married one day. >> MAN: There is a boy like that.>> DOCTOR: Where is he?>> MAN: Over there.>> DOCTOR: How old is he?>> MAN: About nine.>> MOTHER: Doctors in Banaras saw him once. We didn't get it fixed because he said it was dangerous.>> DOCTOR: Who said?>> MOTHER: His father. We were afraid of the surgery, so we ran from there. >> DOCTOR: There is no big danger. What danger there is in any little operation, this has that same danger. >> MOTHER: I am afraid for him. He is my son.>> DOCTOR: We do about twelve of these surgeries each day. There is nothing to worry about. When you go, you'll see. He's not the only one like this. Everyone is coming from far off on the 18th. We would like you to come sign-up too. >> WOMAN: There is nothing to be afraid of.>> DOCTOR: We do these operations daily. Every day of the year.>> MOTHER: My hands are tied. My husband is not here.>> GRANDFATHER: I am Ghutaru's grandfather. If she won't go with us, what can we do?>> MOTHER: I have a five-day-old baby. You tell me, how can I go?>> DOCTOR: Can we do this, take your baby with you, we'll make arrangements. If your baby stays with you, can you go?>> WOMAN: Don't be crazy. Get it fixed. His whole life will be better. >> MAN: They are not charging anything. You just need money for travel. It will help him get married too.>> MAN 2: You'll go?>> GHUTARU: Yes. >> MAN 2: Your grandpa will take you. Look, once it's fixed, look how it will be. This is your face, look how it's changed. SEGMENT 2 @ 10:26>> RAJENDRA: So, we'll go tomorrow?>> PINKI: Yes.>> RAJENDRA: You won't cry there, right?>> PINKI: Are they going to put stitches?>> RAJENDRA: Without money, how will I take you on the train?>> PINKI: I'll go on foot. >> RAJENDRA: If you walk you'll get tired. It's a long way. If your feet start hurting, I'll carry you in my arms. >> PINKI: I want to go with you.>> RAJENDRA: Yes. You'll go with me. >> PINKI: Will mummy go too?>> RAJENDRA: No, she can't go.>> MAN: So will you go?>> MOTHER: Yes, I am going to take the baby and go.>> MAN: With whom?>> MOTHER: Ghutaru, his grandfather. I need 500 rupees. When I come back, I'll return it.>> MAN: Who will give you 500?>> MOTHER: Mina's father.>> MAN: Okay, I'll go meet him. >> MOTHER: Tell him I'm giving the guarantee.>> DOCTOR: Remember this number, 165. That's for food. Two hundred and twenty two, remember 222.>> MAN 1: These numbers are the order in which the doctor will see you. What's her name?>> MAN 2: What town or village?>> MAN 3: Mirzapur.>> MAN 1: Do you have a phone number? Maybe a neighbor?>> MAN 2: No, this is an amount of money.>> MAN 3: Is that it?>> MAN 2: Remember your number. I am writing it down here. Your number is 416. Make sure you listen for your number, okay?>> MAN 1: How did you find out about this?>> MAN 2: From the newspaper. I had someone read it to me.>> MOTHER: It happened inside me, during an eclipse.>> MAN 1: When I found out that it was a boy, I was happy. But when I saw that he had a cleft, I felt sad.>> WOMAN: They just started crying when they saw her.>> MAN 3: I wished God had not given birth to him; that would have been better.>> MAN 1: The main issue is marriage?>> WOMAN 2: Where are we going to find a decent boy?>> WOMAN 3: I feel better now. I thought I was the only one who had a child like this.>> MAN 4: It feels strange; there are so many people like this.>> DOCTOR: What happened to her hands?>> FATHER: She works around the house, cooks and all. Her mother is dead. I am her father.>> DOCTOR: Have you married again?>> FATHER: No. I have four girls and two boys. If I marry, who will look after them?>> MOTHER: What can I say? When this child was born, my husband told me to leave.>> DOCTOR: Has anyone come with you? Is there someone here to help out?>> DOCTOR: The best age for surgery is three months. As they grow older it does not go as well. Three hundred patients have already come; we can't possibly operate on everyone right away. We'll give you as early a date as possible.>> DOCTOR: You have been given six months time, so that your child can gain weight. And a medication has also been written here, okay? You can get it from the hospital when you go outside.>> MAN: Seeing this makes me feel bad, but what you all are doing makes me feel very proud. SEGMENT 3 @ 20:11>> DOCTOR: Attention please! 416 Pinki, father Rajendra, please come to the counter.>> MAN: Go, go, go. Get your ticket, quickly.>> DOCTOR: How old is he?>> MAN: Eleven years. >> DOCTOR: Does he go to school?>> MAN: No, he used to go to school, but not any more.>> DOCTOR: Why doesn't he go?>> MAN: He can't speak properly so he doesn't go.>> DOCTOR: What is your name?>> MAN: Say your name.>> GHUTARU: Ghurtaru.>> DOCTOR: Can you hear properly? Can you count up to ten? You don't know? Pankaj! An earlier date will be better. Pankaj, try to admit him now. So once it's fixed, will you go to school? Okay, he'll go. Admit him.>> MAN: She's five years old? >> RAJENDRA: Yes.>> MAN: Was she the full nine months? >> RAJENDRA: Yes.>> MAN: Did her mother have any problems while carrying her?>> RAJENDRA: No. >> MAN: Does anyone else in the family have this?>> RAJENDRA: No. >> DOCTOR: How are you feeling? Any problems? You don't go to school?>> MOTHER: When he opens his mouth, he scares the kids.>> DOCTOR: You open your mouth and people get scared? Why do you run away? You should stay there and scare people. Do you go to school? Or are you off playing marbles? What do you play? What is he saying?>> MOTHER: To play the match.>> DOCTOR: You go to play the match? You know how to play cricket? Okay. Which player do you like? Sachin Tendulkar? And who else do you like?>> GHUTARU: That's it.>> DOCTOR: Nobody else? Once your lip is fixed, you need to either study or learn a trade at your aunt's. You won't play all day, right? Okay, his operation will be in a little while. Don't worry at all. Okay Ghutaru? Shall I go? Shake my hand?>> WOMAN: First of all, he will get lip surgery. Then in a few days, his nose will be operated upon. Have you eaten anything yet this morning? Not even water? Can you show me your stomach? Okay, it's completely flat. Are you all worried about his surgery today?>> MAN: We have faith.>> WOMAN: No fears? None?>> MAN: No fear. We're happy he's going to have it.>> WOMAN: Has it been difficult having a cleft lip? Do you ever look in the mirror? Once your lip is fixed, you'll look in the mirror and you will feel so good. Won't you? Why are you crying? Come on. Don't cry. Let's laugh. >> MOTHER: When she was born, I lost consciousness. I woke up and my sister said, "What did you do that this happened? Your other child is so beautiful, what have you done?" So I said, it looks like a monster's been born.>> DOCTOR 1: A monster's been born? Why did you think that?>> MOTHER: I used to get scared when I looked at her.>> DOCTOR 1: And what about your family? What was their reaction when the saw the baby?>> MOTHER: His family has never seen her.>> DOCTOR 1: They haven't?>> MOTHER: When she was born, they were unhappy. They said, your child's come out like this, you must leave. >> DOCTOR 2: So they hold you responsible as well?>> MOTHER: Yes.>> DOCTOR 1: Do you believe that too, that it was the mother's fault?>> FATHER: No.>> DOCTOR 1: The operation will take about an hour. Does she know what's going to happen?>> RAJENDRA: My daughter? At home, she said, "Let's go get my lip fixed.">> DOCTOR 1: Now that you're here, are you afraid? You feel fine? Not afraid? She's laughing. Who's this?>> PINKI: My daddy. >> DOCTOR 1: What is his name?>> PINKI: It's Rajendra.>> DOCTOR 1: And who's this?>> PINKI: Uncle.>> DOCTOR 1: And what's your name? Pinka or Pinki?>> PINKI: Pinki. >> DOCTOR 1: And what about you?>> RAJENDRA: I feel good. I'm happy, thank God, my daughter's face will be fixed. She used to ask to go to school, she'd grab her book bag, but then the kids started calling her cut-lip. >> DOCTOR 1: They call you cut-lip? What do the boys say? Okay. They call you cut-lip? So you won't go to school?>> DOCTOR 2: Pinki? It's time for her operation. I have to take her downstairs now.>> UNCLE: Right now?>> DOCTOR: You're Pinki's father? Her operation went well. She's absolutely fine. There is nothing to worry about. Her lip was fixed very well. No more worrying, okay? Have you eaten anything?>> RAJENDRA: I will eat after I've seen my child.>> DOCTOR: Okay, you'll eat after you see her. But she's absolutely fine. You can see her soon. >> DOCTOR: Hello, hello? Is this Mr. Ramkesh? What's your name?>> LALCHAND: Lalchand. >> DOCTOR: Talk to Mr. Lalchand.>> LALCHAND: Yes, the operation is over. Call Pinki's mother, will you? No, we did not have any kind of problem. The surgery is done. Everything went well. Yes, we'll call in the morning. Yes, we are all fine.>> MOTHER: You'll be all better in a few days.SEGMENT 4 @ 30:04>> DOCTOR: Which newspapers are you gentlemen with?>> JOURNALIST 1: Pioneer.>> DOCTOR: And you?>> JOURNALIST 2: Times of India.>> DOCTOR: Look at this one. This looks very complicated. In his case, this middle portion was protruding two inches. His lips have been joined from both sides; next we'll push this part down.>> JOURNALIST 1: So how normal will he end up looking?>> DOCTOR: Very. Almost perfect.>> DOCTOR: This is Ghutaru. Can you talk with us? He's had his palate operated, inside. And how are you?>> MOTHER: Good.>> DOCTOR: Was he going to school?>> MOTHER: No. >> DOCTOR: Will he go now?>> MOTHER: Yes, he'll go. He'll talk just fine now.>> JOURNALIST 2: How many patients have you operated?>> DOCTOR: Since 2004, we have operated on 6,000 patients. And now, we operate on 3,000 patients a year.>> JOURNALIST 2: What is the success rate?>> DOCTOR: Success rate is almost 100 percent. Success in terms of giving a good repair is 100 percent. The problem is a backlog. In India, there are a million children with these defects. And each year in India, 35,000 children are born with clefts. Most never get any decent treatment.>> DOCTOR: He's had his palate fixed. Is he feeling okay? Where are you from?>> MOTHER: Vashali district, Bihar.>> JOURNALIST 1: Is this defect as widespread in more advanced countries?>> DOCTOR: They have it there too, but in our region this problem is a lot more widespread. We see it more in poor families. The cause could be a nutritional deficit. What it is exactly, we do not know. What we do know is that it's a problem that occurs between the fourth and twelfth week of development. And it could even be genetic.>> DOCTOR: All the stitches have come off today?>> RAJENDRA: Yes.>> DOCTOR: And you're being discharged today?>> RAJENDRA: Yes. It's looking really good. It looks just fine. First class.>> DOCTOR: Will the other kids make fun of her now?>> RAJENDRA: No.>> DOCTOR: Are you excited to show people at home?>> RAJENDRA: They're not going to believe it.>> DOCTOR: You'll go to school now? Make sure you register her at the school.>> RAJENDRA: Yes I will.>> DOCTOR: Do you want to go home? You'd like to go home, right? Now when you go home, be careful that she doesn't hurt her lip in any way. Keep her safe and indoor for about ten days.>> UNCLE: Ten days or twenty?>> DOCTOR: Just ten, make sure she doesn't get hurt. >> ADMINISTRATOR: It's very important to clean the area regularly. You may call us at anytime, 24 hours a day, if you have questions. Everyone understands what I've said so far? So, since this hospital has helped your children, you have a responsibility to help other such patients. If there is someone among your relatives or friends, send them here immediately. Okay? Give 200 rupees and help them get here. You all come from every corner of this huge country. And if each of you can send five other patients, just imagine how many people can be cured. Without patients, a hospital is useless. You all are our heroes. Don't laugh. That's the truth. Does everyone understand? So will you send us patients?>> MAN: Pinki, smile Pinki.>> RAJENDRA: She's happy to go home.>> MAN: You're going home, right? Then laugh a little.>> RAJENDRA: We're going home, right Pinka?>> TITLE: Five months later>> TITLE: To help a desperate child who is waiting for cleft surgery, please visit www.SmileTrain.org. There are millions of children who need our help. And we need yours. Smile Train: Changing the world one smile at a time. >> DOCTOR: We're having a registration day in September.>> WOMAN: In Banaras?>> DOCTOR: In Banaras. [End credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/life-on-the-edge-silk-ceiling-part-2 Indian TV journalist Ritu Bhardwaj is visiting Bihar to continue her report on the 'Silk Ceiling,' the invisible barrier that holds back so many Asian women. She is documenting a local government initiative called Panchayati Raj that seeks to address gender inequality through economic and political empowerment. Mon, 16 May 2011 10:25:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/life-on-the-edge-silk-ceiling-part-2 India, Panchayati raj, Bihar, Gender, Education, Gender role, Government of India, Life on the Edge, tve, LinkTV Picks >> VOICEOVER: Anand's a man. And so is Shrish. Once a year they make a discovery: what it's like to be a woman. Here in Bihar state, like the rest of India, it's Navratri. Nine days of celebration and fun. But one person's here to work -- national TV journalist Ritu Bhardwaj. She's got something more serious on her mind.>> RITU BHARDWAJ [TV journalist]: Women sometime face a lot of problems, when you are perform as a woman, do you face any?>> ANAND KUMAR [Performer]: A lot!>> RITU BHARDWAJ: What kind?>> ANAND KUMAR: When we perform as women and go on the stage, men start to talk strangely and harass us. Because we are dressed as women, they start talking to us in a vulgar way. They think just because we are in a woman's form they can treat us like women, even knowing we are men. Performing as a woman while being a man is tough, especially with the way the men behave with us. I can only imagine how bad the plight of women must be. >> TITLE: Silk Ceiling>> VOICEOVER: Ritu is making a film about gender inequality, the Silk Ceiling that hangs above so many women in India and its Asian neighbors. >> RITU BHARDWAJ: Although women are sharing the workplace with their male counterparts and are enjoying financial freedom in cities like Delhi, Bombay, and Bangalore, their basic human rights are under siege in the country. Are girls a commodity? What's the basic thinking of the males in the society?>> TITLE: Women who don't own land or a house may be seven times more likely to endure violent marriages (source: Agarwal and Panda -- Kerala)>> RITU BHARDWAJ: So I just want to ask what's our society and our government doing in this direction.>> VOICEOVER: Ritu's come to Raghai, a village where men and women seem locked in old ways. Few women in South Asia own any assets. A new UN report claims it's one of the main reasons they're disempowered. But in Bihar, some villages have transferred land and property to women in return for government help and cash. It's part of a unique Indian experiment in local government called Panchayati Raj.>> SHRI BK SINHA [President, CENCORED]: In Bihar, the men migrate to work in different states, and because of this the women are the ones that actually do the farming. So we started a project where if the land and property holdings were transferred to a woman's name, then we would give the family access to various government schemes. A lot of men agreed to do this, even if some did not. The important thing is that the women felt confident they had ownership of the land they were tilling. It has been a great experiment.>> VOICEOVER: To see how great an experiment, meet Kiran Devi, named by her dad after India's top woman cop. At first glance she is an ordinary housewife, serving tea for friends. But the Panchayati Raj experiment isn't just about land rights, it's about a whole system of devolving government down to villages and at least a third of the posts are reserved for women. Now Kiran's life has been transformed. She's been elected sarpanch, or village head. What's more, supposedly backward Bihar has also established Gram Kacheri or "village courts," and Kiran runs this one. The case Ritu's filming, a woman's three sons are insisting she leaves land to them, not to her daughter. The decision is Kiran's.>> KIRAN DEVI [Village head]: We can only find out the reality on the ground once we investigate in your village.>> MAN 1: Of the land that our family owned, we were only given a third. And her father has given her some land as well.>> KIRAN DEVI: Listen, if her father has given her the land, it is her property. In more the half the cases women are able to file their own cases. The women are ahead on this. >> RITU BHARDWAJ: Do the men Panchayati members support you? >> KIRAN DEVI: Yes, the men do help us.>> VOICEOVER: Over 200 cases successfully resolved. Kiran's helping the whole village, but it's often women who need justice most. Enforcing their rights in big city courts can take up to ten years. And even here, women had to fight -- sometimes literally.>> KIRAN DEVI: After we women came to power, domestic violence increased a lot. The men didn't want the women to be on equal status with them, they didn't want them to stand in front of them, sit on a chair next to them, or talk to them. So this essentially sparked off a lot of domestic violence. But slowly, things started to improve. People started helping each other, especially seeing the women members across all Panchayats doing their work.>> VOICEOVER: Rights enforced by law and persuasion. Back in Delhi, Ritu is checking out some more Indian footage for her report. There are also stories of women valued. Ten-year-old Kavita is already learning her Dad's trade. It'll mean spare cash to help her train as a doctor. Sumalatha collects coconut milk -- girls are supposed to fall off. Suhag Khemlani doesn't need as ladder to climb her way up; she's already close to the top of her family tree. >> SUHAG KHEMLANI: When I got out of college, when I graduated, dad had convinced me that I would give techno-cleaning a six month trial -- and that was it, I just never left. I think I can do a much better job than a lot of the men I know in this industry.>> VOICEOVER: The role model Ritu's off to film today is Shanoo. Shanoo's a widow who supports three kids and her in-laws. She's broken into the male preserve of radio taxis.>> RITU BHARDWAJ: So how do you feel now?>> SHANOO BEGUM [Taxi driver]: It feels great. When a man is driving in front of me, he will point and say, "Wow! See, a woman is driving that car!" It feels great. I'm able to do great things without being a man. I've already decided, when my daughter turns 18, I will make her a driver as well.>> VOICEOVER: Just 19 women, Ritu learns, are learning to break through this silk ceiling. But it's early days. And it's not just driving they learn, but self-defense and language skills -- empowerment through employment.>> MEENU VADERA [Executive Director, Azad Foundation]: I actually believe that the girls who come to us have been through such adversity, they have struggled through so many difficult circumstances completely on their own. >> VOICEOVER: Back in the office, Ritu's widening her report out -- time for the big picture. In India, the Panchayati Raj system has empowered hundreds of thousands of women. But Ritu reckons more needs to be done. She's off to see a woman who has broken through the silk ceiling and is helping to plan India's future.>> DR. SAYEDA HAMEED [Planning Commission, Government of India]: See, the most important thing is the representation of women. Traditionally, we have had the Panchayati Raj, which has made over a million women become immediately enter the Panchayats. So politically, that has actually happened. But the next step is to get women into the state assemblies and the parliament, so you have women in the most important decision-making.>> RITU BHARDWAJ: Women in India have lesser property rights, so what is the government doing to ensure and increase the property rights of women in India?>> DR. SAYEDA HAMEED: The state is very conscious of the fact that real power will not devolve to women unless the woman becomes an owner of a property. And this is in every government scheme, if the woman has the patta, or the title is in the name of the woman, there are certain concessions.>> VOICEOVER: And for a final word for her report, who better than Ritu herself? A small-town girl from a modest background who is breaking through the silk ceiling.>> RITU BHARDWAJ: When men and women are considered equal, then the economy runs efficiently, and every individual can work for the development of the country. It is therefore important that India should work to improve the condition of women. The difference between men and women needs to be removed. The work that is being done in this area needs to be sped up, and there is greater need for intervention at a policy level. This is Ritu Bhardwaj reporting on India's "Silk Ceiling." http://www.viewchange.org/videos/life-on-the-edge-silk-ceiling-part-1 Ritu Bhardwaj is a star to the neighborhood kids of New Delhi. Not only does she help with their homework, she's a glamorous TV reporter. Her next big report is a documentary about the "silk ceiling" that hangs over many Indian women, narrowing lives and frustrating talent. Mon, 16 May 2011 09:25:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/life-on-the-edge-silk-ceiling-part-1 India, Gender, HIV, Delhi, Ayu Utami, Life on the Edge, Gender equality, tve, Auto rickshaw, LinkTV Picks >> TITLE: New Delhi>> VOICEOVER: In the apartment she shares with friends, 25-year-old Ritu Bhardwaj is expecting visitors. It's three in the afternoon, the kids are leaving school, but these kids are not going to play. One day Ritu wants to work for UNICEF. She's already helping underprivileged kids. Three days a week, she helps them with their homework. Ritu herself comes from a modest background in Haryana state, but here, she's already a star. >> KIRAN: When I grow up I will be just like you.>> MONIKA: I want to be like you when I grow up.>> VOICEOVER: Why Ritu seems so glamorous? She's made it, and in a country that doesn't always favor ambitious girls, no matter how hard-working. This small town girl is now an up-and-coming journalist on national TV channel News X.>> RITU BHARDWAJ [TV journalist]: This is Ritu Bhardwaj reporting on India's "Silk Ceiling.">> TITLE: Silk Ceiling>> RITU BHARDWAJ: In the smaller cities, like where I am from, the girls are basically facing, like, feticide, infanticide and discrimination, illiteracy. There are many problems they are facing. But in the metro cities like Delhi and Bombay, the basic things they are suffering are the right to survival or right to security. >> VOICEOVER: We gave Ritu a sneak preview of a new UN report about women in Asia: "Power, Voice And Rights." It shows women have a worse deal than men in politics, the law, and jobs, even when economies are booming. We followed Ritu as she made a film about the report for News X. There's plenty more source material in the papers. >> VOICEOVER: She starts by heading for Delhi's red light district. Ritu's chasing the story of "Rekha," as the press are calling her, a woman campaigning on HIV and child abuse who's been revealing the secrets of life in the sex industry, the sex trade where exploitation is most visible and shocking. At 25, Rekha's the same age as Ritu and has her own kids. She was rescued from a brothel in the red light area on GB Road. She became destitute in an earthquake in Latur, 1500 kilometers away. She was effectively held captive for seven years, and now battles with AIDS. Unlike many women here, Rekha has decided to tell her story. >> RITU BHARDWAJ: Where are you from, and how did you get here?>> REKHA [Former sex worker]: Well, I met this woman who told me that I would have to do what they wanted or else they would kill me. I insisted that they should let me go back home to Latur, and then they started to beat up my kids. When they started doing that, I was forced into this work. I was HIV positive, and at the same time I was also suffering from TB.>> RITU BHARDWAJ: Do you think that women are still weak in India and have not got rights in comparison to the men?>> REKHA: It is really tough for uneducated women, and many times there is no support for them from their families, especially if there are three or four children to be fed at home. >> VOICEOVER: Sad stories so far. But Ritu wants to show both victims and role models. So she's here to tell the story of Sunita. There are 40,000 auto rickshaw drivers in Delhi. Former child bride Sunita, who'd fled a violent marriage, was the first female auto rickshaw driver. >> SUNITA [Auto-rickshaw driver]: My whole family is uneducated. I have been driving an auto rickshaw for five years and some of my family does not know this. Society asks many questions. They ask me, "Why do you wear this work dress? Why are you in a man's role?" And, "You should behave like a traditional Indian woman!" I don't care for what society says, I let them say what they want. I am not the old Sunita, who wouldn't dare to leave the four walls of her house. >> VOICEOVER: Reverence for women -- in their right place -- goes back a long way in India. It's the festival of Navratri. For nine days men and women celebrate the incarnations of a female goddess. Warrior, mother of the universe. TV reporter Ritu's back in the office. She wants to widen her film out. Ritu's been talking to fellow filmmakers in Southeast Asia's most populous country: largely Muslim Indonesia. They've been sending her their own stories, the most high profile, a message from Ayu Utami. She's the leading novelist who shocked many Indonesians with the frankness of her language, by mixing political and gender issues and by making this personal declaration.>> AYU UTAMI [Novelist]: I choose not to get married, and I declare outwardly that I will never get married unless the marriage law is revised according to gender equality. >> TITLE: Indonesia's taxation law assumes the husband is the primary income earner. Marriage law assumes women are housewives (source: IFC)>> RITU BHARDWAJ: She's a very confident and very brave girl. Her thinking is really nice. In the society she's been a role model.>> VOICEOVER: Ayu's political message: even when women do have a stake in the economy, lack of political clout means they're easily manipulated. And subject to all kinds of discrimination.>> AYU UTAMI: Without the political power, without even access to decision-making, the woman's strength in economic life becomes vulnerable to being manipulated by others.>> VOICEOVER: Polls show that when women are selected as candidates, people will vote for them. But less than one in five of Indonesia's elected lawmakers are women. Perhaps that's less surprising when you consider one in seven adult Indonesian women still can't read or write. Back in Delhi, TV reporter Ritu knows the problems. Now she wants answers. And she's found some in Gujarat where some women are defying traditional roles. In Jambur village, women used to live -- well, much like women have done for centuries right across Asia.>> RITU BHARDWAJ: What was it like earlier and what happened next?>> NATHI BEN [Villager]: Our life was very tough. We had just one set of clothes; we'd go to wash it by the river. We'd first wash our clothes and after those dried we would wash our under-garments. After this we would head home and arrange for the firewood and then make the chappatis. Our husbands would come home and complain about the food not being ready. >> VOICEOVER: Ritu's here to meet the woman they like to call 'Hirbai Ben Lobhi' -- "Diamond of the Forest." The Forest Diamond and her friends formed a cooperative. Their savings fund businesses -- their businesses. Opposition, yes, but diamonds don't fade away. >> RITU BHARDWAJ: Did the people in the village try and help you or try and stop you?>> HIRBAI BEN LOBHI: Yes, they did try to stop me, but I didn't stop. I asked myself, "What do women need the most?" If women need money, and they don't have any property, the land belongs to the men and the houses also belong to the men. I figured then I need to ensure that the women also own some property. That way they at least have some confidence in themselves.>> VOICEOVER: Now, unusual in South Asia, 900 village women hold assets in their own names.>> HIRBAI BEN LOBHI: Today, through our women's cooperative bank, the women have access to money and the men come and ask their wives if they can borrow some money -- say 1000-1500 rupees. >> VOICEOVER: Jambur, Ritu finds, is a thriving village thanks partly to Heer and the cooperative. Money from the co-op even helps the village school. If more women went to school and got paid jobs, it's been estimated the Asia-Pacific region could be 90 billion US dollars a year better off. >> ZILU BEN: Thank God I am a woman! If I were a man I would have done nothing. It's because I am a woman that I can accomplish so much. I am happy to be a woman; I don't want to be a man! http://www.viewchange.org/videos/viewchange-the-mothers-index Being a new mom is rewarding and challenging. But what extra burdens do mothers in poor and rural communities face? Take a tour of the world's best and worst places to be a mom, in this report from Save the Children and ViewChange.org. Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:27:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/viewchange-the-mothers-index Save the Children, Maternal death, Child mortality, Childbirth, Pregnancy, Ashta no Kai, Education, Gender, Nepal, Malawi >> VOICEOVER: Next up: an all-new mother's day special. Being a new mom is rewarding and challenging -- but what extra burdens do mothers in poorer countries face? Come take a tour of the world's best and worst places to be a mom, in this new report from Save the Children and ViewChange.org.>> VOICEOVER: ViewChange is about people making real progress in tackling the world's toughest issues. Can a story change the world? See for yourself in ViewChange: The Mothers Index.>> VOICEOVER: You've heard the term "lottery of birth." More often than not, children born in rich countries win it, while those in poor countries lose. A child's life expectancy, health, education, and so much more hinges on where he or she happens to enter the world. But there's also a lottery of motherhood, and expectant moms in developing countries are facing the toughest odds. Every year, more than 350,000 women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth -- most, simply because they don't have access to basic delivery care. >>WOMAN: Push hard!>> VOICEOVER: And the ripple effect is dramatic: when a mother dies, her children are more likely to be poor, more likely to die before the age of five, or to drop out of school if they survive. But private aid groups and governments are working hard to change the odds in the lottery of motherhood. In Sierra Leone, a place that Save the Children ranks as one of the very worst places to be a mom, a new government program is trying to turn the tide, as we see in this short film from ViewChange.>> TITLE: Where Every Pregnancy is a Gamble. Lauren Malkani and Ami Vitale, Sierra Leone>> VOICEOVER: After a brutal decade-long conflict, Sierra Leone has the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the world.>> FATIMATA KONTE [Expectant mother, Kroo Bay]: My name is Fatimata Konte. I'm 36 years old. We women suffer too much. Women in Sierra Leone suffer too much! I've lived in Kroo Bay for four years. When I wake up at 5am I get out of bed, and the kind of pain that I feel is from my waist bone down to the bottom of my belly. I cough and I'm very sick. I'm really sick but it's like this for all women. From the day a child is born, she must work. Every day I must go to the market. There I have to bargain for fruits. It's a strain to go to the market. I must sell the fruit to have money to buy food to sell for the next day. It's all I can do to survive. I work for my daughter so she can go to school. She is in class four. I want her to learn. Let her learn. I want her to be somebody.>> DR. TAGIE GBAWRU-MANSARAY [Doctor, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital]: When a woman is educated she can take care of herself, she can take care of the children, she can take care of her husband, her home. It benefits the population, the family, and it will help Sierra Leone in the long run. I'm a medical doctor, house officer here at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital. When you're in school and you're studying to become a doctor, you read about all the fanciful techniques, all the wonderful drugs, the magic pills that you give to patients, all the different things that you can do as a doctor. When you come into the real world and you see that even basic things we don't have here -- the basic drugs, simple equipment -- and you are limited. At times you see a particular case and you think to yourself, if only I had this, if only I had that, I would have been able to save a patient's life.>> VOICEOVER: One in five children die before their first birthday, and one in eight women die during pregnancy.>> FATIMATA KONTE: I have two children and I've lost five, so this is the eighth pregnancy. So right now, I am remembering the past. I am worried this one can die too. My biggest fear is that this child will die.>> VOICEOVER: The one referral hospital in the capital of Freetown services a population of over 400,000 people.>> DR. IBRAHAM THORLIE [Doctor, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital]: Hello, good afternoon. My name is Dr. Ibraham Thorlie. In this hospital we have four gynecologists. One doctor can serve over 100,000 people.>> VOICEOVER: Though the hospital is severely understaffed, it is not the only reason so many people are dying.>> DR. IBRAHAM THORLIE: The delay starts from home. If a woman is pregnant, she wants to give birth, and the husband is not around, she cannot be taken anywhere without the husband coming, because he gives the money. If you come too late, we cannot help you.>> VOICEOVER: And, often, those patients who come too late are very close to death.>> DR. IBRAHAM THORLIE: It's a big dilemma. If the patient can pay you, then it's good. But when they cannot pay you, you need to help them.>> VOICEOVER: Rather than watching their patients die, many doctors and nurses like Rebecca pay for the worst cases from their own small salaries.>> REBECCA MASSAQUEI [Nurse, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital]: I'm a poor nurse. I don't have money to take care of this baby. But the baby should have died, because there was nobody to take care of the baby. So that's why I decided to take the baby. He will live to tell this story. So he's the victory child. That why I call his name Victor.>> VOICEOVER: Victor is one of the few lucky survivors in a place where so many die. However, the government has just launched a program providing free healthcare for pregnant women and children under five.>> DR. IBRAHAM THORLIE: Now things are picking up with the pronouncement of the free healthcare system. It's a big incentive and we hope that will surely bring a difference. But to sustain it is not an easy thing.>> FATIMATA KONTE: We women are all very happy that women will finally get treated.>> TITLE: On April 16, 2010 Fatimata Konte gave birth to a healthy baby boy.>> TITLE: [end credits]>> VOICEOVER: So where are the best and worst places to be a mom? For its "State of the World's Mothers" report, Save the Children studied 164 countries, and compiled a "mothers index." At the top of the index, women have what they need to thrive: excellent medical services, plenty of skilled health workers, and opportunities for education and advancement. But the gap between the top- and bottom-ranked countries is stark. At the bottom, one in three children suffers from malnutrition, and one in 30 women will die from pregnancy-related causes. And how does the United States stack up? Number 31. America's maternal mortality is the highest of any industrialized nation. >> VOICEOVER: But the study is also clear about solutions that work. And the very best solution for helping moms and children? More health workers on the front lines. The equation is simple: more doctors, more midwives and community health workers means more mothers and children surviving childbirth and the early years of life. Nowhere is this more clear than a place like Nepal, which is ranked 133rd on the Mothers Index. This ViewChange short film from Living Proof tells the story. >> TITLE: In one of the world's poorest places, the day a woman gives birth is the most dangerous day of her life, and her child's life. Can one woman and her baby beat the odds?>> TITLE: Dangerous Day. Living Proof, Nepal>> TITLE: Western Nepal >> TITLE: People scratch out a living in the Himalayan foothills, and life is hardest for women>> MAHESWORI: My name is Maheswori. I'm 19 years old. My husband went to India to work. Here there is no food, no rice, no nothing. Around here, there's no work. >> TITLE: Maheswori is pregnant and past due.>> MAHESWORI: I am very, very scared. Everyone has been asking about it, and that makes me even more scared. My first child was breech born, and I might just die this time. If I will live, I will live. If I will die, I will die. >> TITLE: The nearest hospital is four hours away. >> MAHESWORI: Some said take her to the hospital, some said drive her down. Everyone had opinions. But how would you get a car without money?>> TITLE: She plans to deliver in the same place she gave birth before.>> MAHESWORI: In November my daughter was born. I had the baby in our cow shed. >> TITLE: By local custom, mother and child are quarantined as "unclean.">> MAHESWORI: For 12 days after the birth, the baby and I were kept in the cow shed. On the 13th day we were allowed out. You can't take a newborn in the house, God gets angry. You're better off in the cow shed. >> TITLE: Because of Maheswori's high-risk pregnancy, an aid worker traveling with the camera crew makes a case to village elders. They consent to having a birth attendant, and she won't give birth in the cow shed. >> MAHESWORI: I am going to die. Oh my mother! I am dying ...>> WOMAN: Get me the gloves, quickly.>> MAHESWORI: I am dying ... am dying. Please ... I can't.>> WOMAN: It's a complete breech situation. Push hard!>> INDUKA KARI [CARE Program Officer]: She was completely unaware of the fact that she would need medical care because her first child was breech born. >> TITLE: She gives birth to another daughter, Seema. >> INDUKA KARI: If she hadn't gotten proper care by a trained birth attendant, she would've died. >> MAHESWORI: I'll rest for seven days, but then it's back to work. I have to pound the rice, carry water, cut grass, and chop wood. Life is tough here. >> TITLE: Living Proof. Real Lives. Real Progress. >> TITLE: In Nepal, 80 percent of births occur at home with no skilled birth attendant like Maheswori had. But support from global partners is helping train Nepal's 45,000 female health volunteers, and they are dramatically improving Nepal's health outcomes. >> VOICEOVER: If there's one overwhelming success story in maternal and child health, it can be found in Malawi, where almost half the county -- 40 percent -- lives in poverty. But, for years, the government has been investing in all sorts of new plans for life-saving care. The result? The number of deaths in children under five has been cut in half over the past 20 years. Malawi's striking results are strongly linked to efforts on the ground, house by house, community to community, to give mothers the support they need. Living Proof has this success story from Malawi>> TITLE: Grandparents Shaping Safe Childbirth. Living Proof, Malawi >> TITLE: Wacapati = Pregnancy>> TITLE: In Malawi, the word for pregnancy also means 50/50. Conventional wisdom says there is just a 50/50 chance a woman will survive childbirth. >> TITLE: Agogo = Grandparent>> TITLE: Agogos are known as the guardians of wisdom and are responsible for passing on tradition.>> TITLE: Can agogos help improve the odds of wacapati? >> TITLE: Ekwendeni, Malawi>> LYTON CHAWINGA: My name is Lyton Chawinga, and I have six grandchildren. I was born at home, in 1948. In previous days, pregnant mothers were using unsafe methods. Some would have their babies in grass huts. After giving birth, they would leave babies on the ground in the cold. We didn't know better. We had a lot of deaths. One day, hospital workers asked us to be a part of the Agogo Program.>> TITLE: The Agogo Program teaches village elders about proper natal care and helps agogos pass along those messages to their communities. >> LYTON CHAWINGA: We go to their house. We talk to both the man and the woman. We are here to chat with you about the importance of going to the hospital when you are pregnant. We show them pictures and tell them what can happen if they give birth at home. That the mother or baby can fall sick or die. >> WOMAN [Agogo]: After three months, start going for checkups. Escort each other. Many husbands refuse to escort their wives, which is not good. >> TITLE: Agogos also use traditional methods to teach modern messages. >> WOMEN: Pregnancy doesn't kill, the hospital is good, and all our children should be taken there.>> LYTON CHAWINGA: Deaths have decreased, diseases have decreased, and life has improved. I am really happy because if the student fails you are not a good teacher. I see fruits of what I teach and I am proud that I am a good teacher.>> TITLE: Living Proof: Real Lives. Real Progress. >> TITLE: With support and funding, 4,000 agogos have been trained in Malawi.>> TITLE: As a result, Ekwendeni Hospital has seen a 60 percent increase in pregnant women seeking antenatal care.>> TITLE: To accommodate them, the hospital is building a new, larger maternal ward.>> VOICEOVER: Access to health care isn't the whole story, of course. Helping women must include an investment in education. In rural Bangladesh, communities are learning the real value of empowering women. This film from Save the Children shows that giving girls a voice can be the most powerful solution of all. >> TITLE: Shilpi's Story. Save the Children, Bangladesh>> TITLE: This is Shilpi's story. Tiler Char, Barishal, Bangladesh.>> VOICEOVER: Shilpi's father died when she was very young. Her mother worked as a maid to support Shilpi and two younger sons. She earned only enough to feed them one meal a day. When Save the Children started the Girls' Voices project nearby, Shilpi joined. She met with other teenage girls to build self-confidence and learn new skills, like making a budget and saving money. Shilpi realized she could help support her family, even without working outside the home. She started her first business weaving mats. >> SHILPI: Later, I thought about how I could use the money I earn from weaving mats to do more. So I bought a small cow. After a year it gave birth. At that time we got 2 to 2.5 liters of milk from the cow every day. I sold that milk and used the money for my family. Later, when I had earned more money from weaving mats, I saved it. Our house was very small. It was awful to live there during the rainy season. So I decided we should build a new house. I sold the calf and used the money from my savings to build this house. If I had not joined "Girls' Voices" I would have been married by now, like all the other girls. Then I would not have been able to build such a big house or buy a cow. Now my plan is to buy a piece of land since we do not have any. The other plan I have is for my brother. Because he is handicapped, I am supporting his studies. That way he can get a job and earn his own living. My mother used to think if I had been a son instead of a daughter our life would have been much easier. But now she thinks "my daughter has done more for our family than a son would ever do.">> VOICEOVER: Around the world, communities are coming together, not only to save the lives of mothers and children, but to improve them. To give women real opportunities to change the courses of their lives. Basic health care can solve the most urgent crises, but a bigger sea change -- one that empowers women to learn, to marry later, and to decide when to have children -- will ultimately close the gaps in the odds that mothers face. Those changes are happening every day, country by country, and girl by girl. Sometimes, in places like India, something as simple as a bicycle can make all the difference.>> TITLE: Hubub Films Presents>> TITLE: Sone Sangvi, India>> TITLE: Pedal=Sight. Jacob Seigel-Boettner, India >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: My name is Bharati Phakad Date. I am 14 years old. I live in Sone Sangvi. I am going to Nimgaon Bhogi High School. I am learning in the ninth standard [grade]. My favorite actor is Mithun Chakrabothy because he always plays a humanitarian, someone who helps other people. My favorite actress is Rani Mukherjee. I like her husky voice. There are a lot of people who live on the streets. I will help them. There are so many people in this world who do not even get one meal a day. I will help them. >> TITLE: Pedal = Sight>> ARMENE MODI [Director, Ashta No Kai]: For about a couple of years, we only focused on adult women and literacy for them, and I noticed many of the girls who came to the class were very, very young girls with mangalsutra, which is a gold-and-black beaded necklace, around their necks, which in India is a symbol of matrimony, and they had babies on their hips, and I started to ask, "What's going on?" and, "Why are such young girls married off already?">> BHARATI'S MOTHER: My life, my generation, was full of darkness. I have to make sure that my daughters get a good education. It is our duty. If you are uneducated, then it is as if you only have one eye. >> ARMENE MODI: In many villages, there were only schools until seventh grade. There were no high schools. So we worked in 10 villages at that point of time, and there were only three high schools. So then I asked the parents, the mothers, "Well, what happens to the boys? How do you send the boys to school?" And they said, "Well, we give them bicycles." And I said, "Well, what about the girls?" And they said, "Oh, no. It's a waste of money to give a bicycle to a girl. She's going to turn around and get married." There's a famous Indian saying: Why water a plant that's going to grow in a neighbor's garden? So, I thought, my God, if it's only a bicycle that's keeping girls from going to school, let's go ahead and give it to them. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: The bike has been really useful. Now, the time that I save commuting to school can be used to study. Also, now I can ride to school with my friends. It's a lot of fun. I used to have to walk to school. >> BHARATI'S MOTHER: Initially, she had to walk to school. It took her more than an hour. Now she can ride to school in 15 minutes. She now feels very motivated and enthusiastic to attend school. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: I want to become a District Supervisor, because then I can make big decisions, and also have the power to implement them. I would be able to make decisions regarding the welfare of the poor and downtrodden. I would be able to help transform society. My name is Bharati Phakad Date. I am 14 years old. I live in Sone Sangvi. I want to eradicate poverty from this country. >> TITLE: [end credits]>> VOICEOVER: Like what you saw? Then visit ViewChange.org, Link TV's brand new multimedia website. Watch over 200 stories about new solutions to the developing world's biggest challenges, get involved with the issues, share the stories with friends, and help change the world, all at ViewChange.org>> VOICEOVER: To read the full 2011 "State of the World's Mothers" report, and to learn more about Save the Children, visit savethechildren.org.>> TITLE: [end credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/stepping-out-of-the-shadows-aravanis-in-india There is a long recorded history of transgender people in India, yet they have been harshly discriminated against since the days of British rule. Today, there are a significant number of people born with male bodies but who identify as female. Aunt Noori, undaunted by stigma, has emerged as a leading figure in India's fight against HIV/AIDS. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:38:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/stepping-out-of-the-shadows-aravanis-in-india India, HIV, AIDS orphan, Tamil Nadu, United Nations, Gender role, Transgender, Discrimination, Gender, AIDS >> VOICEOVER: She's known as Aunt Noori, a loving woman to these AIDS orphans, but Noori's life has been marked by years of pain.>> NOORI: In my mind, I know that I'm a woman. But as a transgendered person, I have suffered a lot in society.>> VOICEOVER: Like other transgenders, Noori considers herself female even though she was born with a male body. In southern India, people like her are called "aravanis." Born in a village in southern India, Noori started to display a feminine behavior at the age of ten. >> NOORI: My neighbors made fun of me, telling my father, "Your son is like a girl." He used to beat me badly. >> VOICEOVER: When Noori was 13 years old, her parents, upset by her behavior, stripped her, then poured sugar syrup on her, and left her tied to a tree with an army of ants on her body. A neighbor took pity on her, gave her clothes and told her to leave the village. That was the last time she saw her family. Like many aravanis, Noori was forced to leave home, eventually settling in Chennai, the capital of India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. Life was not easy. At one time, transgenders were accepted by society, says Asha Bharathi, a leading activist for aravani rights.>> ASHA BHARATHI: In the ancient days, there were transgenders. I can give you very good proofs from the literature, from the history that we were treated equally in the society. Because of our transgender and sexuality we were not discriminated. The discrimination started only after the British rule.>> VOICEOVER: Under colonial rule, Indian leaders passed a law prohibiting homosexuality. The law is still in effect in India today. Aravanis are often subjected to harassment and discrimination. >> ASHA BHARATHI: Why do we have discrimination? And we are punished for the fault of nature. Why should we be penalized? We are not special creatures come to earth from any other planet. Do we have two horns? We are like you.>> VOICEOVER: There is no official census on transgenders in India. Some conceal their identities and lead a double life. Others live openly. Some aravanis, choose castration as a definitive way to become a woman. Outcast by society, transgenders face lives of poverty and discrimination. To survive, many transgenders turn to commercial sex work. Noori was one of them. In 1987, she became infected with HIV. When she publicly disclosed her health status to a newspaper, she was rejected, once again, this time by her fellow aravanis. >> NOORI: They said, "Why did you go to the media? You're hurting our profession!" They tried to pour gasoline on me and burn me alive.>> VOICEOVER: That was the turning point in Noori's life. Ostracized by other aravanis, she abandoned sex work to become a peer worker to help those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. A country of one billion people, India ­- in its efforts to halt the spread of the AIDS epidemic ­- is reaching out to the communities most affected by HIV/AIDS. Supriya Sahu is the project director of the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society.>> SUPRIYA SAHU: We need to bring them out together, build their capacity, get them trained in some kind of vocational trade, so that they are economically independent.>> VOICEOVER: In 2001, with support from UNAIDS, Noori founded her own organization to provide care, not only to aravanis, but also to anyone struggling with HIV. It now provides care to over 1,700 people living with HIV. Patricia Chan prepared this report for the United Nations. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/protecting-the-ownership-of-indigenous-knowledge-in-india As herbal medicine becomes more and more popular, there is a growing rise in bio-piracy throughout India. The UN Development Program has hailed an agreement with the Indian Kani tribe that led to the commercialization of an herbal drug as a global model for benefit sharing. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 09:38:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/protecting-the-ownership-of-indigenous-knowledge-in-india India, Agriculture & Food, Traditional knowledge, United Nations, Commercialization of traditional medicines, Indigenous peoples, Herbalism, Kani (tribe), Convention on Biological Diversity, Traditional Knowledge Digital Library >> VOICEOVER: Found deep in the forest of southern India, this wild plant holds the power to fight fatigue and to improve the human immune system. For centuries, the Kani tribe has kept this plant a secret. Recently, they were persuaded to share their knowledge in exchange for benefits. Dr. Pushpangadan is the scientist who found out about the properties of the medicinal plant while on a field survey. >> DR. PUSHPANGADAN: At one point in time, my team got exhausted and we stood under the shade taking rest, but not these Kani boys. They said, "Sir, if you try these seeds, you'll get plenty of energy.">> VOICEOVER: And it wasn't easy to convince the Kani men to reveal the source of the plant. >> DR. PUSHPANGADAN: They said, "This is our secret, why do you want to know it?" I told them, "I tried it and it's very good. It will be even better for humanity. I want to share it with humanity." I made an agreement with the tribe that they would benefit.>> VOICEOVER: After reaching an agreement with the Kani, the commercialization of the herbal drug, "Jeevani" took seven years of intensive experimentation headed by Dr. Pushpangadan. The drug is an energy booster that also relieves stress and protects the liver. P.K. Parameswaran is the manager of the Arya Vaidya Pharmacy. >> P.K. PARAMESWARAN: It really is a wonder drug. No doubt at all.>> VOICEOVER: The Kani, once a nomadic people living an isolated and impoverished life in the forest, now receive half of the royalties from the sales of Jeevani, and their lives are improving. They have put the money in a trust fund for the benefit and welfare of the tribe and they have purchased a jeep. There is now a road connecting them to the outside world. The Kani have also built a community center, and for the first time they have a place to meet and discuss problems. Rajendran is the secretary of the fund. >> RAJENDRAN: We could not have accomplished all that without the income from these plants. We are all very happy.>> VOICEOVER: The Kani tribe is only one of the more than five hundred tribal communities in India. As herbal medicine becomes popular, there is a growing interest in their knowledge of wild medicinal plants. There's also a rise in bio-piracy. Their knowledge is often taken without their permission. In New Delhi, the government has set up the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library. It documents the medicinal properties of native plants in five international languages, aiming to ensure that patents are granted to the proper parties. V.K. Gupta is the head of the Library. >> V.K. GUPTA: Once we make it accessible to international patent offices, it will definitely prevent bio­piracy of the contents available in the library.>> VOICEOVER: The library, the first of its kind in the world, is a 30­million page encyclopedia that comprises only traditional knowledge taken from ancient written texts, not oral knowledge. >> V.K. GUPTA: We need another Traditional Knowledge Digital Library for undocumented traditional medicines.>> VOICEOVER: The United Nations Development Program hailed the agreement with the Kani as a global model for benefit sharing. The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, ratified by over one hundred and fifty countries, calls for the protection of the ownership of indigenous knowledge. The task of documenting thousands of years of traditional knowledge, and ensuring access and equity in the distribution of benefits is a daunting challenge. Patricia Chan and Alan Spector prepared this report for the United Nations. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/community-enterprise-in-india The Gram Mooligai Company Limited in India is owned entirely by rural villagers who gather and cultivate medicinal plants. Their work promotes sustainable harvesting and ensures community benefits. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:38:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/community-enterprise-in-india India, Agriculture & Food, Tamil Nadu, Herbalism, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations, Bangalore, Gender, Microfinance, South Asia >> VOICEOVER: In rural communities in India, gathering medicinal plants is a common way of making a living for village women who have no land or cattle. They worry about their future. But Kathammal is not worried. Six years ago, she invested USD$1 and bought 50 shares in a local company. Her investment has paid off. >> KATHAMMAL: In the first year, they gave us 1,000 shares. I'm hoping that the company will do well and I'll make more money.>> VOICEOVER: Founded in 2001, the Grama Mooligal Company Limited, or GMCL, procures medicinal plants from dozens of villages in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Most of the goods go to Bangalore to big manufactures such as Himalaya Herbal Healthcare, one of India's leading companies in this field. R. Manjunatha is a representative of the company. >> R. MANJUNATHA: We prefer buying herbs from GMCL because of the quality of the herbs they supply us. Secondly, they have a sustainable harvest, and thirdly, for the rural empowerment of women.>> VOICEOVER: India has over 6,000 species of medicinal plants known to local communities. Grama Mooligal Company Limited was created as part of an effort to conserve these plants by promoting sustainable harvesting and ensuring community benefits. Villagers like Kathammal have learned to avoid picking young plants, and have come to understand the standard of quality required by the market. >> KATHAMMAL: Our customers want us to separate the roots, remove the sand and stones. We sift through them to make sure that all of it is clean. >> VOICEOVER: Kathammal is one of the 800 stockholders of GMCL. This village enterprise, entirely owned by gatherers and cultivators, is an initiative conceived by the Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions and is supported by the United Nations Development Program. The company offers villagers a guaranteed price and comes directly to them to pick up their goods, a great convenience that saves the villagers from exploitations by market agents. The company wants to do more, says one of the directors, Adichi. >> ADICHI: We want to provide good quality medicinal plants and medicines to the world. This is our dream.>> VOICEOVER: The villagers have hired G. Raju, who is based in Bangalore, to manage their business. >> G. RAJU: We find that there is very little money in it. So we ventured into products.>> VOICEOVER: The company now produces seven kinds of medicine. >> G. RAJU: Our medicines are for cold and cough, for fever, for joint pains, which seem to be the set of health conditions that are affecting the poor.>> VOICEOVER: The company sold about USD$200,000 worth of herbal medicine last year, and hopes to sell half a million dollars worth this year. The medicinal products, ranging in price from less than five cents to a little over two dollars, are available in over 300 stores in Bangalore. Profits benefit villagers like Kathammal directly. >> KATHAMMAL: I have no worries about money or food today. If something bad happens, I can go to the company and get my money.>> VOICEOVER: This community-based enterprise has improved the lives of the villagers. Perhaps more importantly, they now have a sense of ownership and financial security with which to face the future. Patricia Chan prepared this report for the United Nations. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/shooting-poverty-april-6th Renu Takhellambam lost her husband to gun violence on the night of their second wedding anniversary, a result of a lack of international control in the weapons trade. She now works with family members of victims of armed violence, and fights for measures to prevent others from experiencing her pain. Wed, 23 Mar 2011 10:16:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/shooting-poverty-april-6th India, Ethnic conflict, Manipur, Arms industry, Change Makers, Poverty, Oxfam >> TITLE: Shooting Poverty and Drewstone Productions Presents >> TITLE: A film by Chandam Netraj >> TITLE: April 6th >> TITLE: Manipur is a small state in northeastern India renowned for its untouched natural beauty. It shares its national borders with Myanmar. >> RENU TAKHELLAMBAM: My name is Renu Takhellambam. I was born in the Moirang district of Manipur. My husband was born in Kwakeithel Ningthemkol, Paite Veng, Imphal. We have a five-year-old son. It was on Good Friday eve, April 6, 2007; my husband went out to buy a roll of film for our still camera. We were planning to take photographs at church and also for our son’s forthcoming birthday. Not long after, I heard the sound of gunfire. I was restless. I was worried about my husband because he wasn’t coming back. No one had the courage to tell me that my husband had been killed. He was killed on the charges that he failed to stop during a Police Commandos pursuit. The very next day we organized a general strike and formed a JAC (Joint Action Committee). It was devastating to me. We had been married for only two years. And now I am in this condition, having to support my son alone. Even my parents have disowned me because I chose to marry a Christian (inter-caste marriage). >> BABLOO LOITOGBAM [Director, Human Rights Alert, Manipur (HRA) Manipur, India]: When you take away the husband, the life of a widow becomes extremely difficult. The burden of bringing up a child alone is extremely heavy. And worst of all, they are often stigmatized as “family of the terrorist.” Every year we see more than five hundred people executed in the name of counter insurgency, counter terrorism natures. >> BINALAKSHMI NEPRAM [Secretary General, Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI) New Delhi, India]: Twelve Indians are killed everyday because of gun violence. Out of that, here in Manipur, three to four Manipurians are shot dead daily. >> VOICES: Don’t Kill Civilians >> BABLOO LOITOGBAM: Many of the unmet human needs, for decades together have resulted into a kind of protest, a militant protest using arms, calling for a revolution, or independence, or sovereignty. Therefore, in the process of repressing this uprising, brutal force has been used. As a result, the rebels gain legitimacy. Therefore, there is more militancy and more army. More army and therefore more militancy. This cycle of violence has been going on over and over. >> TH. RADHESHYAM SINGH [Superintendent of Police, Imphal East, Manipur, India]: These are arms that are seized by us during our operations. These weapons are coming from different countries across our border. We have a border with Myanmar that is very porous. Myanmar has an open market for arms and ammunition. Arms traders get these arms from Myanmar and bring it across the border. They are used in illegal activities such as extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and ambushes on security forces. >> BINALAKSHMI NEPRAM: As a result, women like Renu and countless others in Manipur as well as in different parts of the world, are suffering as a result of the fact that nobody at the international level is taking any steps to control this. These are the weapons with which wars are fought everyday. Look at a grenade for example; if you would check a grenade found in Manipur, you would probably find it’s Chinese made. >> TH. RADHESHYAM SINGH: We have these grenades; they are the latest models of grenade. Chinese grenades. There are plenty of these in Myanmar and the arms traders bring them to Manipur for the insurgent groups. These types of weapons are made in China. Made in Austria. Made in USA. However, it doesn’t come straight from the United States, it comes in from Myanmar. >> BINALAKSHMI NEPRAM: The United States of America, who probably has never heard of Manipur before, would be surprised that their M16s are a favorite among our insurgent groups. Every day in newspapers, you see weapons captured from insurgents or terrorists by our state forces. Most of our armed groups, including underground, own only 0.2 percent of the entire arms arsenal of the world. It is the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council who produce 88 percent of the world’s weapons. These governments are responsible for this irresponsible arms trade and it is there that they should try to make a difference. Every year, three hundred widows are created in Manipur. >> WOMAN 1: I have been left alone with two young children. Our land is currently under mortgage. We have been living day to day with no real means of livelihood. >> RENU TAKHELLAMBAM: I am currently working as a native evangelist. My in-laws have been very supportive of my work. We have formed an association for families of victims of armed violence (EEVFAM). This association helps people who have had family members killed. I am currently serving as the president of the association. >> RENA TAKHELLAMBAM: We should take the signatures of all the members. >> WOMAN 2: What type of family do you belong to? >> WOMAN 3: I belong to a nuclear family. >> WOMAN 2: How old was your husband when he was killed? >> WOMAN 3: He was thirty-three years old. >> RENU TAKHELLAMBAM: Young widows like us seek comfort by coming together and sharing our woes. >> BINALAKSHMI NEPRAM: Renu’s story is a testimony to the fact that women in Manipur have strength in them to come out of trauma and fight back for peace and justice. >> RENU TAKHELLAMBAM: April 6th is our wedding anniversary. Exactly two years after our wedding date, my husband was killed. We bonded and we parted on April 6th. This day is a landmark for me because it gave me the push to organize this important association for the victims of armed violence, and to create strength to fight for the peace and justice we deserve. >> TITLE: What will be on Renu’s mind when April 6th comes? April 6th comes every year. Help control the arms trade by showing that armed violence affects us all. Share your story. Add your voice. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/womens-bank Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanghathan is a "Women's Bank" NGO based in Kutch district in western India. This award-winning, locally-run microfinance project has not only helped village women achieve financial aptitude, but it has also boosted their confidence, helping them overcome social problems. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 21:24:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/womens-bank India, Microfinance, Gender, Gujarat, Kutch District, Millennium Development Goals, Gender equality, International Women's Day >> TITLE: Women's Bank>> MS. VEENA JOSHI [Project Coordinator, KMVS, Bhuj]: It was started in Mundra Taluka (Gujarat) in August 1994 while in Nakhatrana Taluka in May 1995. In Bangladesh, it was successful to reduce poverty, like that it also started in our country. ?Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanghthan? (Kutch Women's Development Organization, KMVS) was already working in these villages.>> MRS. JAVJIBA JADEJA [Vice President, Ujas proj.]: We learned a lot in this program since 1994. Our objective was to give relief from sahukars (moneylenders) debt and to give low interest loans.>> MS. VEENA JOSHI: If there are 20 individuals in a group, their savings capacity must be less, so a microcredit program would be useless. We thought, why don't we go into the concept of a Women's Bank.>> MRS. JAVJIBA JADEJA: We didn't know what a "bank" was.>> MS. VEENA JOSHI: After one year, we all got together for a meeting. It would not work in small savings like 5 to 20 rupees with few villages. So we decided to include more villages, 10 to 20, and 20 to 30... and we created a chain of villages. We fixed 30 rupees for the poor, with a minimum of 30 rupees and a maximum as they wish. So we will have more savings.>> WOMAN 1: I have saved since it started.>> WOMAN 2: Without savings, the bank would not work.>> WOMAN 3: More savings is only good for us.>> MRS. JASMIN GOGARI [Loan beneficiary and cloth merchant]: Yes, I saved first and I got the loan. Now I am a loan borrower of more than 37000 rupees.>> MRS. JAVJIBA JADEJA: If individuals and leaders take responsibility, then we would only approve loans. We are working for those who are not in reach of banks.>> MS. MALSHREE GADHAVI [Field coordinator]: They faced the dislike of men while they disclosed issues like alcoholism and domestic violence, and they tried to stop this union.>> MRS. JAVJIBA JADEJA: We never worked in pressure. >> MRS. JASMIN GOGARI: I took a loan only when I needed it, and I earned and paid them back. We all are ahead because of this bank. >> SIGN: This is to certify that "Ujas Mahila Sangathan, Gujarat" had participated in the Microfinance Process Excellence Awards, 2006>> TITLE: Concept & Created by Ankur Vora http://www.viewchange.org/videos/whos-the-farmer Women in India often spend most of their lives working on their husband's farm while never being able to own the land. This film looks at an organization that's attempting to redefine women as farmers and landowners. Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:10:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/whos-the-farmer India, Agriculture & Food, Gender, Gender equality, Agriculture, Uttar Pradesh, Farmer, ViewChange Online Film Contest >> TITLE: Kisaan Kaun? Analyzing Women's Roles as Farmers >> VOICEOVER: Who is the farmer in your family? >> WOMAN 1: My husband. >> VOICEOVER: Who is the farmer in your family? >> WOMAN 2: Both of us. >> MAN 1: The head of the household is the farmer. >> WOMAN 3: Well, I do the work but my husband is known as the farmer. >> VOICEOVER: What does a man do on the farm? >> MAN 1: The farmer ploughs his land. >> WOMAN 1: A woman does all the work in agriculture. She goes to the fields and does the digging, irrigating, reaping and weeding. A woman does all of the work in agriculture. >> NEELAM PRABHAT [State Coordinator, Aaroh Abhiyaan, Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group, Uttar Pradesh]: From ancient times, life has been based on agriculture. So this agriculture based lifestyle includes not only men but women too. Looking at the past, we have understood one thing completely. That women are not only doing this much in various parts of the country, but are also ploughing their fields, driving tractors, catching fish, taking the produce to the market, going to the Mandi committee. So when women are doing all the work, why are they not recognized as farmers? >> VOICEOVER: Is your land in your name? >> WOMAN 1: No. >> WOMAN 2: I don't own the land. >> WOMAN 3: No, I don't have any land. >> MAN 1: My father owned it earlier. He died. Now I own it. >> VOICEOVER: Does your wife work on the farm too? >> MAN 1: Yes she does. >> VOICEOVER: So shouldn't she own the land? >> MAN 1: No, my wife doesn't own it, its mine. >> NEELAM PRABHAT: The biggest need right now is to define and redefine women's land rights, legally and constitutionally. The land laws should be amended. The Succession Act should be amended. The inheritance law should be amended. Now a new legislation should be passed for a law to ensure that a wife gets joint ownership of her husband's farmland. >> NEELAM PRABHAT: The land which is our own, the house in which we spend 40-50 years of our lives, for which we have worked so hard, why don't we own that house, that land, that property? Women are farmers too. They are the pride of the nation. >> TITLE: A Special Thanks to Vilma, Simlo, Rekha, Tripta, Gayatri, Jagori Grameen, WAVE http://www.viewchange.org/videos/water-pressures Average rainfall in the Thar Desert region of Rajasthan, India, can be as little as two inches a year. Having access to water in the area determines the difference between getting an education and living a life that revolves around spending the majority of the day walking to get water. A local NGO has teamed up with villagers to build wells and provide the local population with clean, safe drinking water. This has given many young people the freedom to learn and grow. Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:33:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/water-pressures India, Rajasthan, Water & Sanitation, Women's rights, Water security, Millennium Development Goals, Drinking water, Environment, Millennium Villages Project, Freshwater >> TITLE: Water Pressures >> TITLE: Deja Bi: 98 years. Water is her story. Saltwater. Since 12 years old, Deja Bi has walked nearly 6 hrs a day to fetch water. Neither Deja Bi, her children, nor grandchildren attended school. Water and work have always been priorities. Water they DO have access to is salty and causes illness. >> TITLE: Manju: 18 years. Manju also fetches water. Sweet - fresh water. Manju's well is 50 feet from her home. It is covered and clean. Water is just the beginning of her story. >> KANUPRIYA HARISH [Executive Director, Jal Bhagirathi Foundation]: Manju is one of our community producers. From about fifteen, twenty girls she was interviewed, she was selected. >> TITLE: The Jal Bhagirathi Foundation provided the wells for Manju's village and school >> TITLE: They also provide media training for Manju and other students interested in telling community stories >> KANUPRIYA HARISH: She was a very, very shy girl. I mean the Manju that you see now is someone who's developed over six months. >> TITLE: Only 20 minutes separate these two women >> TITLE: But 80 years and a world of opportunity stand between them >> TITLE: Saltwater >> DEJA BI: My stomach hurts from the saltwater. I get diarrhea. I can't drink it. I don't have time here. This is the time of dying. So, I shift to the graveyard - to the grave. >> TITLE: Sweetwater >> KANUPRIYA HARISH: She's a different girl. She was a different girl when she had come her, but now she's very different, very confident. >> MANJU: I especially enjoy roaming the villages, talking to villagers. Whatever main issue the villagers speak of, that is what we make our film about. Mostly they speak about water problems. But things ARE improving greatly. >> TITLE: The difference is water. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-the-rickshaw-bank There are 8 million rickshaw pullers in India. Most spend years paying high rental fees and never succeed in owning their own vehicles. But Pradip Sarmah has designed a new type of rickshaw that is helping some of the hardest-working people in India obtain a better reward for their labor. Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:49:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-the-rickshaw-bank India, Rickshaw Bank, Rickshaw, Pradip Sarmah, IIT Guwahati, Ashoka, Guwahati, Cycle rickshaw, Indian Institutes of Technology, Change Makers >> TITLE: Everyone a Changemaker>> TITLE: The Inventor-Entrepreneur as Pioneer, System Changer, and Role Model for Future Generations. >> TITLE: India>> TITLE: There are 8 million rickshaw pullers in India. Most spend years paying high rental fees but never succeed in owning their own rickshaws.>> TITLE: This is the story of the creation of a new, ergonomic, and inexpensive rickshaw in Guwahati, India>> PRADIP SARMAH [Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow]: In the year 2002, once I traveled with a cycle rickshaw in Guwahati. He never owned it [the rickshaw] and yet he rides this rickshaw for 16 years. If I could come out with a new design of rickshaw, with a bigger space on the back side, and I could sell that space to a corporation, he could have been the owner of that rickshaw by the end of the year. >> TITLE: As a result of his innovation, nearly 4,000 rickshaw pullers are now riding lighter, safer, and more affordable vehicles, all featuring income-generating advertisements (so drivers can afford to finance and own their rickshaw), meanwhile receiving social benefits, such as accident insurance and health care.>> PRADIP SARMAH: So, with that idea, I approached Indian Institute of Technology to develop a new rickshaw design, and very interestingly the corporations then came forward to sponsor 100 rickshaw advertisements. The new designed rickshaw has three dimensions: the technical dimension, the financial dimension, and the social dimension. The new designed rickshaw, which is running in Guwahati or even in other parts of the country, it's 40 percent lighter than the traditional rickshaw. The base is lower, the gravity is well centered. It's well covered for the both rickshaw pullers, as well as the passengers. The back space we are using as an advertisement cost, helps us a lot, giving support to the rickshaw driver. Traditional rickshaws can move in a very high speed. But here, purposefully, we have controlled the speed, and that's why, as of today, our rickshaw has never tilted over. >> TITLE: Pradip Sarmah continues to advance the social, financial, and the technological systems for rickshaw pullers. He is currently working on implementing the Soleckshaw, a motorized rickshaw driven by solar battery power, which will ease the physical burden placed on rickshaw drivers. >> TITLE: Rippling created by Ashoka and the Magnum Foundation, with support from The Lemelson and Woodcock Foundations>> TITLE: [end credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/planning-for-the-forests-future In Northern India, the Bhalyani forestry department is taking an inclusive approach to environmental management. In this video, members of the local community tell the story of how they helped to establish the different facets of this sustainable project, including some of the challenges they faced. Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:35:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/planning-for-the-forests-future Forest, India, Sustainable forest management, Himachal Pradesh, Joint Forest Management, Kullu, Forest management, Sustainability, Deputy Conservator of Forests (India), Paonta Sahib >> VOICEOVER: Bhalyani Panchayat is a collection of small villages that lie high in the mountains above Kullu. The area was included in phase one of the ODA [Official Development Assistance]-supported Sustainable Forest Management project in the mid-1990s, which was extended to more areas of Himachal Pradesh in phase two. The overall objectives of this project were to engage the participation of communities in forest management and conservation, tasks that had hitherto been carried out exclusively by the Forest Department. But local contexts make a difference to how policy translates into practice.>> DEVKI DEVI [Member, Bhalyani Joint Forest Management Committee]: On the day of the meeting, the forest officials, the Pradhan, and the whole community were there. They told us that there was new a plantation project that we should work on.>> JAI CHAND [Forest Guard, Himachal Pradesh Forest Department]: We gathered people together, and told them that the forest officials can't work alone because it's the villagers who damage the forest. They can save it and they can harm it. So we brought them together and told them that we want to save the forest, and we need everyone's participation in the project.>> VOICEOVER: The project was a challenging change of direction for the Forest Department's frontline staff. Previously their role was to police the forest, but now they were being asked to abandon their uniforms for village visits, and play a social development role.>> JAI CHAND: At the beginning, we couldn't get people together. They'd say: "This is the Forest Department's work, it has nothing to do with us." Then we decided to speak to a few men so they would pass the message on, and then people started to get together. We asked for the village leaders or rich men and told them about our work. Then they explained to others: "This work affects us also, and we should work with them [the Forest Department]." Then the elite men showed other villagers the destruction in the forest, and said: "Look, this is the kind of damage." Then people got together at their request.>> VOICEOVER: Like the Forest Department, the community also had to get used to this more consultative approach. However, once they understood what the Forest Department was asking of them, they had to prioritize for themselves where the forest conservation and erosion control work on offer was to be carried out.>> DAVLAT SINGH [President, Bhalyani Joint Forest Management Committee]: There are members from every village [in the panchayat]. Each village decides where to put grass, where seedlings and other work are needed. Because everyone has an opinion, we decide these things in meetings.>> VOICEOVER: Ensuring that everybody's views are represented is a challenge in any community, as all too often the rich and more powerful have undue influence on decision-making, which can sometimes lead to conflict. However, in this project, consensus appeared to be the norm.>> DEVKI DEVI: One person's opinion isn't taken over by another's in our meetings. We all speak amongst ourselves, and then begin work.>> DAVLAT SINGH: No, there's never been any trouble. It doesn't happen, because we all work together with the same goal.>> VOICEOVER: As a result of the project, grazing and lopping of trees for fodder was restricted in five hectares of forest, which were enclosed for natural regeneration. Saplings were supplied for a new two-hectare plantation, and two check-dams were built for soil conservation. Generally, people seem to like the new way of working.>> JAI CHAND: I think it's going well. What could be better than this? I believe that working with the people is the best way.>> DAVLAT SINGH: It's like this: unless we work together with the Forest Department, the work won't succeed. The Forest Department alone won't do anything like planting seedlings, or planting grass, unless we want to work together and support them. Because in areas where the Forest Department has done work before and the villagers didn't participate, it didn't work. For instance, where they have enclosed seedlings, if villagers let their animals graze there, how can it succeed? If we villagers agree and want to save it, then we should support them. With this support, those seedlings will grow, and the grazing in the forest stops.>> JAI CHAND: This is a good method. Before, people used to do a lot of lopping. But now I'm seeing that people are starting to do the right thing in the right way. It won't stop completely, but there is less harm being done to the forests.>> VOICEOVER: The Sustainable Forest Management Project wound up in 2001, and was followed by the DFID [UK Department for International Development]-supported Himachal Pradesh Forest Sector Reforms Project in 2003. This project extended the reach of participatory planning beyond forestry, and took a livelihood-centered approach to the design of micro-plans for the development of whole panchayats. Although led by the Forest Department, State Planning, Agriculture, and Rural Development Departments were also involved. The first step was to find out quite quickly what communities needed, and then they drew up "micro-plans.">> FARHAD VANIA [Team Leader, Himachal Pradesh Forest Sector Reforms Project]: This is linked to previous phases of the project, when "participatory rural appraisal" (PRA), as it was originally called, and now it's called several different names, came into the forest sector. There are focus group discussions that are held, there's some amount of resource mapping that happens, there's also assessments of trying to put priority: people are basically given to understand that there's a limited amount of resources, and there's a lot of things that you could put those resources down into. On priority, what is it that a community would like to do? And that becomes a collective participatory decision that then comes into the micro-plan.>> VOICEOVER: The project is taking place in only 85 panchayats of some 3,200 in Himachal Pradesh, which by Indian standards is a relatively well-off state. With its livelihood focus, this second phase of intervention is targeted at the poorest panchayats in the state. Mangarh Panchayat, a few kilometers from Bhalyani, is one.>> NAGIR CHAND [Forest Guard, Himachal Pradesh Forest Department]: We applied a few PRA tools in making the micro-plans. We made a social map and we did a transect walk. Then all the information we got was put into the micro-plan.>> SHABAN LAL [Group Organizer, Mangarh]: We got some paper and we recorded all the needs of a particular ward: this is needed; this kind of work should be done. Then we gave the paper to the project staff. They put up notices and we had more discussions about what we should do in the ward. We then incorporated this into the micro-plan.>> NAGIR CHAND: There were difficulties at first. About a quarter of the people understood, but three-quarters didn't. They didn't know what the problems were. They didn't understand how to do the PRA, or what it was about. This is because there's a lot of illiteracy here, there are only a few literate men. But after many meetings, people are beginning to understand.>> VOICEOVER: According to the Forest Guards, low literacy levels in a community affect not only how long it takes people to understand the objectives of the project, but also how much people participate, and whose voices are heard, especially when it comes to planning and prioritizing projects from the limited resources available. But once people saw the material benefits, their attitudes seemed to change, although some compulsion was needed.>> SHABAN LAL: Everyone was involved. This project has a special focus on the poor. In the ward development committee that we formed, we included more poor people, those who are downtrodden because of poverty.>> NATHI DEVI [Secretary, Mangarh Self-Help Committee]: First we'd ask, "What's in it for us? Nothing." We thought, "You're wasting our time." But now they tease us and say, "Look at your savings and how much you have sold!" So we've changed our minds. For example, compost is good. We can use it in our fields and don't have to buy it.>> SHABAN LAL: Most people in the ward were with us. There were a few men who didn't support us, saying, "It's not like this; it won't happen like that." But we went to their homes and spoke with them. We asked them to come to our meetings, and told them, "That's how it is and if you don't abide by it, we can take you to court and file a claim against you." We believe that it's vital to have people's support in this area. So we told them, if you don't join us, we'll exclude you from many other things. So now they have joined, and we don't have some people doing whatever they please. There's no problem now.>> NATHI DEVI: They do act on some of our ideas and some of their own. But sometimes we need to go along with them. Isn't that how it is? We follow what we believe to be true: those who tell the truth.>> SHABAN LAL: What's happening is what they want. It's not just what the important village men want that's listened to and followed.>> VOICEOVER: For the Forest Guards, the planning process itself helped to ensure that the real needs of the community were addressed, rather than those of a vocal elite. The micro-plans set out clearly and publicly the community's priorities.>> NAGIR CHAND: The micro-plans have been very useful. We can understand the actual position and get a clear view about what conditions are like. We understood all this through the PRA. We need to focus on people who depend most on the forest. When they have sustainable livelihoods, then the pressure on the forest will be reduced, and I think this will benefit our natural resources.>> FARHAD VANIA: Micro-planning itself has been tried in different sectors in India, but now is almost a decade and a half that it's been tried in the forest sector, and it becomes a sort of an institutional record of the expectations of a community. Now again here also, there are, in the use of these tools, there are challenges. Often staff haven't ever done micro-planning, so we have to give them some amount of orientation, some amount of training, and then they go out and do it, and they don't necessarily get it right the first time around. So there's a learning that happens in that, both for the communities as well as for the departments who are trying to do this kind of planning.>> VOICEOVER: Paonta Forest Division lies on the edge of the lowland plains close to the border with Haryana, and was not involved in the phase one ODA Sustainable Forest Management Project. Its focus is to harness forest resources directly for income generation and livelihoods.>> PUSHPENDRA RANA [Division Forest Officer, Paonta Sahib]: Sustainable forest management was an issue, was a concept that was always there, but now sustainable forest management has to be a little bit more purposeful in having the needs and the demands of the public in view. There is a need to establish the linkage between sustainability of the resource and how you can link the sustainability of the resource to the sustainability of the livelihood of the people.>> VOICEOVER: Palhori is a group of scattered hamlets set out along a river valley, which leads into the neighboring state of Haryana. The people here are mostly itinerant herders from scheduled castes and tribes who live at subsistence level. Involving them in the planning of their community's development is a new challenge.>> YASIN ALI [Forest Guard, Himachal Pradesh Forest Department]: There were several steps to this. A few officials from the project explained the process in a meeting. The pradhan was present, and all the people living in the area. At the meeting they were asked, "What would be the best way to protect the forest, a way in which both you benefit and the forest is maintained?" Then a working plan was made that included the people's suggestions.>> VOICEOVER: In Pushpendra Rana's view, the people's needs are so basic and obvious that there was no need to go through a detailed and time-consuming micro-planning process. This was finding out very fast!>> PUSHPENDRA RANA: The dominant problems were visuals, there was no need of any long format, or questionnaires, or anything. What we did, we just went there, we just identified a few problems, after having a series of meetings with them, we run through each problem with them, identify the problem, we worked on their solutions: how can that problem be solved, and how that particular problem can turn into an opportunity to generate forest-based livelihoods.>> RAGHUVEER SINGH [Pradhan, Palhori]: Here, people's main occupation is raising animals. People meet their household needs by selling them. The animals need fodder. Before, you could find fodder nearby, but now it's becoming scarce. And that's why people thought we should focus on fodder for our animals first, and on our river. There used to be a lot of water in our river; it met our needs, and people grew fodder plants in their fields. But now the water in the river has decreased. So we decided to focus on both water and fodder, because both these things are decreasing.>> SIGN: H.P. Forest Department Office. Divisional Forest Officer. Paonta Sahib Forest Division.>> VOICEOVER: After deciding on the needs, groups were formed to plan and oversee the actual implementation.>> SIGN: Prosperity through forestry>> PUSHPENDRA RANA: As budget was the limit, and activities were more, we just told the public, we just floated idea that only those activities would be taken which would be protective in nature and will help in sustainability, and help in your generation of forest-based livelihoods.>> RAGHUVEER SINGH: They made groups. Four or five small groups were made in this village. In those, people decided that we want a well first, or hand pumps, or to make a plantation. All of this was based on the group's wishes.>> YASIN ALI: The people's demands were listened to. Before, projects would come from the top, whatever the government decided would be done without considering whether it would benefit people or not. But now, projects are planned with the people. If people want certain work, they say, "We need this work done," and the Forest Department proceeds with that in mind.>> VOICEOVER: The project has brought very obvious physical benefits to Palori in terms of improved water resources and plantations. But whether it has made a lasting impact on the community's ability to participate in sustainable forest management remains to be seen.>> RAGHUVEER SINGH: When the group committees were set up, people were told that this project would run until December 2006. After that we'd have to look after it ourselves, but the Forest Department would assist us. People do have some knowledge now, but they need more awareness about the forest, so that the work that has been done in the forest progresses.>> TITLE: In the village of Barog Beneri, the forestry project involves local women>> HARI SHASAN VERMA [Forest Ranger, Himachal Pradesh Forest Department]: In our region, Paonta, the most backward [poorest] panchayats were chosen to participate [in the Himachal Pradesh Forest Sector Reforms Project]. The plan's aims included both the well-being of people and the well-being of the forest. The department encouraged people to contribute, and with them we were able to develop a very good plan in which both the needs of the department and of the public could be addressed. We received a great deal of support from people to do this.>> DAMYATI SHARMA [Bharog Baneri]: When the DFID project first came, they called many people to join in. So then the DFO, the Forest Department, suggested that the focus should be on work that keeps the forest healthy, and that allows people to earn something, so that people can benefit too, and seedlings are protected. So we thought that, years ago, we used to work with palm leaves. A few women in the village do this and make things to use in their homes, and they sell any surplus. So I suggested that this could be expanded, if the women were ready to be involved.>> PUSHPENDRA RANA: What we think [is] that women can protect forest better if they are dependent on the forest. They are the first to go to the forest and meet the needs of the people for fodder, for the milk, the cow dung, and everything, the entire concept, because the household living is run by women, and that women we haven't ignored.>> VOICEOVER: The Forest Department set up a workshop for the women to do palm weaving, organized training, and appointed field coordinators to assist with marketing. After a good start, some social conflicts emerged.>> PINKI [Coordinator, Palm Weaving Project]: The palm group started off well, but then there was a problem with the accounts. The secretary's accounts weren't transparent. She wouldn't discuss her expenses with the group: where money was spent, how much she paid for things. The group didn't get this information, and because of this, they wanted to change their secretary.>> PUSHPENDRA RANA: What happened, two or three women, they became very strong, and what they tried to do is they tried to utilize the entire group for their own purpose. And they were high caste women, so low caste women, they get separated now.>> ASHA DEVI [Bharog Baneri]: At first we were fine. Then there was some problem with the money or with materials, and then the meetings became a bit difficult. Then they insulted us; they said that people from scheduled castes are like this, like that. They said many insulting things. Then we thought, "It's us that are making the items, and you are putting your names on it." We told them this, but they didn't agree, so we separated. Since then we've formed a good group and things are running well.>> DAMYATI SHARMA: At first nothing happened; everyone was working together. I don't know what happened between them. A few women said, "This woman," the one who keeps accounts, the secretary, "is from a different panchayat." They didn't raise an objection at the start, but later said that, "This women is from a different panchayat, we don't accept her." The DFO said that there is no question of objecting, so then we decided to split the group. We said, "Those who want to go in that group, go; those who want to be in this group, stay." For me, there's no problem; it's up to them how they want to work. I have no objection.>> VOICEOVER: The crisis forced some hard talking and some changes in the way the groups worked.>> ASHA DEVI: Since then, things are running well and we are making even better things. Many women come, the previous members come, and they make the products even better. It's running even better, everyone comes.>> PINKI: One important thing is that the secretary and pradhan who are chosen are completely transparent with everything and everyone, and discuss everything with the group: what's happening, what's not happening. Because of this, we made lots of changes to our record system. Every month she [the secretary] will discuss how much is being spent and on what. They'll be audited four times, a self-audit, to see how much they have made and what they have spent in three months, and after that we will have a full record of the outcome for the year. Transparency is the first rule.>> PUSHPENDRA RANA: It's a social mobilization, it is a social organization. It will take time. It will not happen in one or two years that we will find that everything will be okay. We have to work to remove their differences, we have to work on social agendas, we have to work on their political issues, some of the political-economic issues we have to discuss and elaborate and to work on them, then we can definitely have results. We have to educate them also, we have to make them aware that these resources are for their common purpose, nobody can have an agenda on a particular resource which is common for them. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/waterhealth-international-improving-access-to-safe-drinking-water Installing public water purification systems in India can create unforeseen benefits, such as reducing the amount of money poor families have to spend each month on expensive medications. Wed, 03 Nov 2010 09:45:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/waterhealth-international-improving-access-to-safe-drinking-water Water purification, India, Drinking water, WaterHealth International, Acumen Fund, Andhra Pradesh, Water & Sanitation, Health, Water, Foreign Assistance >> TITLE: People seek dignity, not dependence. Choice, not charity. Which is why we invest in entrepreneurs who are building transformative businesses to serve the poor. >> TITLE: Acumen Fund. Health, Housing, Water, Energy, Agriculture>> TITLE: Nehru Nagar Colony. Andhra Pradesh, India.>> PRABHAVATHI DASARI [Customer, WaterHealth International]: Earlier, my family had regular vomiting and diarrhea, but now it's under control.>> TITLE: 140 million people in India lack access to safe drinking water. >> TITLE: Families, especially women and girls, spend long hours collecting water from local water sources, and end up with water that is not safe for consumption. >> TITLE: WaterHealth International, an Acumen Fund investee, is changing this. >> ALLURU BUJANGARAO [Plant Operator, WaterHealth International]: Earlier, there was no water purification system. The community would drink either pond or well water and would have a lot of difficulty. This water is not clean. It's dirty. It has fish. It has fungus. It has algae and also micro-organisms. This water, after being processed, is happily taken by the community. >> SIGN: WaterHealth India>> PRABHAVATHI DASARI: I have faced a lot of challenges in getting my children to this point. I worked as an agricultural laborer and stitched clothes to provide an education to my children. Now, I stitch clothes. Earlier, I started with pipe water, then we would get it from the pond or well. And then later, we would get water from the Panchayat [local government] tap. The water quality is bad, so we would boil it before drinking. But now, we are getting WHI water and are healthy. Earlier, when we would fall sick, we would spend USD$11 to USD$33 for medicine each month. Now, we're spending a lot less. Everybody should be healthy; that's why we require safe drinking water. >> TITLE: Acumen Fund first invested in WaterHealth International (WHI) in 2004. >> TITLE: By the end of 2009, WHI had built more than 280 community water systems in India, providing more than 300,000 people access to safe drinking water every day. >> TITLE: Tell a friend. acumenfund.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/husk-power-systems-bringing-sustainable-electricity-to-rural-india An innovative new type of generator that runs on discarded rice husks is bringing power to parts of rural India that were previously thought "economically impossible to reach" with electricity. Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:45:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/husk-power-systems-bringing-sustainable-electricity-to-rural-india India, Energy development, Electricity, Energy poverty, Bihar, Electrical generator, Technology, Acumen Fund, Rice hulls, Foreign Assistance >> TITLE: Acumen Fund. Health, Housing, Water, Energy, Agriculture>> TITLE: KB Drip Irrigation Systems>> PRAHLAD LAXMAN GOREY [Farmer]: Look at these chili plants. They don't have any fruit on them. My neighbor's plants have started growing chilies, but my plants haven't even flowered yet. This is probably because of better irrigation on his farm. You can see the difference between these two crops even though they were planted right next to each other. Drip irrigation seems to increase flowering and improve yield. >> MACHINDRA BHOJE [Farmer]: To see how drip has helped, you can look at these two chili crops planted side by side. Some of his plants have flowered, some have not; my plants, on the other hand, have ripe chilies on them. His plants don't have any on them. That's the benefit of drip. >> INTERVIEWER: Did you get help installing it?>> MACHINDRA BHOJE: I didn't ask anyone. I went to him. He had a piece of drip tape and showed me how to install it. I came home and, well, he said that if I paid him Rs 200 for labor, he would send someone to do the installation for me. >> INTERVIEWER: You did it yourself?>> MACHINDRA BHOJE: I said I can just do it myself. This year, I planted early and used drip. This year with bad rains, it's unlikely that anyone would have had a similarly good harvest without drip irrigation. It's thanks to drip that I have such a good harvest this year. >> TITLE: Tell a friend: acumenfund.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/a-better-harvest-through-drip-irrigation Modern agricultural techniques tend to focus on helping farmers with large fields (and more money to spend), but an innovative, inexpensive drip irrigation system, developed with investment from the Acumen Fund, is helping smallholder farmers in India dramatically increase their crop yields. Mon, 01 Nov 2010 07:45:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/a-better-harvest-through-drip-irrigation Drip irrigation, India, Agriculture, Irrigation, Acumen Fund, Water & Sanitation, Agriculture & Food, Chili pepper, Foreign Assistance >> TITLE: Acumen Fund. Health, Housing, Water, Energy, Agriculture>> TITLE: KB Drip Irrigation Systems>> PRAHLAD LAXMAN GOREY [Farmer]: Look at these chili plants. They don't have any fruit on them. My neighbor's plants have started growing chilies, but my plants haven't even flowered yet. This is probably because of better irrigation on his farm. You can see the difference between these two crops even though they were planted right next to each other. Drip irrigation seems to increase flowering and improve yield. >> MACHINDRA BHOJE [Farmer]: To see how drip has helped, you can look at these two chili crops planted side by side. Some of his plants have flowered, some have not; my plants, on the other hand, have ripe chilies on them. His plants don't have any on them. That's the benefit of drip. >> INTERVIEWER: Did you get help installing it?>> MACHINDRA BHOJE: I didn't ask anyone. I went to him. He had a piece of drip tape and showed me how to install it. I came home and, well, he said that if I paid him Rs 200 for labor, he would send someone to do the installation for me. >> INTERVIEWER: You did it yourself?>> MACHINDRA BHOJE: I said I can just do it myself. This year, I planted early and used drip. This year with bad rains, it's unlikely that anyone would have had a similarly good harvest without drip irrigation. It's thanks to drip that I have such a good harvest this year. >> TITLE: Tell a friend: acumenfund.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/women-empowered-learning-to-lead Filmmaker Phil Borges travels to India to learn about an innovative education program called Udaan. It targets girls who missed out on education earlier in their lives. They not only master skills, but also find their voices and prepare to become leaders in their communities and nation. Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:39:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/women-empowered-learning-to-lead Gender equality, India, Education, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Women's rights, Human rights, CARE, Rural area, Gender >> TITLE: Learning to Lead >> TITLE: Orissa, India. >> TITLE: Of every 100 girls in rural India, only 18 will reach the 8th grade, and only one will complete high school. >> TITLE: An uneducated girl risks a higher rate of maternal and child mortality, will likely marry before her 15th birthday, may never know her basic human rights. >> PHIL BORGES [Documentary Filmmaker and Photographer]: Of the millions of children around the world who never get an education, the majority are girls. Chanmani is one of these girls. She's never seen the inside of a classroom. Her chores begin at four in the morning. Then, with her sisters, she spends a few hours making rope for the family business. Around eight, she heads to the rice fields, where she'll work until sundown. Chanmani's parents say they don't see the benefit of educating their daughters. Losing the girls' labor would be a hardship for their struggling family. Furthermore, it's customary for a girl to move away after marriage and become a part of her husband's family. Many parents conclude that educating a girl is just a poor investment. >> TITLE: There are nearly 900 million illiterate adults in the world. Two-thirds are women. >> PHIL BORGES: Beginning in 1999, India made a bold commitment to educate all children through grade six. I came to India to see how this developing country, with its huge, diverse population, was accomplishing this monumental task. Today, the number of schools has increased dramatically, but the capacity to deliver a quality education, still has a long way to go. I listened in on a group of mothers as they expressed their concerns. They weren't quite sure what their children were learning. They too wondered if the time diverted away from the daily chores, was really worth it. The classrooms I saw were overcrowded with children of all ages. As the students recited memorized lines, I began to understand some of the parents' concerns. >> TITLE: Uttar Pradesh, India >> PHIL BORGES: CARE is supporting India's historic commitment to education with a unique program called Udaan. >> TITLE: Udaan: Accelerated Learning Camp >> PHIL BORGES: Udaan was especially developed to reach older girls, who had missed out on an education. My first day visiting this exceptional program was a revelation. From the moment I entered the classroom, I was amazed by the students' engagement. Here I was, a Westerner, who they rarely see, poking around with a video camera, and I didn't disrupt their focus. I was told these girls come from some of the poorest families in India. Before Udaan, most had never seen a school. In just 11 months, they're brought up to a 5th grade level. I asked Vandana, one of the teachers, how this was possible. >> VANDANA SRIVASTAVA [Udaan Instructor]: We employ a multi-track teaching method, and use games to make the learning fun. We not only teach reading, writing, and math, we [also] strive to teach them social skills, and make a space for them to express themselves. We want them to be critical thinkers, to be able to speak with confidence and voice an opinion. It's a very intense curriculum, but it works. Ninety-six percent of students finish Udaan, and 89 percent go on to secondary school or college. When the girls first get here, they are shy and unable to express their own thoughts. It's wonderful to see them, as they start to care for themselves, and assert their own ideas. Watching them begin to blossom is so exciting. >> TITLE: Pinki Sharman, Udaan Graduate 1999 >> PHIL BORGES: Pinki was a graduate of the very first Udaan class and is now in college, and has her own apartment. This level of independence for a young single woman is extremely rare in her town. >> PINKI SHARMAN: When I go home, all my friends ask me about college. They can't believe I can live alone. My life is so foreign to them. My best friend Shenasi's marriage was arranged when she was 14. She did not want to get married, and pleaded with her parents to let her study further. I told them I would give her my old books, but they didn't agree. Someday I want to be able to help the girls in my village go to school. >> TITLE: Shailendri Sharma, Udaan Graduate 2004 >> PHIL BORGES: Like Pinki, Shailendri is an Udaan graduate. At first her parents were hesitant to send her away to school. Now they're amazed and proud of her new confidence and how well she speaks. Shailendri is about to graduate from grade 12, and taking a computer class after school. >> RAM VATI [Shailendri's Grandmother]: In my day, girls did not get educated. I got married when I was 11, to someone chosen by my parents. Shailendri has changed so much. She has become a role model for other girls in our village. Now they want to go to Udaan. >> PHIL BORGES: Today, the educational landscape across rural India is changing. Thanks to the government's commitment to education, and schools like Udaan. Udaan teaching methods, developed by CARE, are a model of success for classrooms all across India. But most importantly the Udaan graduates serve as shining examples to those in their villages who weren't quite sure why a girl needed an education. >> TITLE: Shuman 17, Sonashri 18, Udaan Graduates 2004 >> TITLE: By 2015, CARE aims to help 10 million girls in 20 countries complete primary education and develop leadership skills. They, in turn, will be able to guide their families and communities out of poverty. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/ted-jacqueline-novogratz-a-third-way-to-think-about-aid The debate over foreign aid often pits those who mistrust "charity" against those who mistrust reliance on the markets. Jacqueline Novogratz proposes a middle way she calls patient capital, with promising examples of entrepreneurial innovation driving social change. Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:00:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/ted-jacqueline-novogratz-a-third-way-to-think-about-aid Patient capital, Jacqueline Novogratz, Pakistan, Drip irrigation, TED, Acumen Fund, Foreign Assistance, Economics, South Asia, IDE India >> TITLE: TED Partner Series presents TED@Slate>> TITLE: Remarkable people, unmissable talks, now free to the world>> TITLE: TED: Ideas Worth Spreading>> TITLE: TED@Slate: New Ideas for a Better World>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: Clearly we're living in a moment of crisis. Arguably the financial markets have failed us and the aid system is failing us. And yet I stand firmly with the optimists who believe that there has probably never been a more exciting moment to be alive. >> TITLE: June, 2009. Washington DC>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: Because of some of technologies we've been talking about. Because of the resources, the skills, and certainly the surge of talent we're seeing all around the world, with the mindset to create change. >> TITLE: Recorded at U.S. State Department>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: And we've got a president who sees himself as a global citizen, who recognizes that no longer is there a single superpower, but that we've got to engage in a different way with the world. And by definition, every one of you who is in this room must consider yourself a global soul, a global citizen. You work on the front lines. And you've seen the best and the worst that human beings can do for one another and to one another. And no matter what country you live or work in, you've also seen the extraordinary things that individuals are capable of, even in their most ordinariness.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: Today there is a raging debate as to how best we lift people out of poverty, how best we release their energies. On the one hand, we have people that say the aid system is so broken we need to throw it out. And on the other we have people who say the problem is that we need more aid. And what I want to talk about is something that complements both systems. We call it patient capital.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: The critics point to the USD$500 billion spent in Africa since 1970 and say, "And what do we have but environmental degradation and incredible levels of poverty, rampant corruption?" They use Mobutu as metaphor. And their policy prescription is to make government more accountable, focus on the capital markets, invest, don't give anything away. On the other side, as I said, there are those who say the problem is that we need more money. That when it comes to the rich, we'll bail out and we'll hand a lot of aid. But when it comes to our poor brethren, we want little to do with it. They point to the successes of aid: the eradication of smallpox, and the distribution of tens of millions of malaria bed nets and antiretrovirals. Both sides are right. And the problem is that neither side is listening to the other. Even more problematic, they're not listening to poor people themselves.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: After 25 years of working on issues of poverty and innovation, it's true that there are probably no more market-oriented individuals on the planet than low-income people. They must navigate markets daily, making micro-decisions, dozens and dozens, to move their way through society. And yet if a single catastrophic health problem impacts their family, they could be put back into poverty, sometimes for generations. And so we need both the market and we need aid.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: Patient capital works between, and tries to take the best of both. It's money that's invested in entrepreneurs who know their communities and are building solutions to healthcare, water, housing, alternative energy, thinking of low income people not as passive recipients of charity, but as individual customers, consumers, clients, people who want to make decisions in their own lives. Patient capital requires that we have incredible tolerance for risk, a long time horizon in terms of allowing those entrepreneurs time to experiment, to use the market as the best listening device that we have, and the expectation of below-market returns, but outsized social impact. It recognizes that the market has its limitation. And so patient capital also works with smart subsidy to extend the benefits of a global economy, to include all people.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: Now entrepreneurs need patient capital for three reasons. First, they tend to work in markets where people make one, two, three dollars a day and they're making all of their decisions within that income level. Second, the geographies in which they work have terrible infrastructure. No roads to speak of, sporadic electricity, and high levels of corruption. And third, they are often creating markets. Even if you're bringing clean water for the first time into rural villages, it is something new. And so many low-income people have seen so many failed promises broken, and seen so many quacks and sporadic medicines offered to them, that building trust takes a lot of time, takes a lot of patience. It also requires being connected to a lot of management assistance. Not only to build the systems, the business models that allow us to reach low income people in a sustainable way, but to connect those business to other markets, to governments, to corporations -- real partnerships if we want to get to scale.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: I want to share one story about an innovation called drip irrigation. In 2002 I met this incredible entrepreneur named Amitabha Sadangi from India, who'd been working for 20 years with some of the poorest farmers on the planet. And he was expressing his frustration that the aid market had bypassed low-income farmers altogether, despite the fact that 200 million farmers alone in India make under a dollar a day. They were creating subsidies either for large farms, or they were giving inputs to the farmers that they thought they should use, rather than that the farmers wanted to use. At the same time Amitabha was obsessed with this drip-irrigation technology that had been invented in Israel. It was a way of bringing small amounts of water directly to the stalk of the plant. And it could transform swaths of desert land into fields of emerald green. >> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: But the market also had bypassed low-income farmers. Because these systems were both too expensive, and they were constructed for fields that were too large. The average small village farmer works on two acres or less. And so Amitabha decided that he would take that innovation and he would redesign it from the perspective of the poor farmers themselves. Because he spent so many years listening to what they needed not what he though that they should have. And he used three fundamental principles. The first one was miniaturization. The drip-irrigation system had to be small enough that a farmer only had to risk a quarter acre, even if he had two, because it was too frightening, given all that he had at stake. Second, it had to be extremely affordable. In other words, that risk on the quarter acre needed to be repaid in a single harvest, or else they wouldn't take the risk. And third, it had to be what Amitabha calls infinitely expandable. What I mean is with the profits from the first quarter acre, the farmers could buy a second, and a third, and a fourth.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: As of today, IDE India, Amitabha's organization has sold over 300,000 farmers these systems and has seen their yields and incomes double or triple, on average. But this didn't happen overnight. In fact, when you go back to the beginning, there were no private investors who would be willing to take a risk on building a new technology for a market class that made under a dollar a day, that were known to be some of the most risk-averse people on the planet, and that were working in one of the riskiest sectors, agriculture. And so we needed grants. And he used significant grants to research, to experiment, to fail, to innovate and try again. And when he had a prototype and had a better understanding of how to market to farmers, that's when patient capital could come in. And we helped him build a company, for profit, that would build on IDE's knowledge, and start looking at sales and exports, and be able to tap into other kinds of capital.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: Secondarily, we wanted to see if we could export this drip irrigation and bring it into other countries. And so we met Dr. Sono Khangharani in Pakistan. And while, again, you needed patience to move a technology for the poor in India, into Pakistan, just to get the permits, over time we were able to start a company with Dr. Sono who runs a large community development organization in the Thar Desert, which is one of the remote and poorest areas of the country. And, though that company has just started, our assumption is that there too we'll see the impact on millions.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: But drip irrigation isn't the only innovation. We're starting to see these happening all around the world. In Arusha, Tanzania, A to Z Textile Manufacturing has worked in partnership with us, with UNICEF, with the Global Fund, to create a factory that now employs 7,000 people, mostly women. And they produce 20 million lifesaving bed nets for Africans around the world. LifeSpring Hospital is a joint venture between Acumen and the government of India to bring quality, affordable maternal health care to low-income women. And it's been so successful that it's currently building a new hospital every 35 days. And 1298 Ambulances decided that it was going to reinvent a completely broken industry, building an ambulance service in Bombay that would use the technology of Google Earth, a sliding-scale pricing system so that all people could have access, and a severe and public decision not to engage in any form of corruption. So that in the terrorist attacks of November they were the first responder, and are now beginning to scale, because of partnership. They've just won four government contracts to build up their 100 ambulances, and are one of the largest and most effective ambulance companies in India.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: This idea of scale is critical. Because we're starting to see these enterprises reach hundreds of thousands of people. All of the ones I discussed have reached at least a quarter million people. But that's obviously not enough. And it's where the idea of partnership becomes so important. Whether it's by finding those innovations that can access the capital markets, government itself, or partner with major corporations, there is unbelievable opportunity for innovation.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: President Obama understands that. He recently authorized the creation of a Social Innovation Fund to focus on what works in this country, and look at how we can scale it. And I would submit that it's time to consider a global innovation fund that would find these entrepreneurs around the world who really have innovations, not only for their country, but ones that we can use in the developed world as well. Invest financial assistance, but also management assistance. And then measure the returns, both from a financial perspective, and from a social impact perspective.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: When we think about new approaches to aid, it's impossible not to talk about Pakistan. We've had a rocky relationship with that country and, in all fairness, the United States has not always been a very reliable partner. But again I would say that this is our moment for extraordinary things to happen. And if we take that notion of a global innovation fund, we could use this time to invest not directly in government, though we would have government's blessing, nor in international experts, but in the many existing entrepreneurs and civil society leaders who already are building wonderful innovations that are reaching people all across the country.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: People like Rashani Zafar. Who created one of the largest microfinance banks in the country, and is a real role model for women inside and outside the country. And Tasneem Siddiqui who developed a way called incremental housing, where he's moved 40,000 slum dwellers into safe, affordable community housing. Educational initiatives like DIL and The Citizen Foundation that are building schools across the country. It's not hyperbole to say that these civil society institutions and these social entrepreneurs are building real alternatives to the Taliban. I've invested in Pakistan for over seven years now and those of you who've also worked there can attest that Pakistanis are an incredibly hard-working population. And there is a fierce upward mobility in their very nature.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: President Kennedy said that those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable. I would say that the converse is true. That these social leaders who really are looking at innovation and extending opportunity to the 70 percent of Pakistanis who make less than two dollars a day, provide real pathways to hope. And as we think about how we construct aid for Pakistan, while we need to strengthen the judiciary, build greater stability, we also need to think about lifting those leaders who can be role models for the rest of the world.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: On one of my last visits to Pakistan I asked Dr. Sono if he would take me to see some of the drip irrigation in the Thar Desert. And we left Karachi one morning before dawn. It was about 115 degrees. And we drove for eight hours along this moonscape-like landscape with very little color, lots of heat, very little discussion, because we were exhausted. And finally at the end of the journey I could see this thin little yellow line across the horizon. And as we got closer its significance became apparent. That there in the desert was a field of sunflowers growing seven feet tall. Because one of the poorest farmers on Earth had gotten access to a technology that had allowed him to change his own life. His name was Raja. And he had kind, twinkly hazel eyes, and warm expressive hands that reminded me of my father. And he said it was the first dry season in his entire life that he hadn't taken his 12 children and 50 grandchildren on a two-day journey across the desert to work as day laborers at a commercial farm for about 50 cents a day. Because he was building these crops. And with the money he earned he could stay this year. And for the first time ever in three generations, his children would go to school. We asked him if he would send his daughters as well as his sons. And he said, "Of course I will. Because I don't want them discriminated against anymore." >> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: When we think about solutions to poverty we cannot deny individuals their fundamental dignity. Because at the end of the day dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth. And what's exciting is to see so many entrepreneurs across sectors who are building innovations that recognize that what people want is freedom and choice and opportunity. Because that is where dignity really starts. Martin Luther King said that love without power is anemic and sentimental. And that power without love is reckless and abusive. Our generation has seen both approaches tried, and often fail. But I think our generation also might be the first to have the courage to embrace both love and power. For that is what we'll need as we move forward to dream and imagine what it will really take to build a global economy that includes all of us. And to finally extend that fundamental proposition that all men are created equal, to every human being on the planet.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: The time for us to begin innovating and looking for new solutions, a cross sector is now. I can only talk from my own experience. But in eight years of running Acumen fund, I've seen the power of patient capital, not only to inspire innovation and risk taking, but to truly build systems that have created more than 25,000 jobs and delivered tens of millions of services and products to some of the poorest people on the planet. I know it works. But I know that many other kinds of innovation also work.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: And so I urge you, in whatever sector you work, in whatever job you do, to start thinking about how we might build solutions that start from the perspective of those we're trying to help. Rather than what we think that they might need. It will take embracing the world with both arms. And it will take living with the spirit of generosity and accountability, with a sense of integrity and perseverance. And yet these are the very qualities for which men and women have been honored throughout the generations. And there is so much good that we can do. Just think of all those sunflowers in the desert. Thank you. >> TITLE: TED: New TED Talks each week at www.TED.com http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-hole-in-the-wall India has a foot on both sides of the world's growing digital divide: it is home to a thriving high-technology industry as well as some of the world's biggest slums. So computer scientist Dr. Sugata Mitra created his first "hole in the wall" as a way to answer an interesting question: What would happen if he could provide poor children with free, unlimited access to computers and the Internet? Tue, 19 Oct 2010 07:36:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-hole-in-the-wall Sugata Mitra, India, NIIT, Internet, Technology, Education, Literacy, Computer literacy, South Asia, LinkTV Picks >> TITLE: Frontline World: Stories from a small planet>> VOICEOVER: Finally tonight, Indian children discover cyberspace>> TITLE: India: The Hole in the Wall>> TITLE: Reported by Rory O'Connor >> VOICEOVER: I first visited India two years ago while directing a film about global poverty. A billion people live here -- one of every six on the planet. Only a quarter of them have access to clean water, and half are illiterate. In a New Delhi slum I came across an unusual scene: a computer embedded in a wall. It was surrounded by children. Turns out the computer was put here by the company next door, NIIT. While India suffers extreme poverty, it is also home to some of the world's most advanced high-technology firms. Dr. Sugata Mitra is head of research and development here. For years, his passion has been educating poor children. >> DR. SUGATA MITRA [Head of Research and Development, NIIT]: Removing what is increasingly being called the "digital divide" is an important issue, which means that everyone must have access. >> VOICEOVER: In 1999, Mitra launched an experiment that came to be known as "The Hole in the Wall." He connected a high-speed computer to the Internet and placed it in the wall that separates his firm's headquarters from the adjacent slum. Then he watched who began to use it. Curious kids were immediately drawn to the computer. >> DR. SUGATA MITRA: So when they said, "Can we touch it?" I said, "It's on your side of the wall." So the rules say whatever is on their side of the wall, they can touch, so they touched it. >> VOICEOVER: Within minutes, the children figured out how to point and click. By the end of the day, they were browsing. Given access and opportunity, the children quickly taught themselves the rudiments of computer literacy. >> CHILD: I learned it on my own. Some kids used to play with it, and I would watch them, so I learned it too. >> VOICEOVER: A young boy named Rajinder was the first to teach himself how to use the computer. >> RAJINDER: I play games. I try to use different tools like the paint tool, and I connect to the Internet. Mainly, I go to the Disney site. I visited a news site a couple [of] days ago. I read about the Taliban and bin Laden. I read that there was a war going on between America and the Taliban. There was bombing, too. I've seen it on the TV and I saw the bombing pictures on the computer. >> DR. SUGATA MITRA: He didn't know what a computer was. He was the first guy to have made the jump across what I guess you could describe as maybe three or four thousand years of history, in minutes actually. >> VOICEOVER: Rajinder's self-confidence soared after he taught himself how to use a computer. >> TEACHER: Now I have seen a lot of change in him and he has become quite bold and expressive also. And I've got great hopes on this child. >> DR. SUGATA MITRA: What's your definition of the Internet? He says, "That with which you can do anything." >> VOICEOVER: By the time I returned to India this year, Mitra had already replicated his experiment in several other settings. Each time, the results were similar: within hours, and without instruction, children began browsing the Internet. Now Mitra was about to place new computers in another poor community. >> NIIT WORKER: We have set up five computers here, and please, everyone, send your kids before or after school. If you have girls in your house you can send them also. >> GIRL 1: Move it towards the side to make it a hand. Move it a bit. When it becomes a hand, press the green button.>> GIRL 2: Oh, here it comes!>> VOICEOVER: In a society where only one in three females can read, Mitra's experiment is a way for girls to overcome barriers. One schoolgirl named Anjana seemed especially enthusiastic. >> ANJANA: Today is just my first day. I want to learn more. >> REPORTER: How do you feel about all this? >> ANJANA: I feel great. >> REPORTER: How great? >> ANJANA: Really, really great! >> DR. SUGATA MITRA: They even re-invent the terms, because nobody taught them the words. So they don't call a cursor a "cursor," they call it a "suhi," which is Hindi for "needle." And they don't call the hourglass symbol the "hourglass symbol," because they've never seen an hourglass before. They call it the "domru," which is Shiva's drum. And it does look a bit like that. >> VOICEOVER: Before leaving India, I traveled south with Mitra to the rural state of Maharashtra, where he was installing still more computers. >> DR. SUGATA MITRA: These computers are going to be powerful, they're going to be connected, and they're going to be free, entirely free without any restrictions on their usage. >> REPORTER: How many of you have heard of the Internet? What is the Internet? >> GIRL: It is used to send messages. You can send letters. You can type on your computer and it reaches the other person's computer. >> DR. SUGATA MITRA: I don't even want to guess at what computer literacy might do to children, except to say that if cyberspace is considered a place, then there are people who are already in it, and people who are not in it. And there seems to be general consensus of opinion that such segregation among cyber people versus non-cyber people is detrimental and it will cause a divide. If that is the case then I think the Hole in the Wall gives us a method to create a door, if you like, through which large number of children can rush into this new arena. And, when that happens, it will have changed our society forever. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-the-scavengers <p>The Sulabh toilet is self-composting and requires no drainage, and already serves some 4 million people daily in India. What's more, this revolution in public sanitation&mdash;with help from the Sulabh movement's leader, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak&mdash;is empowering some of the country's poorest people.</p> Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:38:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-the-scavengers India, Bindeshwar Pathak, Sulabh International, Sanitation, Improved sanitation, Untouchability, Caste, Public toilet, New Delhi, Alwar >> TITLE: Alwar, Rajasthan, North India >> TITLE: The Scavengers >> VOICEOVER: From 1.1 billion Indians, 750 million are completely deprived of sanitary facilities. It is a set morning ritual: just before sunrise, at 5 AM in the morning, they relieve themselves in the open air. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK [Founder, Sulabh Foundation]: More than half a million children die every year because of diarrhea, dehydration, hookworms, roundworms, cholera and so forth. And nobody is taking notice of it, this has to change in this country. Half a million children die! A lack of sanitation is the root cause of all these diseases. >> VOICEOVER: There are hardly any sewer systems. The feces are cleared by the so-called "scavengers". These are always outcasts, also known as untouchables, people who are at the utmost bottom of the hierarchic Hindustani caste system. >> SHAKUNTALA [Untouchable]: I have to do this work to feed my children. I can't let them starve. So I am compelled to do this. Although I think it is horrible. >> VOICEOVER: The Hindi word for untouchable is pariah. The Untouchables live -- just as here in Alwar -- on the outskirts of the villages and towns, in separate slums where other Indians don't come. Nowadays the Untouchables call themselves Dalits. For two and a half thousand years they are consistently, and often with impunity, discriminated. They account for almost a fifth of the Indian population. >> PREM [Untouchable]: No one ever comes here to sit and talk with us. So we are sitting home alone, in seclusion of the society. No one will ever come here to spend time with us. >> PREM: Work is like hell. People hate me because of that work. Sometimes they give me some food, but it is thrown to me from above because they won't touch me. Even cows have a better life than I do, because the people pray for the cows, and they take care of them. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: In earlier days, the scavengers had to wear bells to create sound, or if not, they had to create signs to clear the road so that people could keep away from them. They don't want to see even the shadow of the scavengers. >> VOICEOVER: When Dr. Pathak was little, he liked to know what the matter was with the Untouchables. That is why he touched a Dalit on purpose one day. His grandmother saw that. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: She made a huge cry in the family: "How can he live in the family now because he has touched an Untouchable!" And for that matter she forced me to swallow cow dung, cow urine, sand and Ganges water to purify myself. I was crying. >> VOICEOVER: The matter in question kept haunting Pathak, from the Brahmin caste himself, the highest caste with the Hindus. He decided to dedicate his live to the improvement of the position of the Untouchables. In 1973 he founded the Sulabh movement for that. >> TITLE: New Delhi, Delhi, North India >> VOICEOVER: The movement has her headquarters in a suburb of the capital city New Delhi, and offers employment to 50,000 outcasts in the whole of India by now. She is supported by one simple technical invention. Every Indian knows the Sulabh movement, if only because of the word Sulabh has become a synonym for "public toilet" in the meanwhile. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: This is a prototype of a Sulabh toilet. It requires only 1.5 liters to flush per use. You see, from there there's one drain, it has been divided into two, one leading to this tank, and the other to that one. When the first is in use, just close the other one, and after it is full, switch over to the other one. >> MAN: You need a sewerage system for it? >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: No, it's not required, because it functions independently of the sewer system. The treatment is on the site itself. >> VOICEOVER: It sounds so simple: a WC connected to two covered underground tanks. Water is hardly necessary and no sewerage at all. When the first tank is full -- this takes approximately four years with an average Indian family -- it is closed off and the feces fall into the second tank. After two years the contents of the first tank is fully composted, on site and in a complete natural way, without adding chemicals. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: This is the manure fertilizer taken out of the pit, as I told you. >> MAN: This is human excretes? >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: This is human excreta. Here, no smell, no pathogen, no bacteria, nothing. It can safely be handled and used in the field to raise the productivity of the field on the flowers and the fruits. So this is a technology, which can reach each and every house of 2.6 billion people who have no access to safe and hygienic toilets. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Suppose a person is living in a slum. They can have a toilet only for 10 to 20 dollars. So this is a technology that ends both the problem of open defecation as well as manual cleaning of human excreta and scavenging. It also reduces the diseases. It improves health. And it improves working man days. If he works more, then certainly he can earn more money, and he can be eliminated from poverty. >> VOICEOVER: Pathak is not just anybody. In India he is a celebrity, and recently his WCs were recommended for the second time by the United Nations for 2.6 billion slum inhabitants all over the world. He has been decorated by the Pope and praised by the former UN bosses Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan. He takes us along to the central station in New Delhi, where one of the many public toilet complexes is situated, which his Sulabh movement has set up. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Here we have toilets and a bathroom. People come here to use the toilet. They pay 2 rupees, roughly 4 eurocents, they go to toilet, take shower and they go away. During night hours they can also come here, so they should not have to go outside for defecation. This kind of facility we have throughout the country. We have more than 6,000 complexes, used by roughly 4 million people every day. >> VOICEOVER: The Sulabh complex near the central station in New Delhi is visited by 4,000 people daily. Just as with the other public toilet complexes the personnel consists of Untouchables. The Untouchables, who clear up feces on the street, earn approximately 6 euros a month. The Untouchables who work here earn at least 50 euros a month, eight times as much. Food and shelter are free. The Sulabh movement offers employment to 50,000 Untouchables in the whole of India. >> SANITATION WORKER: My room is over there, sir. This is my bed to sleep in. It's really comfortable. This is my god. He fulfills all my wishes. He helps me. Here are my clothes. All my wishes have been fulfilled. Here is the tap. In the morning we turn it on. Look, water is pouring out! Then I wash my face. Here is my comb and mirror where I comb my hair. And if I want to, I hum with it. At night we leave on the fan, so it becomes nicely fresh. Then we sleep tight. No fussing, no problems. >> VOICEOVER: The jobs are popular among the untouchables, as in India there are hundreds of thousands Dalits who have to live from cleaning the filthiness off the street. >> TEACHER: "M" for monkey, "N" for nest, "O" for owl... >> VOICEOVER: With the money that the Sulabh movement earns from the public toilets and the sale of WCs -- the turnover amounts to almost 20 million euros a year -- Pathak has set up schools and training institutes for Untouchables and their children. The Untouchables, who learn a profession here, are all illiterate and former street cleaners. During their education, they receive five times as much money as they earned when they still collected feces on the street, and therefore the Untouchables are craving to be educated. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Were you often offended, when you still cleared feces with your bare hands? >> WOMAN 1: I walked with the basket on my head. It started raining, and the basket overflowed, and all the poop poured over my body. Everybody was laughing at me. With difficulty I delivered the basket and then ran away. >> WOMAN 2: After work, people came over to my hut. They threatened to drag me along to report me to the police if I didn't start cleaning again. >> WOMAN 3: I walked with my basket in the rain. Everything ran over my body. Everybody was laughing and I had to throw up. If I got any food or money, it was thrown to me. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: I took them to a five-star hotel for dinner in Delhi. Everybody was surprised. Here are scavengers, in a five-star hotel, where Clinton had food? So I said they should also go there. Now see, this was a symbolic gesture to show that you are on the par with others. You also have the right to go to these places. Had I asked international aid agency or the government to give me funds to take them to this hotel for dinner, they would have said to me, he is a mad person. >> MAN: So you're not receiving government money or Western money from NGOs? >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: No, we have not so far received any money. >> MAN: It's completely self-supporting? >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Totally self-reliant. >> MAN: You don't want government interference? >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Not at all while I am alive, because if you have your own money, you are independent, your decision, then you can do. But if you are tied by the decisions of others, the organizations whose money you take, then you can't do the way you want to implement the things. That is the success of Sulabh. >> SHAKUNTALA: It isn't in my hands. It's in the hands of God. He decides on my next life, on how I return after my death. If he gives me the same work, it is the will of God. That's faith. We have to accept that. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: The women have to suffer most, because they have to look after the children. And the men they don't care. So certainly the ladies are depressed about the act of harassment. In our training institute, we also teach their husbands also, not to drink too much, and don't make violence. So this is a candle in the darkness, the beginning of the beginning. It will take time to change, but it is changing. If they leave this job and then do something else and live a proper life, then society will accept them. But while doing this job, the dirty job, they cannot be accepted by society. All you try to find out the solution of the problem. Talking about a problem is one thing. But all your talking only adds to the problem. But 90 percent of people in the world, they talk about a problem, not a solution. Anywhere, about the rivers, the forest, this and that, they talk about the problem and if you ask, "What is the solution?" "Oh, that I don't know. The government should do it." >> WOMAN 1: I have already signed up for the training. I have even turned in a passport photo. I live here in the neighborhood. When do I get the chance? >> WOMAN 2: I haven't heard anything yet. Just have patience. Next time it is your turn too. >> WOMAN 1: I have called in there so many times. >> VOICEOVER: By now, the solutions of Dr. Pathak -- the WCs and public toilet complexes -- are built in 14 African and in several Asian countries, including China and war-stricken Afghanistan. The Indian scientists and technicians, who are working for the Sulabh movement, haven't been sitting around doing nothing. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: This is the back portion of a Sulabh public toilet. Human excreta from there comes to the biogas-digester, which is not visible. It is 20 feet deep. Here the human excreta gets converted into biogas, and the biogas is tunneled through a pipeline for different purposes. So here again no electricity is required, nothing from outside. It's automatically. >> VOICEOVER: In the bigger Sulabh toilet complexes, the human excreta are fully recycled on site. The only thing that remains is compost, purified water and biogas. Meanwhile, the gas is also used to generate electricity. In India there are 122 power stations where this happens. A few months ago Dr. Pathak received the Energy Globe Award in the European Parliament for one of the best permanent development projects in the world. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Just listen, one day you will be just as valuable as everybody else. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-the-gulabi-gang <p>Sampat Pal is a campaigner with a mission: to ensure that those born into the lowest caste have an education, avoid child marriages, and earn a decent wage. But, while Mahatma Gandhi famously preached non-violence, Pal believes that India's long history of patriarchy, abuse, and corruption demands a new style of justice.</p> Tue, 05 Oct 2010 01:12:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-the-gulabi-gang India, Gulabi Gang, Uttar Pradesh, Sampat Pal, Domestic violence, Untouchability, Banda district, Caste system in India, Caste, Women's rights >> TITLE: The Gulabi Gang >> VOICEOVER: These women may not look that tough, but they're all hardened gang members. They've left their fields and villages in rural Uttar Pradesh for a special meeting. >> WOMEN: The Pink Gang! Long live! Sampat, keep on fighting! We are all with you. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat Pal is the leader of the 'Gulabi' – or 'Pink' – Gang. This feisty crusader for the poor and downtrodden believes in speaking loudly and carrying a big stick. Today she's teaching these women how to wield the 'lathi' - a long, wooden staff. >> SAMPAT PAL [Leader of the Gulabi Gang]: If someone aims for your head, how will you protect yourself? >> WOMAN: I'll hold it like this. >> SAMPAT PAL: All right, I'll hit you. >> VOICEOVER: India's founding father, Mahatma Gandhi, famously preached non-violence. Sampat Pal says times have changed. >> SAMPAT PAL: I salute Gandhi. He was the father of our nation. But my style is different. >> SAMPAT PAL: I am Sampat Pal. I do what I think is right. >> VOICEOVER: That involves striking out at corrupt officials and men who abuse women. Gang members seem to relish the chance to hit back. >> SAMPAT PAL: Now who wants to be hit by me? Here, take this. >> VOICE: What a good leader! >> VOICEOVER: The gang's vigilante tactics have included attacking police and publicly humiliating a district magistrate. >> SAMPAT PAL: Why do I have to take the law in our hands? I'll tell you. The government doesn't obey its own laws. Police and government officials take bribes. Now people look up to me and don't go to the police. Sampat can do what the police can't. That's why people respect me. >> VOICEOVER: Perhaps it's no surprise that a women's vigilante group has sprung up here. The Banda district of Uttar Pradesh is one of the poorest and most feudal parts of India. 20% of the population are born into the bottom of the caste ladder, which dictates where they can work, whom they can marry and even where they can bathe. Above all, it's women who bear the brunt of discrimination. Sampat Pal herself is illiterate and low-caste. She was married off at 12 and had her first child at 15. Even then, she says, she was angered by a world in which people are considered 'untouchable'. >> SAMPAT PAL: It makes me angry. How could people hate another human being? They don't even hate dog piss. If a dog pisses near the water where they are worshipping, they still drink that water. But they hate touching a human being. That's why I had to do all this. I've always argued and fought since childhood. >> SAMPAT PAL: Those officials who don't listen... Kick them with your feet. >> VOICEOVER: Today, Sampat Pal is leading a protest. The target of her anger: bureaucrats accused of excluding poor people from a government jobs scheme. >> SAMPAT PAL: Those officials who take bribes... Kick the thieves! >> VOICEOVER: This former health worker spent years working quietly behind the scenes with local women. But it was only when they adopted a uniform and threatened violence in 2006 that they were finally taken seriously. The gang pickets the office of the man responsible for the jobs program and calls on him to "come to his senses". Then Sampat decides to barge in with the women's complaints. >> SAMPAT PAL: I'm here to discuss what needs to be done. I'm Sampat Pal. >> OFFICIAL: Hello, this is our first meeting. >> SAMPAT PAL: Why are people are dying of hunger? Why aren't they people given work when there's work to do? Nobody gives them work. They're making fools of everyone. Well, I just came over today to meet you… >> OFFICIAL: Look, list the names of all the people in this village. >> SAMPAT PAL: Yes, make a list… >> OFFICIAL: List those who need work. >> SAMPAT: That's it. Then I'll… >> OFFICIAL: I'll see what can be done. >> VOICEOVER: The Gulabi Gang has only resorted to violence on a handful of occasions. Sampat says most people now see reason. >> SAMPAT PAL: It is quite straightforward. Firstly, we simply approach people with our requests. "Please do what we ask. If that is wrong, don't do it. If it is right, then do what I ask." But those who have been dishonest and are taking bribes, they are not able to help us. So, when I know that my request has not been considered, I go there once, twice… If they still don't listen I hit them with the lathi. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat Pal's supporters make a list of everyone who's been left out of the public job scheme, which is handed over to the beleaguered bureaucrat. >> SAMPAT PAL: Yes it's all there, where they're from, all the details. >> OFFICIAL: Alright, I'll see that something is done about this. >> SAMPAT PAL: That's good, you are listening. >> VOICEOVER: But when Sampat is told about another official here accused of taking bribes, she wastes no time. >> SAMPAT PAL: If you've done the wrong thing, you must change your ways. >> OFFICIAL: I have changed. >> SAMPAT PAL: People are aware. If you have taken from anyone, return it. Just do it. You better give it back or it will cost you dearly. People join the Pink Gang if they're being robbed. The more you rake in, the bigger the Pink Gang gets. It's not right. This is not what you should do. Give me a list of the women who have given you money. I will keep track of it. Right? Don't make things worse for yourself. >> VOICEOVER: Tackling corruption is just a small part of what Sampat Pal does. Every day women come to her to plead for help. >> WOMAN: They hit me here, too. >> SAMPAT PAL: Oh my God, they've really beaten her. >> VOICEOVER: Sometimes they're victims of domestic violence and Sampat takes up their case with the local police. >> SAMPAT PAL: First, I have to make them understand and if they don't understand, I'll have to beat them up. >> VOICEOVER: Others are being exploited by their in-laws. This young widow's mother-in-law won't give her a share of the family home. >> MOTHER-IN-LAW: I know about being dishonest. I don't want to go to jail. We divided into four parts. Four parts. Then she said something that wasn't for her to say. >> WIDOW: She was abusing me and not giving me my share. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat frequently steps in to sort out these quarrels, acting as judge, jury and, today, property surveyor. Although she's fought with the police and still faces criminal charges for her vigilante attacks, Sampat Pal tries to stay on the good side of the law. >> SAMPAT PAL: Sir, when did you come here? >> OFFICER: Recently. >> SAMPAT PAL: Yes, they told me the sahib is here. >> OFFICER: I'm just about to go patrol >> SAMPAT PAL: I just came to meet you. >> VOICEOVER: She figures it's more effective to shame the authorities into doing the right thing than to make headlines by beating them up. But the headlines have also helped. With up to 40,000 members across Uttar Pradesh, the Gulabi Gang has become a mass movement. And thanks to supporters around the world, it's raised the funds to start its own school. Now Sampat Pal can provide poor children from low-caste families – especially girls – with the education she herself missed out on. Of course, the uniforms – and sometimes even the chalk – are pink. And Sampat's bought sewing machines, too – an unlikely weapon for a gang member, but an important one. If girls learn to sew, they can earn some money, a good reason for parents not to marry them off too young. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat Pal is just as determined to stamp out child marriages and dowry payments as she is to eliminate corruption. Today she's brought her posse to this Muslim village in order to celebrate a wedding, if she can make sure it happens. Sampat was approached by the bride when her parents wouldn't let her marry the boy she loved. >> SAMPAT PAL: Tell the story from the beginning about beating the girl. >> MOTHER: Yes, I beat her. As her mother, I did beat her. >> SAMPAT PAL: Because of the marriage? >> MOTHER: Yes, for that. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat has been here three times and spent hours cajoling and browbeating the girl's mother and father. >> SAMPAT PAL: You weren't happy about it? >> FATHER: No, I wasn't. I wasn't happy, so I beat the girl. I could have killed her. That's what happens when the community is let down. If I'd beaten her really badly I could have been sent to jail. >> SAMPAT PAL: If you love your daughter, then it's good to agree to the wedding. In the films we watch, they show such stories. The children of enemies marry and families come together. You must have seen films like that. >> VOICEOVER: The groom's parents had also refused to let him marry, according to him, because they hoped to sell him off for a higher dowry. Now, despite having eventually agreed to the marriage, the groom's father signals his displeasure by refusing to turn up. >> SAMPAT PAL: Where is his father? Call him here. Tell him to come here. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat is beginning to lose patience by the time the groom's father arrives. >> SAMPAT PAL: I'm not going to ask you any more. He's not listening to his village and his community. Are you speaking to your son and daughter-in-law or not? Soon you'll be playing with your grandchildren. They will climb all over you and you will like that. And you're going to sabotage all that. I'm bringing two souls together. God will help me. You are feeling Sampat is being unjust to you. Sampat is never unjust. I've seen enough of your drama. >> SAMPAT PAL: They fear me. I'd never been to this village so people didn't know me. When I came the other day, people argued with me. But, gradually, they found out who I was – the same Sampatji who had once beaten the police! Then they became fearful and showed me respect. They did what I told them to. >> VOICEOVER: As the fine points of the marriage contract are worked out, the gang leader gives the groom a clear warning. >> SAMPAT PAL: If you do anything illegal or wrong to the girl, you will feel the full wrath of the law. That is the simple truth. Don't hit the girl. You need to guarantee this. If you hit her, I will come back. If the boy does wrong, can the girl hit him? Tell me, council members. >> MAN: She won't do that. >> SAMPAT PAL: Why not? Boys have faults and girls have faults. They must tolerate each other. The contract implies that. >> VOICEOVER: After the wedding, the bride prepares to leave her parents' home forever. >> DAUGHTER: Father, forgive me. >> FATHER: It's all forgotten. >> SAMPAT PAL: All is forgiven, child. >> FATHER: It's all forgiven. Go now, we'll all be here for you. Everything is forgiven. May you have a good life. >> VOICEOVER: Despite the frustration, this has been a good day for the Gulabi Gang. Love has triumphed over adversity. There's no doubt the threat of violence plays a big role in Sampat Pal's success. But for the women she helps, her common sense and compassion are her most revolutionary qualities. >> SAMPAT PAL: More women are pouring in. Like an ocean flood, there's a flood in the Pink Gang! >> TITLE: [End Credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/vidiyal-ict-for-development <p>Groups of women in the Theni district of Tamil Nadu in India are using mobile phones and computer technology in innovative ways to benefit their agriculture-based businesses.</p> Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:16:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/vidiyal-ict-for-development Information and communication technologies, India, Vidiyal, Mobile phone, Information technology, Theni district, ViewChange Online Film Contest, Tamil Nadu, Agriculture, SMS >> JYOTHIKA: My name is Jyothika. >> GIRL: I listen to music on the computer >> BOY: Painting, internet. >> JYOTHIKA: I want to become a doctor. >> BOY: Keyboard. >> TITLE: Using ICT [information and communication technologies] to build Social Capital. The Vidiyal Experience. >> VOICEOVER: Vidiyal works with women in four villages of the Theni district of Tamil Nadu, under the self-help group [SHG] model helping them in, among other things, procuring loans for various income-generation activities. But when, in 2008, 300 women applied for a loan of 43,500 rupees to buy 10 female goats and one male goat to augment their incomes, they also added a rather unusual component to their loan amount: the cost of a mobile phone and a SIM card. Here's why. >> VOICEOVER: Every day, each of the women who will sanction the loan for goat rearing must, in addition to looking after their goats, also wait for and listen to the five audio SMSs sent in. Delivered in Tamil, these audio SMSs give information about goat rearing. Next, they must get this information written out in these special notebooks given to them, so that each of the SMSs can be discussed in the next group meeting. The idea is to make sure that the women have all the requisite information to take care of the goats. The best part of the SMSs is that they are recorded each day in Theni itself, using nothing but a regular mobile phone. Once recorded, the message is sent as an SMS to a central server in Delhi from where it is beamed to all those who have the special SIM card. >> SIGN: Village Knowledge Center >> VOICEOVER: Vidiyal has also helped the women SHGs in setting up village knowledge centers, or VKCs, in four different villages. Equipped with a couple of computers, a printer, electricity, and an internet connection, these VKCs help the women earn some extra money. They also help children of the villages get acquainted with computer technology. Some of the VKCs also have this special touchscreen kiosk, which contains prerecorded information on different subjects, such as agriculture, health, and livestock, that can be accessed even by an illiterate person. >> LAKSHMI [SHG Leader, Badralipuram]: We get crop-related information on fertilizers and other such things. We also get updated information on the prevailing prices in the market, which helps us decide on where to sell our crops. >> VOICEOVER: The VKCs are now also being used by the women of the SHGs for weekly legal counseling sessions, through the free-to-use Skype software. Skype allows face-to-face interaction with the local, government-appointed lawyer, without the women having to leave their villages. Poor, uneducated women -- and yet completely at ease with technology. The Vidiyal experience has shown that, with the right training, and the right grassroots approach, ICT can be harnessed fruitfully to improve lives of the poorest of the poor. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/pedalsight <p>For many children in the West, usually a bicycle is little more than a toy. For Bharati it is a means to an education, a means to a better future, and a tool to achieve what women in her mother's generation could not. Bharati wants to change her world with a little help from her own two wheels.</p> Thu, 16 Sep 2010 08:17:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/pedalsight Ashta no Kai, Education, India, High school, Armene Modi, Bicycle, Poverty, ViewChange Online Film Contest, LinkTV Picks, Gender >> TITLE: Hubub Films Presents >> TITLE: Sone Sangvi, India >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: My name is Bharati Phakad Date. I am 14 years old. I live in Sone Sangvi. I am going to Nimgaon Bhogi High School. I am learning in the ninth standard [grade]. My favorite actor is Mithun Chakrabothy because he always plays a humanitarian, someone who helps other people. My favorite actress is Rani Mukherjee. I like her husky voice. There are a lot of people who live on the streets. I will help them. There are so many people in this world who do not even get one meal a day. I will help them. >> TITLE: Pedal = Sight >> ARMENE MODI [Director, Ashta No Kai]: For about a couple of years, we only focused on adult women and literacy for them, and I noticed many of the girls who came to the class were very, very young girls with mangalsutra, which is a gold-and-black beaded necklace, around their necks, which in India is a symbol of matrimony, and they had babies on their hips, and I started to ask, "What's going on?" and, "Why are such young girls married off already?" >> BHARATI'S MOTHER: My life, my generation, was full of darkness. I have to make sure that my daughters get a good education. It is our duty. If you are uneducated, then it is as if you only have one eye. >> ARMENE MODI: In many villages, there were only schools until seventh grade. There were no high schools. So we worked in 10 villages at that point of time, and there were only three high schools. So then I asked the parents, the mothers, "Well, what happens to the boys? How do you send the boys to school?" And they said, "Well, we give them bicycles." And I said, "Well, what about the girls?" And they said, "Oh, no. It's a waste of money to give a bicycle to a girl. She's going to turn around and get married." There's a famous Indian saying: Why water a plant that's going to grow in a neighbor's garden? So, I thought, my God, if it's only a bicycle that's keeping girls from going to school, let's go ahead and give it to them. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: The bike has been really useful. Now, the time that I save commuting to school can be used to study. Also, now I can ride to school with my friends. It's a lot of fun. I used to have to walk to school. >> BHARATI'S MOTHER: Initially, she had to walk to school. It took her more than an hour. Now she can ride to school in 15 minutes. She now feels very motivated and enthusiastic to attend school. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: I want to become a District Supervisor, because then I can make big decisions, and also have the power to implement them. I would be able to make decisions regarding the welfare of the poor and downtrodden. I would be able to help transform society. My name is Bharati Phakad Date. I am 14 years old. I live in Sone Sangvi. I want to eradicate poverty from this country. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/out-of-the-field-and-into-the-classroom-educating-girls-in-the-developing-world <p>Since 2000, Room to Read has supported 10,000 girls across eight countries in Asia and Africa with an education through secondary school. The multiplier effect of this education will impact not only these girls but also their families and communities for generations to come. This is just one story among thousands.</p> Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:48:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/out-of-the-field-and-into-the-classroom-educating-girls-in-the-developing-world India, Room to Read, Education, Rajasthan, Gender, Literacy, Secondary school, Primary school, ViewChange Online Film Contest >> TITLE: Since 2000, Room to Read has supported 10,000 girls across eight countries in Asia and Africa with an education through secondary school. >> TITLE: The multiplier effect of this education will impact not only these girls, but their families and communities for generations to come. >> TITLE: This is just one story among thousands. >> SUNISHA AHUJA [Country Director India, Room to Read]: Girls form half of the population of this world, and not investing in the lives of half of our populations would be, I think, the crime of the highest order. The program that we started in India in 2004 was a girls' education program, through which we started to target girls who were young adolescent girls and had never been to school. This program started in Rajasthan, where life is tough, very few resources available, everybody has to work to make a living, everybody has to come together. Whether it's to go and fetch water, to get firewood, take care of the younger siblings in the house, girls actually have been playing a very important role as housekeepers, taking care of their own families. And that's kept them away from school. >> NOOR MOHAMMED [Honorary Secretary, AMIED]: In August 2006, we started a collaboration with Room to Read. It is the first and only funder that is providing long-term support for girls' education. >> SUNISHA AHUJA: Noor Mohammed came and told me the story of this village from where he belonged, himself. This is a village which is at about 100 kilometers, and a little more, from Delhi. It's called Mirzapur. It was so close to the power corridors of this country. Not one girl had gone on to complete primary school education. And I was like, where am I? Hundred kilometers away from where all policies are made for this country, we're talking about making education a fundamental right, and we've not been able to reach out to these girls? This is a conservative Muslim community. We've had a meeting with the village elders, and we started to discuss why these girls were not coming to school. >> WALI MOHAMMED [Mirzapur Community Leader]: Since there was only one teacher for 250 students, and only 12 to 15 students would attend school, we thought it didn't make sense to send our children to school when they could be working in the fields, taking our herds to graze. This was more useful economically for us. >> SUNISHA AHUJA: He brought these young educated women from Alwar city who are Hindu girls. >> POOJA GUPTA [Mirzapur Teacher]: When children respond to the way that I teach, it gives me a great thrill and makes me happy. >> SUNISHA AHUJA: The community and the village actually coming up to give their support to these young Hindu girls in saying, we will take responsibility for your safety, for you to stay in our village, because you want to come and teach our girls. >> WALI MOHAMMED: There has been a clear difference in our children since Room to Read came. >> SHABNAN [Girls' Educational Program Scholar, Class 8]: Because my mother and father are illiterate they wouldn't allow me to go to school. I pleaded with my parents to go to school. I told them, you are illiterate. Why should I have to be? Then they agreed to send me to school. >> SUNISHA AHUJA: Today, what's happening there is a small revolution. >> RAJBAL [Girls' Educational Program Scholar, Class 9]: I'm the only girl who has passed grade eight among eight villages with a population of 8,000 people. I'm happy that I'm going to school, but I want others to go as well, because I can't go alone. >> SUNISHA AHUJA: There are probably several other villages like Mirzapur in Alwar, and the need is to actually reach out to all of those other villages, have the school further upgraded to become a secondary school, because we'd really like to see these girls go on to complete their education up to grade 12. >> GUYANA [Pupil]: Girls also want to become something in life. >> TITLE: Currently, 575 children are attending school in Mirzapur, and 275 of them are girls. >> TITLE: The village of Mirzapur is now touted as a model in community-based education, and with the recognition it is receiving, more communities are trying to follow their lead of educational change, especially for girls. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/ted-jacqueline-novogratz-invests-in-africa-s-own-solutions Jacqueline Novogratz applauds the world's heightened interest in Africa and poverty, but argues persuasively for a new approach. Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:27:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/ted-jacqueline-novogratz-invests-in-africa-s-own-solutions Jacqueline Novogratz, Microfinance, Africa, Acumen Fund, Kigali, TED, India, Tanzania, Developing country, Jeffrey Sachs >> TITLE: Remarkable people ... unmissable talks ... now free to the world. TED: Ideas worth spreading.>> TITLE: Jacqueline Novogratz>> TITLE: July 2005, Oxford, England.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: I want to start with a story, a la Seth Godin, from when I was 12 years old. My uncle Ed gave me a beautiful blue sweater -- at least I thought it was beautiful -- and it had fuzzy zebras walking across the stomach, and Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru kind of right across the chest, that were also fuzzy. And I wore it whenever I could, thinking it was the most fabulous thing I owned. Until one day in ninth grade, when I was standing with a number of the football players. And my body had clearly changed, and Matt Mussolina, who was undeniably my nemesis in high school, said in a booming voice that we no longer had to go far away to go on ski trips, but we could all ski on Mount Novogratz. And I was so humiliated and mortified that I immediately ran home to my mother and chastised her for ever letting me wear the hideous sweater. We drove to the Goodwill and we threw the sweater away somewhat ceremoniously, my idea being that I would never have to think about the sweater nor see it ever again.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: Fast-forward 11 years later. I'm a 25-year-old kid working in Kigali, Rwanda, jogging through the steep slopes, when I see, 10 feet in front of me, a little boy, 11 years old, running toward me, wearing my sweater. And I'm thinking, no, this is not possible. But, so curious, I run up to the child -- of course scaring the living bejesus out of him -- grab him by the collar, turn it over, and there is my name written on the collar of this sweater.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: I tell that story, because it has served and continues to serve as a metaphor to me about the level of connectedness that we all have on this Earth. We so often don't realize what our action and our inaction does to people we think we will never see and never know. I also tell it because it tells a larger contextual story of what aid is and can be. That this [sweater] traveled into the Goodwill in Virginia, and moved its way into the larger industry, which at that point was giving millions of tons of secondhand clothing to Africa and Asia. Which was a very good thing, providing low-cost clothing. And, at the same time, certainly in Rwanda, it destroyed the local retailing industry. Not to say that it shouldn't have, but that we have to get better at answering the questions that need to be considered when we think about consequences and responses.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: So, I'm going to stick in Rwanda, circa 1985, 1986, where I was doing two things. I had started a bakery with 20 unwed mothers, we called the Bad News Bears, and our notion was we were going to corner the snack food business in Kigali, which was not hard because there were no snacks before us. And because we had a good business model, we actually did it, and I watched these women transform on a micro level. But, at the same time, I started a microfinance bank, and tomorrow Iqbal Quadir is going to talk about Grameen, which is the grandfather of all microfinance banks, which now is a worldwide movement -- you talk about a meme -- but, then it was quite new, especially in an economy that was moving from barter into trade. >> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: We got a lot of things right. We focused on a business model, we insisted on skin in the game. The women made their own decisions at the end of the day as to how they would use this access to credit to build their little businesses, earn more income, so they could take care of their families better.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: What we didn't understand, what was happening all around us, with ... the confluence of fear, ethnic strife, and certainly an aid game, if you will, that was playing into this invisible but certainly palpable movement inside Rwanda, that at that time, 30 percent of the budget was all foreign aid. The genocide happened in 1994, seven years after these women all worked together to build this dream. And the good news was that the institution, the banking institution, lasted. In fact, it became the largest rehabilitation lender in the country. The bakery was completely wiped out, but the lessons for me were that accountability counts: got to build things with people on the ground, using business models where, as Steven Levitt would say, the incentives matter. Understand, however complex we might be, incentives matter.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: So when Chris raised to me how wonderful everything that was happening in the world, that we were seeing a shift in zeitgeist, on the one hand I absolutely agree with him, and I was so thrilled to see what happened with the G8 -- that the world, because of people like Tony Blair and Bono and Bob Geldof -- the world is talking about global poverty, the world is talking about Africa in ways I have never seen in my life. It's thrilling. And at the same time, what keeps me up at night is a fear that we'll look at the victories of the G8 -- USD$50 billion in increased aid to Africa, USD$40 billion in reduced debt -- as the victory, as more than chapter one, as our moral absolution.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: And, in fact, what we need to do is see that as chapter one, celebrate it, close it, and recognize that we need a chapter two that is all about execution, all about the how-to. And if you remember one thing from what I want to talk about today, it's that the only way to end poverty, to make it history, is to build viable systems on the ground that deliver critical and affordable goods and services to the poor, in ways that are financially sustainable and scalable. If we do that, we really can make poverty history.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: And it was that -- that whole philosophy -- that encouraged me to start my current endeavor called Acumen Fund, which is trying to build some mini-blueprints for how we might do that in water, health, and housing in Pakistan, India, Kenya, Tanzania, and Egypt. And I want to talk a little bit about that, and some of the examples so you can see what it is that we're doing. But before I do this -- and this is another one of my pet peeves -- I want to talk a little bit about who the poor are. Because we too often talk about them as these strong, huge masses of people yearning to be free, when in fact, it's quite an amazing story. >> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: On a macro level, four billion people on Earth make less than USD$4 a day. That's who we talk about when we think about the poor. If you aggregate it, it's the third-largest economy on Earth, and yet most of these people go invisible. Where we typically work, there's people making between USD$1 and USD$3 a day. Who are these people? They are farmers and factory workers. They're working in government offices. They're drivers. They are domestics. They typically pay for critical goods and services like water, like healthcare, like housing, and they pay 30 to 40 times what their middleclass counterparts pay -- certainly where we work in Karachi and Nairobi. The poor also are willing to make, and do make, smart decisions, if you give them that opportunity.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: So, two examples. One is in India, where there are 240 million farmers, most of whom make less than USD$2 a day. Where we work in Aurangabad, the land is extraordinarily parched. You see people on average making 60 cents to a dollar. This guy in pink is a social entrepreneur named Ami Tabar. What he did was see what was happening in Israel, larger approaches, and figure out how to do a drip irrigation, which is a way of bringing water directly to the plant stock. But previously it's only been created for large-scale farms, so Ami Tabar took this and modularized it down to an eighth of an acre. A couple of principles: build small, Make it infinitely expandable and affordable to the poor.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: This family, Sarita and her husband, bought a USD$15 unit when they were living in literally a three-walled lean-to with a corrugated iron roof. After one harvest, they had increased their income enough to buy a second system to do their full quarter-acre. A couple of years later, I meet them. They now make USD$4 a day, which is pretty much middle class for India, and they showed me the concrete foundation they'd just laid to build their house. And I swear, you could see the future in that woman's eyes, something I truly believe.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: You can't talk about poverty today without talking about malaria bed nets, and I again give Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard huge kudos for bringing to the world this notion of his rage: for USD$5 you can save a life. Malaria is a disease that kills one to three million people a year; 300 to 500 million cases are reported. It's estimated that Africa loses about USD$13 billion a year to the disease. USD$5 can save a life. We can send people to the Moon, we can see if there's life on Mars -- why can't we get USD$5 nets to 500 million people?>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: The question, though, is not why can't we; the question is how can we help Africans do this for themselves? A lot of hurdles: one, production is too low; two, price is too high; three, this is a good road right near where our factory is located -- distribution is a nightmare, but not impossible. We started by making a USD$350,000 loan to the largest traditional bed net manufacturer in Africa so that they could transfer technology from Japan and build these long-lasting, five-year nets. Here are just some pictures of the factory.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: Today, three years later, the company has employed another thousand women. It contributes about USD$600,000 in wages to the economy of Tanzania. It's the largest company in Tanzania. The throughput rate right now is 1.5 million nets, three million by the end of the year. We hope to have seven million at the end of next year. So the production side is working. On the distribution side though, as a world, we have a lot of work to do. Right now, 95 percent of these nets are being bought by the UN, and then given primarily to people around Africa. >> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: We're looking at building on some of the most precious resources of Africa: people, their women. And so I want you to meet Jacqueline, my namesake, 21 years old. If she were born anywhere else but Tanzania, I'm telling you, she could run Wall Street. She runs two of the lines, and has already saved enough money to put a down payment on her house. She makes about USD$2 a day, is creating an education fund, and told me she is not marrying nor having children until these things are completed. And so, when I told her about our idea -- that maybe we could take a Tupperware model from the United States, and find a way for the women themselves to go out and sell these nets to others -- she quickly started calculating what she herself could make and signed up.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: We took a lesson from IDEO, one of our favorite companies, and quickly did a prototyping on this, and took Jacqueline into the area where she lives. She brought 10 of the women with whom she interacts together to see if she could sell these nets, USD$5 apiece, despite the fact that people say nobody will buy one, and we learned a lot about how you sell things. Not coming in with our own notions, because she didn't even talk about malaria until the very end. First, she talked about comfort, status, beauty. These nets, she said, you put them on the floor, bugs leave your house. Children can sleep through the night, the house looks beautiful, you hang them in the window, and we've started making curtains. And not only is it beautiful, but people can see status -- that you care about your children. Only then did she talk about saving your children's lives. A lot of lessons to be learned in terms of how we sell goods and services to the poor.>> JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ: I want to end just by saying that there's enormous opportunity to make poverty history. To do it right, we have to build business models that matter, that are scalable and that work with Africans, Indians, people all over the developing world who fit in this category, to do it themselves. Because at the end of the day, it's about engagement. It's about understanding that people really don't want handouts, that they want to make their own decisions, they want to solve their own problems. And that by engaging with them, not only do we create much more dignity for them, but for us as well. And so I urge all of you to think next time as to how to engage with this notion and this opportunity that we all have -- to make poverty history -- by really becoming part of the process and moving away from an us-and-them world, and realizing that it's about all of us, and the kind of world that we, together, want to live in and share. Thank you. >> TITLE: TED: New TED Talks each week at www.TED.com http://www.viewchange.org/videos/banking-on-change <p>J.S Parthibhan is a bank manager with a difference: he's interested in people, not numbers. Through micro loans, he's helping villagers in rural areas develop a sense of entrepreneurship and self-respect.</p> Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:44:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/banking-on-change India, Microfinance, Bank account, Disability, Microcredit, Change Makers, Bank, Loan, Journeyman Pictures, LinkTV Picks >> TITLE: Many of India's 1.2 billion population are forced to borrow from private moneylenders at very high interest rates. Once they begin to borrow they rarely get free. >> TITLE: One man decided to challenge this system >> J.S. PARTHIBAN: My Name is Parthibhan. I am a bank manager in a place called Salem, South India. >>TITLE: Banking on Change. >> J.S. PARTHIBHAN: I don't see myself as someone who sits in the office signing papers and totaling, all those things. I used to go out in the afternoon after my lunch, just for a stroll. I saw a lot of fruit vendors, shoeshine boys, palm wallahs. These people, they all come from the villages with one dream: that is, to make money. But I found out, they all had problems with the private moneylenders. I used to wonder how much they would be earning. Do they ever save money? And to my surprise I found out even a beggar earns a little over 500 rupees a day. Most of these 500 rupees will go to the hands of the private moneylenders. He'll collect it on a daily basis. So I slowly suggested to them, why can't they open a bank account and start saving? And with the saving they can repay the loan taken from the moneylender, and take home some money as well. >> WOMAN: We break the bags, clean them, and turn them into rope. We go to the village markets three times a week and sell the ropes. The first time we took a loan from the bank we repaid it properly. The second time we repaid in time also. The third time we arranged a loan through a self-help group, not individually. >> J.S. PARTHIBHAN: I made it a point, I will take my cup of tea from a particular shop only. And I'll buy fruits from a particular man. That is how I made friends with these people. I told them about my bank branch, without telling them that I was a bank manager there. I told them why don't you go to this bank, at least that is nearby. But for two, three days afterwards they have not come to the bank. Then one day a group of five entered and they went straight to the clerk at the counter and told them that they want to open an account. By that time I had already briefed my staff about their plight and that we must do something about that. Later, when I went out for my afternoon walk most of these people that I knew said, "Sir, you are working in the bank? Oh I see we also want to open an account." "Okay, you come tomorrow." So like that we had opened a little over 300 savings accounts, ordinary saving accounts. And slowly everyone started repaying the money taken from the private moneylenders, and they were able to save. And the one thing I always told them is, if they save and live within those savings, they'll have self-respect. Many of the villages are not covered by bus service so instead of them coming to my bank, I take the bank to the people. Sindran here, he has finished his school. He wants 25,000 rupees. He'll buy more goats with that loan amount. >> SINDRAN: I want to earn enough for our needs. We also want to save enough to give our children a good education. I want to make her a teacher so that she can help others. >> J.S. PARTHIBHAN: For me as a banker, it is more than just dealing with money. It is dealing with people, it's dealing with their aspirations. See this is a special group we formed, with all the physically handicapped, challenged people, and people affected with leprosy. If they can come to the bank as one group and apply, we can definitely consider some financial help. >> WOMAN: I call them Pearl, Diamond, Ramu, Somu, and Queen. >> J.S. PARTHIBHAN: Now she would like to get a buffalo. How much will a buffalo cost you? >> WOMAN: If I buy it with a calf it will cost 3,000 rupees >> J.S. PARTHIBHAN: We can arrange a buffalo for you. How will you repay it? >> WOMAN: Every month I will make a payment. After finishing my school finals I went to the town to look for a job, but when they saw my hands nobody would employ me. >> J.S. PARTHIBHAN: She said she had finished her school finals. She went around asking for some people to give her some job. Nobody came forward to give because of her fingers. Don't cry, because … You are looking at your fingers. Some people don't have legs. Some people are roaming on the streets deranged. God has given you good eyesight and a good brain. What else do we need? You recently got a good husband. Pearl, Diamond, Ramu, Somu, and Queen are all your children. Have courage: God keeps you with great affection. You don't need to cry. All of us want a bright future. It is everyone's dream to have our house, clothes to wear, and good food. When I see some people don't have these things, there's something wrong with the system. These people's needs are so simple and necessary. This is a good loan application for starting a brick kiln. We must encourage such entrepreneurship. If you have too many people applying to do the same thing in the village, it is not a sign of improvement. This is really a good one. Do you have any other kiln in the area? >> MAN: No, we bring bricks from the plains [62km away]. >> J.S. PARTHIBHAN: Oh, you can do really well. Do you have a bank account? You must understand one thing: when you begin a new venture don't think only of yourself and your family. It should benefit the community, the village, and the entire surroundings. I am happy about such ventures. It is for these ventures that the bank extends its help. We'll definitely sanction the loan for you. I encourage more group lending. It binds them together, and they take pride when the project is successful. The whole village celebrates. I feel an individual growth is important but, more than that, the growth of the entire village, the entire area, is more important. I suppose both go hand in hand. Some of them have managed to bring in primary health centers, a small library also in certain areas. There has been an increasing number of oneness of mind, oneness of spirit. If I were a doctor, I would care for the people coming to me the same way as I do now. If I were a teacher, I'd be teaching my students with the same sincerity. I feel it doesn't matter what you are or what your work is. It is your approach. It is the conviction behind the approach. You can talk about global economic or financial crisis, or the need to bring about a drastic change in the system. But the importance is cultivating people. If you do that, everything falls into the right place. If you help them change their attitude towards life: what they are doing, why they are doing, how they can be. If you can help them to find answers to all these things, I think we have found an answer to all the big headlines in the newspapers. >> TITLE: [end credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/explore-rescue-foundation <p>In Mumbai, thousands of young girls are forced into the sex trade against their will after being kidnapped or sold by their families. This film documents the work of the Rescue Foundation, which searches out imprisoned girls, and provides a refuge for them after their escape.</p> Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:02:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/explore-rescue-foundation Human trafficking, India, Rescue Foundation, Triveni Balkrishna Acharya, Mahesh Ruparelia, Mumbai, Prostitution, Vocational education, Bangladesh, Annenberg Foundation >> BHAVANI [aged 14]: I took my sister's child to school and dropped him off. I was going back home to do my chores, when a man I didn't know approached me, and took me away with him. He took me to his house and locked me in a room upstairs. Later, he tried to get me to have sex with him. I told him I don't do work like that.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN [Founder, explore]: The explore team visited the Rescue Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping rescue and rehabilitate girls who've been trafficked into Mumbai.>> MAHESH RUPARELIA [Program Executive, Rescue Foundation]: There must at least be 25,000 trafficked girls in Mumbai. These girls get trafficked from Nepal and Bangladesh, and other states of India, for forced prostitution.>> VERANA [aged 16]: I awoke at night to find my father on top of me. My mother was mentally ill. She would try to fight him, but she was always beaten by my father. I ran away to Delhi with a boy I loved. But my father came and found me. He took me by train to Mumbai, and sold me in the red light district for 10,000 rupees [about USD$250].>> SIMA [aged 16]: He gave me a tea that hypnotized me. I wasn't unconscious, but I had to do whatever he wanted.>> MAHESH RUPARELIA: There are so many ways in which they bring the girls to India. One is they give a lot of money to the father, who cannot return the money, so he takes the daughter. These are very poor people, in the villages. Second way is to lure them to come to Mumbai for better jobs. The family likes it because the family is hard of money. Third is they get married to the girl, bring her to Mumbai, and sell her to the brothels.>> TRIVENI BALKRISHNA ACHARYA [President, Rescue Foundation]: There is also the Hindu concept of devadasi that allows the fourth daughter to be given to the temple. Sometimes, in very poor families, the second girl will be taken to a brothel and left there.>> MAHESH RUPARELIA: All the girls that we have here, they are brought to Mumbai and sold straight away to the brothels. They are put up in dark rooms. They are beaten, they are starved. All the physical torture happens. At the same time, there is a lot of mental torture. The girls are made to believe that they don't have any recourse to anything in life except working in a brothel. They lose all faith in mankind.>> SWILDA DECUNA [Probation Officer]: The brainwashing is very good. They are feeling that "my brothel keeper is my mother. She is giving me good food, good clothes. Whatever she is doing, she is giving me a customer, but they are paying me. So, that is good for me. My need is money. I need money and that brothel keeper is giving me money. That's why she is good." And here we are keeping them. We are giving good thoughts, we are giving good manners, but they do not want that. Their need is money.>> TRIVENI BALKRISHNA ACHARYA: The girls are led to believe they will make 50,000 rupees [about USD$1,200]. But unless she gets a tip, she does not in any way benefit. She will be given clothes and makeup, and a little food, and that's it.>> MAN 1: The moment we receive a missing persons complaint, we start looking for the girl. In most cases, missing girls end up in brothels. >> MAN 2: At present, we are working on three missing girls, but we are always looking for new girls. Even if we rescue 90 percent of the girls, we still have a constant flow of new cases. We are always on cases.>> TRIVENI BALKRISHNA ACHARYA: They look for the girls who appear scared and worried.>> MAN 1: You can tell by the furtive look on the girl's face, that she is being forced into prostitution. >> MAN 2: You can tell by a girl's makeup that she's newly arrived from the village. You can tell by the way they walk, that they are not used to high heels.>> TRIVENI BALKRISHNA ACHARYA: They first visit the girl and just sit with her, give her money, but say they don't want anything from her. This is how the girls begin to trust them.>> MAN: Then we show identification, and counsel the girls and prepare them to leave. >> MAHESH RUPARELIA: When we counsel one girl, when we go to rescue her, we end up rescuing 15 to 18 girls. We can't refuse them. Anybody who wants to be rescued has to be rescued.>> SIMA: There was a murder and I saw the murderer. When the police came, I asked to be rescued.>> VERANA: I ran from the brothel to the police station. I went at six in the morning.>> BHAVANI: When the police used to pass by the brothel, they would put me in a crate to hide me. We waited six months for someone to help us.>> WOMAN: I was part of an undercover raid. We knew the names of the girls we were looking for and we were sure they were hidden in this brothel. We were calling the girls' names, but no one answered. Finally, one of the girls cried out to us and we took the crate apart and found them.>> MAHESH RUPARELIA: They're very young. They are totally underprivileged. We have to counsel them at every stage of rehabilitation. We even call parents here and counsel the parents also, if need be. Parents are willing to accept in most of the cases. Once they are here, we give them all affection and love. Madam is mummy to all of them. They come here and talk to her, anytime. She gives full preference to the girls.>> SIMA: I feel like I'm at home. The staff feels like family.>> MAHESH RUPARELIA: We give them full healthcare for whatever is necessary, including operations, abortions, including deliveries. We give them free medicine and free consultation, everything is free here. We give them a lot of training, vocational training in life-sustaining trades. So, once we repatriate them, they can at least do some work, somewhere and sustain themselves. That's very important. We give them legal aid for prosecuting the traffickers and the brothel keepers. >> SIGN: Let's prevent trafficking: have a safe life>> BHAVANI: I want to catch the man who did this. He has ruined many girls, and I want to help them.>> TRIVENI BALKRISHNA ACHARYA: It can take three to five years for the cases to be brought to court. It's hard for them to come back to testify after escaping that life.>> SIMA: I feel like I am strong. A lot of other girls were afraid of going to the police. But I went, so I know I am strong.>> MAHESH RUPARELIA: We arranged for weddings last month for these girls. We got these boys from Gujarat, we saw their houses, we saw what they were doing, we were satisfied that the boys can sustain themselves and their wives. The family was told about their past, the family did not have any objection, and they were married, happily. >> BHAVANI: I am constantly aware of how to be happy. You need to move forward and keep yourself in a happy frame of mind. Hopefully, I'll see my parents again soon. That's all.>> TITLE: The Rescue Foundation ww.rescuefoundation.net>> TITLE: www.explore.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-s-free-lunch <p>Since 2001, all Indian primary schools have provided pupils with a free midday meal. Since then, truancy rates have been slashed and child health is soaring. Western governments are beginning to take note.</p> Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:05:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-s-free-lunch India, Akshaya Patra, Education, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Karnataka, Health, Free school meal, Bangalore, Government of Karnataka, Primary school >> TITLE: India's free lunch >> VOICEOVER: It's early morning in a small village not far from the city of Bangalore. Kumar is cleaning the rickshaw that provides his family's livelihood. His wife, Nagamma, is washing the family's few dishes. And their children are getting ready for school. Abhilash, however, can't find his school shirt. >> KUMAR: Put on your uniform. >> ABHILASH: It's not there. >> NAGAMMA: You just throw it anywhere. I haven't seen it. >> VOICEOVER: Kumar doesn't earn enough to buy spare shirts for the children. After paying for the hire of his rickshaw, he's lucky to make USD$4 or USD$5 a day. So clothes get held together with safety pins for as long as possible. While Abhilash helps his dad fix a puncture, his brother and sister have leftover rice for breakfast. Their parents go without. >> KUMAR: As the children got older, we worried about paying for school and food. We'd prepare food at home. We were worried about money. We just managed the expenses by saving money on the food we ate. We looked after the kids well. >> VOICEOVER: These kids are lucky. Millions of Indian children go to school on empty stomachs, their families too poor to give them breakfast or even lunch. But thanks to a quiet, culinary revolution, they don't have to go hungry any longer. In a tiny kitchen on the school grounds, these two cooks are preparing lunch for 120 children. They've been doing it six days a week for the past four years. They clearly remember their own long, hungry school days. >> COOK: After breakfast we'd be out until the evening and only ate again at dinner. Compared to ours, today's generation is better off. >> VOICEOVER: Right now, meals like this are being prepared for 150 million school children across India. Following a landmark decision by the Supreme Court in 2001, state governments were ordered to provide free meals for all primary school children aged 10 and under. Last year, the scheme was expanded to include children up to the age of 13. But some states are going even further. The southern state of Karnataka is extending its lunch scheme all the way up to Year 10. >> VIJAY BHASKAR [Secretary, Primary and Secondary Education, Karnataka Government]: So the scale of the program is mind-boggling. This is the largest such program in the world and largest such program in the country itself. >> VOICEOVER: Vijay Bhaskar administers the scheme in Karnataka. He's responsible for feeding 7 million children every day. He says that before the lunches were provided, poor parents often sent their children to work, and about a million kids were out of school. >> VIJAY BHASKAR: After about six years of this program, the latest data census which ended in 2007 shows that the number of children who are out of school has reduced to 70,000. So from 1 million, it has come down to 70,000. So this, I would largely say, impact is due to the midday meal scheme. >> VOICEOVER: The principal of this school says students now find it easier to concentrate, and classrooms are getting crowded. >> PRINCIPAL: This program has made a great impact. The attendance has increased twofold. When we started we had 60 students attending school. Now we have 120. >> VOICEOVER: Today the cooks are preparing sambar, a staple south Indian dish that's like a soupy vegetable curry with lentils. This simple meal is also being used as an instrument of social change. The state government insists at least one cook in every kitchen must be from the so-called Untouchable castes. >> COOK: When we're working we have to treat everyone equally. We cannot discriminate based on caste. We have to get used to that idea. >> VOICEOVER: In many states, lunch has become a one-stop shop for children's health. Apart from the nutritional value of the cooked lunch, these kids also get vitamin A, iron, folic acid, and de-worming tablets with their meals. Abhilash is responsible for supervising the meal. >> ABHILASH: My title is Food Minister. When the little children come with their plates, I make them sit in a row. I tell them not to talk while they eat. And I send them out in a line. >> INTERVIEWER: How does the Food Minister like the food? >> ABHILASH: The rice is good. The sambar is great. It's very tasty to eat. >> INTERVIEWER: You've cleaned up your plate. How was the food? >> GIRL 1: It was good. >> GIRL 2: It's very good. If I don't eat at school every day I feel very hungry. >> VOICEOVER: At least one of the children here doesn't even get one home-cooked meal. He has to beg for his supper. >> BOY: At night, I get food from my neighbors and then I go to bed. In the morning, I eat what's left from dinner, then come to school. >> PRINCIPAL: Now when we see some of the students, compared to four years back when there was no midday meal, I can show you some of them who used to be very skinny. They had no strength. Now we're noticing how they've put on weight. We're happy about that. >> INTERVIEWER: Do you look forward to lunch each day? >> ABHILASH: Yes, I look forward to it. >> VOICEOVER: Well, I don't know what Australian kids would make of this meal, but I thought it was delicious, and it certainly beats the sandwiches that I took to school. But, more importantly, while governments in the West and celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver agonize over what to do about nutrition for kids, India has actually gone ahead and done something about it. And after a satisfying lunch, what better way to relax than by reading the paper. Instead of running around after their heavy meal, the kids here are taught to read aloud from old newspapers. While most Indian schools cook their own lunches each day, some are getting outside help on a massive scale. >> VOICEOVER: Many schools now have their midday meals mass-produced in high-tech kitchens like this one. >> COOK: We can see the blending of the masala powder. >> VOICEOVER: It's the result of collaboration between state governments and a religious group familiar to many in the West. >> COOK: Now we are entering the production area. >> VOICEOVER: The Hare Krishna movement prepares 820,000 lunches in kitchens like this every school day. They call it a "gravity-force kitchen." >> COOK: We have three storage silos on the top of this floor. One for dhal and two for rice. >> VOICEOVER: Rice and lentils come from silos on the roof and are washed on the top floor of the kitchen. This is also where the vegetables are prepared, spices are ground, and chiles and curry leaves are fried. Then they're all poured down chutes into waiting cauldrons on the floor below. The food is cooked with steam generated by giant furnaces, and then it's ready to drop down to the next floor. >> COOK: Now the sambar is ready and, from the processing area, food is going to the packing area through this chute and this channel. >> VOICEOVER: Finally the containers of food are packed onto a fleet of custom-built vehicles, which deliver the meals to schools in and around Bangalore. The logistics are so remarkable that MBA students from Harvard Business School are using it as a case study of time management. >> MADHU PANDIT DAS [Hare Krishna Missionary]: I think there is a ... not "I think": We definitely feel that there is a divine touch in the food that comes out of these kitchens. There's a divine touch, there's a special taste to it. This is called raita. >> INTERVIEWER: Raita? So yogurt and some vegetables? >> MADHU PANDIT DAS: Yogurt and some vegetables. >> VOICEOVER: Madhu Pandit Das is the Hare Krishna missionary and engineer who designed the gravity-force kitchen. >> MADHU PANDIT DAS: You know, some of these processes are so laborious, we could have done away with, but still we do it. For instance, coconut grating. To grate coconut to put in sambar for 100,000 children is no joke. We could easily avoid coconut. It doesn't make much difference. But it makes a difference in the taste. Because sambar means it has to have coconut. >> INTERVIEWER: If the dish is called sambar ... >> MADHU PANDIT DAS: Yeah, it has to have coconut. >> VOICEOVER: There are 4,500 schools eagerly waiting for their meals, and each van visits roughly a dozen of them. Considering the state of the roads, and the traffic, it seems miraculous that the lunches reach the schools on time. >> INTERVIEWER: This road's pretty rough. >> MAN: Oh, most of the roads are similar. This is a better road which we are travelling. There are a few routes with vehicles which go on the very bad road. They cannot go even 2km/h. That's [how] slow it will go. Such horrible roads. >> VOICEOVER: Because the Hare Krishna movement tops up government funding with donations from its members, it can spend more on meals than individual schools. It also adopts regional menus in different parts of India, churning out roti and meat curries in the north, for example. The man who designed the kitchen says it can be replicated anywhere in the world and it could even help cure the obesity epidemic in the West. >> MADHU PANDIT DAS: So let's say if we ever go to the U.S. and do something like this for the children. We'll find out what's their local palate. And then we'll use the technology and we'll scale it up. And it's possible to design a menu which will address obesity, junk food, you know, which destroys the children's health. >> VOICEOVER: Even in India, schools are becoming targets for junk food. There's been a push recently by biscuit manufacturers to have their products included in the lunch menu. But the man who runs the program here says there will be no cookies in Karnataka. >> VIJAY BHASKAR: Well, I would only say that children would like only a hot cooked midday meal. Because any person who has seen children eating a hot meal would know that no cookie can substitute for it. >> INTERVIEWER: How important are these meals to these particular children? >> MAN: Before they used to collapse in the hot sun. It's made all the difference. Their faces are radiant now. >> TITLE: [end credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/nepal-a-narrow-escape <p>Sushma, a 24-year-old single mother of four from a remote village in Nepal, was taken to India and sold to a brothel for $250. Unlike most victims of sexual slavery, however, Sushma managed to escape her captors and return home. In this film we meet some of the women trying to staunch the flow of an estimated 12,000 young women who are trafficked across the open Indian border every year, and follow Sushma as she sets out to find the man who lured her to Kolkata.&nbsp;</p> Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:17:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/nepal-a-narrow-escape Nepal, Human trafficking, Kolkata, India, Gender, Brothel, Prostitution, Poverty, Asia, Maiti Nepal >> TITLE: Women on the Front Line >> ANNIE LENNOX: It threatens the lives of more young women than cancer. It affects one in three women worldwide. It leaves women mentally scarred for life. "It" is violence against women and girls. According to the UN, this brutality is on the rise. Our series comes from the frontline of the hidden war on women and girls. The field of conflict is just as likely to be the home as the brothel. This time on Women on the Front Line we are in Nepal to follow the story of Sushma, a courageous young woman who after escaping from an Indian brothel sets out to bring her trafficker to justice. >> VOICEOVER: Deserted by her husband and with four children to support, 24-year-old Sushma from a remote village in Nepal was sold for sexual slavery. >> SUSHMA: She told me he was OK, so I trusted him. >> VOICEOVER: Her trafficker took her to Kolkata, but she managed to escape. >> INTERVIEWER: Was the door open? >> SUSHMA: Yes, and I slipped out and got away. >> VOICEOVER: Sushma could have suffered the same fate as this Nepali woman – sold as a girl and now, in her sixties, still a prostitute. >> KAMAL TSHERING: I was sold to a mean mistress for 10,000 rupees. >> VOICEOVER: In this film we document how difficult it is for Nepal to staunch the flow of young women being trafficked across an open 2,500-kilometre long border with India, and we meet some of the women on the frontline trying to put a stop to the trade. >> POLICEWOMAN: Do you have any proof that he's your brother? >> VOICEOVER: And we follow Sushma as she sets out to find the man who lured her to a brothel in Kolkata. >> TITLE: A Narrow Escape >> VOICEOVER: Landlocked between China and India, the Asian economic boom has bypassed the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. Corrupt government and more than a decade of civil conflict are among the reasons why Nepal is the 12th-poorest country in the world. Seven out of ten Nepalis live on less than USD$2 a day and, according to the World Bank, almost a third of the population doesn't have enough to eat. Since 1981, Nepal's population has almost doubled to nearly 30 million, making it one of the fastest-growing countries in Asia, and increasing competition for land. Nepal is now an aid- and remittance-dependent economy. Every year, according to the UN, about a hundred thousand Nepalis leave the country for employment. About a third are women and girls, half of whom are trafficked unwittingly across the open border to the brothels of big Indian cities. But the statistics are not much more than guesswork: the trade in women and girls for sex is covert and highly organized. >> PUNYA PRASAD NEUPANE [Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women]: This particular problem, which is regarded as one of the [most] heinous crimes in our country. It is gradually expanding. The trade ... The traffickers are very much clever to hide themselves from the eyes of the law. But the government is trying its best to control, to combat the trafficking issue. >> UGOCHI DANIELS [United Nations Population Fund]: Conservative estimates put it at about 7,000 girls a year, but we feel that it's much higher. Sex trafficking: it's a clandestine activity, it's very hard to get data on it, and it is something that urgently needs to be addressed. >> VOICEOVER: While there are anti-trafficking laws in place in Nepal, an undermanned police force can do little more than make random checks on people passing through the official border posts. The hard-pressed authorities welcome the assistance of non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, in identifying possible traffickers. These women, some of whom have been victims of trafficking themselves, are working for the NGO Maiti Nepal, which mounts its own vigilante patrols to help the border police. >> BISHNU KUMARI KHATRI [Border Police]: Hey guys, open up! We work here from 5am, stopping people and asking them questions. If we believe what they say, we let them go. But, if we think they're lying, we take them to the police station for further questioning. >> PUNYA PRASAD NEUPANE: They have some sort of dream in their mind for a better life, for a better quality life, like that. The traffickers, they easily can trap those aspiring for a better life. Girls are caught, they are easily tempted by their false promises. >> MAYA NEPALI [Maiti Nepal worker]: When they get there, they're forced into prostitution. If they refuse they're beaten and reminded that they've been bought, and must pay off the debt. >> GITA NEPALI: Where's your daughter going? >> GANGA [father]: I'm sending her to Kuwait. >> GITA NEPALI: OK, so why are you sending her there? >> GANGA: Some sort of factory work. >> GITA NEPALI: What sort of work, don't you know? So who's taking her there? >> GANGA: It's somebody we know. >> GITA NEPALI: Why isn't he with you? >> GANGA: He had something else to do, so he left. >> GITA NEPALI: Where did he go? >> GANGA: Somewhere. >> GITA NEPALI: What? >> GANGA: Somewhere. >> GITA NEPALI: He's gone somewhere, has he? OK, listen. If he's taking her to a proper job he should have come here with the paperwork to prove it. Where is it? Have you got your passport with you? >> SUMAN [daughter] and GANGA: No. >> DR. RENU RAJBHANDARI [Women's Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC)]: Some families -- even parents -- they agree to send their daughters. They don't have enough information and that's why they think that, OK, their daughters are going to India or some other place to earn money because they are poor. >> VOICEOVER: Unconvinced this girl has a genuine job to go to, they finally persuade her father that it's likely they are victims of trafficking and stop them crossing the border. >> POLICEMAN: You shouldn't be so naive! You shouldn't believe everything you hear and send your daughter away so easily. Her life will be ruined! >> VOICEOVER: It's 5am at Maiti Nepal's women's shelter in Kathmandu. This is Sushma, the 24-year-old mother-of-four who escaped from a Kolkata brothel. She was taken to the local police who alerted the Nepali Consulate. Maiti Nepal have brought her back to Kathmandu and, in an act of great courage, she has agreed to help them and the police find her trafficker. As dawn breaks, Sushma leads Maiti Nepal staff, accompanied by plainclothes police officers, to the house where she met her trafficker barely a week before. The couple who introduced them will have no idea she is back in Nepal. The police are hoping catch to them unawares. >> INTERVIEWER: Tell us why you're here. >> SUSHMA: I've come to catch them. >> VOICEOVER: The police find three suspects in the house and arrest them. This is the man Sushma says sold her to a brothel in Kolkata. He admits to accompanying her to India. >> KALE DAMAI [suspected trafficker]: We went sightseeing. We got separated. She was left behind. >> INTERVIEWER: Who separated you? You said you were separated. >> KALE DAMAI: I don't know what happened. The moment we got off the bus we were separated. >> VOICEOVER: The police formally charge the suspects at their station. From here they are taken to Maiti Nepal's headquarters. "Maiti" means "mother's home" and the organization has been giving shelter to victims of trafficking for nearly 20 years, supported by international donors. The suspects have been brought here to be questioned by founder of the organization, Anuradha Koirala, and a team of lawyers. >> ANURADHA KOIRALA [Founder, Maiti Nepal]: Sit on the floor, not on the chairs! >> VOICEOVER: The case can't proceed if Sushma doesn't make a formal accusation. Separated from the suspects in the next room Sushma tells lawyers her side of the story. >> LAWYER: It's OK, don't cry now it's all over. You'd be crying if they hadn't been arrested! Now you must be strong. You shouldn't cry in front of them. >> BISHWO RAM KHADKA [Director, Maiti Nepal]: If you file a case against traffickers they threaten these girls, so we have to counsel them, and we have to encourage them to file a case against these people because, until and unless you put people behind the bars, you are not going to prevent trafficking anywhere. >> LAWYER: What did she tell you? Did she say she knew him well? That he'd get you a job? >> SUSHMA: She said he's a good man, we know him quite well and it's fine to go with him. So I trusted him. >> ANURADHA KOIRALA: How much did you sell her for? >> KALE DAMAI: I wasn't given any money. >> ANURADHA KOIRALA: How much were you promised, then? >> KALE DAMAI: They said she wasn't very good-looking so they only gave me 10,000 rupees. >> ANURADHA KOIRALA: Indian rupees? >> KALE DAMAI: Yes. >> VOICEOVER: And that's it: casually and apparently without forethought he admits to receiving money. >> SUSHMA: He said if the police ask any questions on the border I should keep quiet and say… >> LAWYER: He said that? >> SUSHMA: Yes, and say I'm his wife. >> ANURADHA KOIRALA: Then where did you go with 10,000 rupees? >> KALE DAMAI: I didn't go anywhere. >> ANURADHA KOIRALA: Then you came back to Kathmandu? >> KALE DAMAI: Yes. >> SUSHMA: On the fourth day I escaped. I tried to make out the road I came from through the door which was ajar. >> LAWYER: Was the door open? >> SUSHMA: Yes, and I slipped out and got away. >> LAWYER: Weren't there any guards? >> SUSHMA: No, there weren't. >> VOICEOVER: This is the man who admits he was directly involved in her sale to a brothel. Sushma says he told her he was helping her to find a better job. >> SUSHMA: My children are at home. I came to Kathmandu for them. I worked weaving carpets in a factory. >> VOICEOVER: Kolkata: one of the most densely populated cities in the world, where over 30 percent live in slums. Here in the red light district there is an insatiable demand for Nepali women considered "exotic" by Indian men. Sushma was lucky to have escaped. Kamal was not so lucky. She was trafficked from Nepal as a girl. Now in her sixties and still a prostitute, she is not afraid to speak out. >> KAMAL TSHERING: It's been 50 years. >> INTERVIEWER: Who brought you here? >> KAMAL TSHERING: A man brought me here. I was sold to a mean mistress for 10,000 rupees. Some are sold by their husbands, fathers, even their brothers. >> INTERVIEWER: Are there small girls here? Nepali girls? >> KAMAL TSHERING: Yes. >> INTERVIEWER: How old are they? >> KAMAL TSHERING: Ten, eleven, twelve years old. >> INTERVIEWER: Do they start working at ten years old? >> KAMAL TSHERING: Of course they have to! Who's going to feed them? Will their parents come from Nepal to give them money? >> VOICEOVER: Back in Kathmandu the man who sold Sushma has been charged with trafficking. He will spend two years awaiting trial on a charge that now excludes the possibility of bail. And under new legislation in Nepal brought in by the 2007 Anti-Trafficking Act, traffickers now face much tougher sentences. >> SARBENDRA KHANAL [Police Superintendent]: Recently the government has published one act, which is very strong against these traffickers. So if the trafficker is convicted he will be imprisoned for 20 years. >> ANURADHA KOIRALA: There is a big vicious circle and I think about 20, 25 people are involved in one trafficking, one girl to be trafficked. She knows only this man who lured her. So this is the man, who gets the least money, is being put into the jail. It's not the planner or the money lender who is in the jail. So that is why we tried with two women when they came to Nepal -- they have big houses here, big businesses here -- we tried to arrest them, you know? One, we did arrest. But then [she had] political protections, so she was let out and she went back to India. She was trafficking women and she was running a brothel in India. >> KALE DAMAI: It was pretty much a hand-to-mouth existence. There are six of us brothers. What we inherited from our father was never sufficient to lead a decent life. The best job I could get was sewing clothes. >> VOICEOVER: Legal reform such as the recent Trafficking Act has been brought about by the efforts of campaigners such as Dr. Renu Rajbhandari to improve the status of women in Nepali society. For the past 15 years she has been helping rehabilitate victims of trafficking. >> DR. RENU RAJBHANDARI: Discrimination is [a] real fundamental cause for trafficking in this country. Because here women are being kind of taken as a second-class citizen by the state, who doesn't have equal rights as men have in this country. And within the family also, women are being treated also as an asset: "OK, she's my daughter, so then I decide what is good for her," or "She is my wife, so I decide what is good for her." >> VOICEOVER: Sushma, who hasn't seen her children for over a month, is finally on her way home after having made her statement to the court. >> SUSHMA: I've been living at my mother's house. She has a small piece of land. If we wanted to eat, we had to grow it ourselves. Or I had to work in other people's homes in return for food or clothes. >> VOICEOVER: Abandoned by her husband, who left her for another woman, Sushma couldn't make enough money in her village to support her four children. Eighty percent of Nepalis live in villages. Most land is owned by a few influential high-caste families, with the poor trying to eke out a living as tenant farmers. Most rural Nepali households now depend on at least one member's earnings from employment in the city or abroad. During the last five years, Nepali migrant workers have sent home as much as 1.5 billion US dollars -- this totals 15 percent of Nepal's GDP. >> SUSHMA: You do what you can to survive. You can't just sit idle. I left the village to earn a little more. If you can get a job out there you can even earn double. >> SANGEETA PURI [Maiti Nepal]: When you get home will you tell your mother what happened? >> SUSHMA: Yes, I will. If she understands, that's fine. Otherwise, what can I do? She always said I'd never go astray. >> DR. RENU RAJBHANDARI: Girls who have been trafficked, her family usually accepts, but society continues stigmatizing, you know? This girl has been in Mumbai or somewhere, so she's a bad woman, she has been already exploited woman. So those kind of stigmatizations comes there. >> VOICEOVER: After a 12-hour journey, Sushma finally reaches her village. She meets her mother and her youngest child on the road to their house. >> SUSHMA: Sujit's forgotten how to talk! He was talking before. OK, let's walk, let's walk. Look at the state of our village! >> SANGEETA PURI: All villages are like this. >> SUSHMA: What can I do? Our house looks in bad shape. >> SANGEETA PURI: How much land do you have? >> SAREETA [Sushma's mother]: This is all we have. >> SANGEETA PURI: So, what do you grow? Rice? Barley? >> SAREETA: Nothing. There's nothing. I just got tired of tilling. >> SANGEETA PURI: Then what do you eat? >> SAREETA: That's why I've had to send my beloved daughter. >> SANGEETA PURI: You sent her to earn? >> SAREETA: Whatever she can bring back is fine. >> SANGEETA PURI: They told her there was a job for her in Kolkata. They were trying to tempt her with a better job with more pay. She knows you're struggling, she wanted to bring home more money. Poor girl, she didn't know what was happening. It's not her fault. They took her to Kolkata. She escaped. She's done nothing wrong. The gods saved her and she didn't have to do anything bad. >> SAREETA [Sushma's mother]: We women have roles: housewives, prostitutes, some good, some bad. But girls should work and earn as well as boys. That's why I allowed her to leave. But if she's destined to get into trouble, how can I protect her? >> ANURADHA KOIRALA: You cannot say end of trafficking, you know, but I would like ... at least the magnitude of trafficking should go down, right? For this, the government is doing something, but it is not enough. There should be job opportunities for women in the villages, literacy programs for women in the villages. For me, the main problem of trafficking is gender equality. >> UGOCHI DANIELS [United Nations Population Fund]: The challenge is in moving from legislation to practice in having an effect on the lives of people on the ground, so that women know that a life as a second-class citizen is not the way it's supposed to be and that they have opportunities to change that. >> SANGEETA PURI: Oh you look lovely! It fits you perfectly! >> PUNYA PRASAD NEUPANE: We have realized that changing [the] value system is not that easy thing. Those values that we have were the results of hundreds of years, and so within a few years or maybe one decade or two decades, it's not that long to change the mindset of the people, to change the value system. And we are optimistic, actually. >> SUSHMA: I am feeling extremely good! I'm finally home. >> INTERVIEWER: How will you feed the kids now? >> SUSHMA: What can I say? We have to manage on what we've got here. I'll do my best for my children. >> VOICEOVER / TITLE: Six months on, Sushma remains in the village with her children. Her traffickers are still in jail awaiting trial. >> TITLE: [end credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-untouchables-breaking-down-caste-barriers-in-india <p>Despite being rejected by society since birth, millions of so-called "Untouchables" in India are beginning to win the battle against the prejudice that has denied them basic human rights for centuries.&nbsp;</p> Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:03:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-untouchables-breaking-down-caste-barriers-in-india India, Caste, Caste system in India, Social equality, Empowerment, Untouchability, Education, Poverty, Human rights, Marginalization >> DALJIT DHALIWAL: Imagine being rejected by society since birth and being denied access to certain human rights because of your status in the community. Well, that's the reality facing millions of so-called "Untouchables" in India. Although the Indian government has been fighting prejudice against them, it still continues to this day. >> VOICEOVER: They are considered the original inhabitants of coastal Karnataka in South India. They are called upon by their community to beat ceremonial drums, to race and guard water buffalo for the upper caste. They are the Koragas, one among the many Untouchable communities in India. Literally outcasts of society, they live on the edge of the forests in segregated communities, brought up to believe that they are inferior. India's 170 million Untouchables can face a lifetime of abuse, but slowly their status is changing. Basri is an Untouchable. She and her family are illiterate and desperately poor. >> BASRI [Koraga]: It is our bad luck that our community has been cursed for such a long time. >> VOICEOVER: Basri's granddaughter, Jaya, was sexually abused by an upper caste man, a fact she finds sad. >> BASRI: Today, the men folk are not hesitant to touch us as they wish. But the women would not come near us. Sometimes, I can't resist asking: "Do worms grow in our bodies?" >> VOICEOVER: Hindus place people into four castes, based on how they lived their past lives. At the top are the Brahmans: the priests and the scholars; and then the Kshatriyas: the rulers and soldiers. Below them are the Vaishyas: the merchants and traders; and then the Sudras, the laborers. The Untouchables, considered impure and unclean, are unworthy to belong to any caste. By tradition, they are the lowliest of the low. But they do have their champions. For nearly two decades, Keshav Koteshwar, an upper caste man, has been struggling to end the discrimination against Untouchables. At a time when few dared to, he entered the community. His goal: to change attitudes in the entrenched Indian caste system, including a custom in which the Koragas were expected to eat other people's scraps. >> KESHAV KOTESHWAR: Earlier, the Koraga used to go to marriage halls and collect leftover food that was thrown there. They dry them like this and store them in a box. During the rainy season, they re-cook the food and consume it. >> VOICEOVER: Untouchables also have a difficult time finding work. >> KESHAV KOTESHWAR: Members of the Koraga are not given decent jobs. They are given only cleaning jobs in hotels and hospitals. >> VOICEOVER: Historically, there have been many attempts to eradicate Untouchability. The most famous is the hunger strike led by Mohandas Gandhi in 1932. In 1955, the Indian Parliament passed legislation outlawing Untouchability. Today, national and state governments have a minimum quota of jobs set aside for Untouchables, but these are not always enforced, says Shukra, a Koraga working part-time in a government hospital. >> SHUKRA: People promise that there are jobs reserved for the local community people. But no one is bothered. I am not blaming the government, but that is the reality. >> VOICEOVER: For generations, the Koragas have accepted the limitations placed on them, following the traditional beliefs and practices dictated by the caste system without question. Sridhar explains. >> SRIDHAR: In our village, we are not allowed into the house of rich families. We feel sad, but we accept it. Our families think that we are from the lower class. >> VOICEOVER: In 1993, Keshav set up Spoorthi, a residential school for the Koraga kids, to teach them about equal rights and to stand up against such feudal customs. But people in the upper castes were reluctant to release them from work to go to school. >> KESHAV KOTESHWAR: When we first started enrolling the Koraga kids, they asked me if my father would work in their houses if the kids are gone. >> VOICEOVER: Only 10 students were enrolled in the first year. But Keshav persisted. He began staging hunger strikes and peaceful protests to draw attention to the plight of the Koragas. He led a movement to collect alms from home to home, village to village to raise funds to support the children's education. Today, the school provides a 12-year curriculum to 60 students, including a class teaching a dance form that is traditionally practiced only by the upper caste. >> SRIDHAR: Earlier when our parents said that by entering the temple god will curse us, we used to believe them. But not any longer, thanks to my schooling. Now I have the confidence to talk with anyone. Earlier I used to be scared of even facing the upper caste people. >> VOICEOVER: While progress is being made within the younger generation, many older members of the Untouchable communities continue to follow the traditional duties handed down to them. The Koragas lead processions to announce temple festivals, a duty that they have performed for generations, says Santosh. >> SANTOSH: Traditionally my job is to guide the buffalo. This is a duty that I have inherited. If we don't do our duty, then the deity will create problems for us. >> VOICEOVER: More importantly, Santosh and others fear losing the money, the rice, and the coconut they receive as donations for carrying out these rituals. Ganesh, a young Koraga, challenges this tradition. He joins Keshav in his fight to change perceptions about Untouchables. >> GANESH: Only the lower caste participates in the buffalo procession. To bring equality, we suggest all communities participate because it is a program of the entire village. >> VOICEOVER: At the village square, an intense discussion is taking place between members of the upper and lower castes about the procession. After much negotiation, Keshav succeeds in persuading both sides to join the march. >> KP Adyanthaya: Do you have problems if we participate? >> KORAGA: No. >> VOICEOVER: Taking the lead is an influential upper caste man, KP Adyanthaya. He's the caretaker of a powerful local Hindu temple. This may seem like a small step, but it's deeply symbolic. The willingness of different caste members to march together shows that attitudes can change. It offers hope for the Untouchables: the possibility of breaking down centuries-old prejudice and caste barriers. >> DALJIT DHALIWAL: That's all for this edition of 21st Century. I'm Daljit Dhaliwal, we'll see you next time. Until then, goodbye. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/not-just-a-piece-of-cloth <p>Anshu Gupta, the founder of Goonj, a volunteer-run recycling center in New Delhi, recycles garments to provide clothes, schoolbags, sanitary napkins, and other amenities for India's poor. Anshu offers a heartfelt appeal to be mindful of the unused clothing taking space in your closet right now, and what a treasure it could be for someone in need.&nbsp;</p> Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:10:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/not-just-a-piece-of-cloth India, Recycling, Goonj, Clothing, Textile, Gender equality, Sanitary napkin, Child, Hygiene, T-shirt >> TITLE: www.globalonenessproject.org >> TITLE: Not Just a Piece of Cloth >> ANSHU GUPTA: The moment you open your almirah [closet], the first thing that you see is a T-shirt which you don't need. Am I right? First thing which you see is that one T-shirt which you don't need; you're sick and tired of it, you want to get rid of it. You don't know what to do with it. My name is Anshu Gupta, and I initiated this organization called Goonj in 1998. We work on a very basic issue of clothing. It's something like, out of three basic needs -- where you say food, clothes, and shelter -- we target the clothing part. We raise a lot of awareness, and talk to people about the concept, organize a number of collection drives, and awareness campaigns, you know? And as a result, we get a lot of material on a regular basis. Then the entire material comes to this store, and these ladies actually segregate it. Every single thing is sorted out in a different manner. Anything which is not useable, if it is repairable, we will repair it, and then it will be utilized. But even [if] there is a cloth which is, which we cannot use for anything, we can work it into different products. >> ANSHU GUPTA: What she is doing is that she is basically making this for a school bag. This becomes the cover of the bag, and this becomes the pocket, and this is basically to hold the bag, the strips. This is an absolutely perfect, ready to move school bag. This will be used as a rope, like this, you know? And once you utilize this particular material, which is the last inch of real estate actually, and you weave it in this loom, and make a product like this. >> ANSHU GUPTA: This is basically, you know, the waste sheets which we collect. This is like A4 sheets, which is a massive wastage in corporates, and photocopy shops, schools, everywhere you waste these sheets. What we say is why can't we use the other side of it? Every 25 sheets, if you waste, you waste a notebook. >> ANSHU GUPTA: Anything and everything under the sun which is an urban wastage, can be reutilized, reused. It might be computers, it might be furniture, it might be school materials, utensils, footwear, but the primary issue has been the clothing issue. When you talk about clothing, per se, either you talk about cloth bank which a few cities have, or you literally wait for a disaster to happen, then you take out clothing. So our basic issue was that half the country in any case does not need a disaster, but they need clothing. For every single person who does not have enough to cover himself or herself, winters are much bigger, regular disasters. You can survive without food maybe for a day. But what about the basics? >> ANSHU GUPTA: We travel across the country, and you'll see we raised an issue, that every woman in this world needs a piece of cloth for five days. Have you ever thought about the women who do not have enough to cover themselves? From where do they bring that piece of cloth every month? We went to a couple of villages where you find so many holes in their hut. These people actually dig a hole in the night and put their children to sleep there. But they have nothing to cover them. And then they cover them with weaved dry grass. So in that scenario, how and from where will the women bring the piece of cloth? There are cases when you have two to three women in the family. They have different cycles. And they share the same piece of cloth. You have cases where a woman used a piece of blouse which had a hook, and she died of tetanus. You go to another tribe, and you talk to women, and the women will say that they don't use anything. It is really shocking that five days with so much of, you know, thing, you have nothing to use, and you just roam around. >> ANSHU GUPTA: And what a simple solution. In the cities, where you are holding so much, why can't we look at one woman's suit, which is a very traditional and commonly used cloth in India, and if you hold it in your cupboards, you are holding about 20 sanitary napkins for people. We do nothing except cutting that in pieces, and providing it to people, after properly washing and all that. And it becomes a good sanitary napkin for them. And the solution is an old cloth, lying in your cupboard. This is what I always repeat: lying in your cupboard. You go back to your place, you open your almirah, you will at least find 20 cloths which you haven't used for the last three years, two years, one year. You don't need it, but you are holding it. >> TITLE: www.globalonenessproject.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/explore-ramana-s-garden <p>Former Hollywood actor Dr. Prabhavati Dwabha came to India to find herself; instead, she found people in need and a new purpose in life. At Ramana's Garden, Dr. Dwabha is working to give a future to children who would otherwise be without one.</p> Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:38:19 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/explore-ramana-s-garden India, Education, Ramana's Garden, Prabhavati Dwabha, Rishikesh, Untouchability, Annenberg Foundation, Change Makers, Ramana Maharshi, explore >> TITLE: explore>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: I met this woman the other day, and when I asked her how to describe India, she called it the land of magic. But she said she felt like India was also losing its magic. >> TITLE: Ramana's Garden, Rishikesh, India>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: You had this inspiration to start a school.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA [Founder, Ramana's Garden]: I met these kids and I realized that this is what I wanted to do with my life.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: Is the school K through fifth grade?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: K through 10.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: And what do the kids study?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: Everything.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: What's the background of the children here?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: You have to either have no parents, or one parent who couldn't in any way take care of you, to live-in. And to come into the school, you have to have parents who earn less than 1,000 rupees justifiably, means through a disability, or you're a beggar, or you're a sweeper, or you're an unskilled laborer.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: So does that kind of parlay into the whole Indian caste system.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: They're all Untouchable.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: What is an Untouchable?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: My concept of it is that it was set up originally to make India work. There were teachers, who were the prasads. You had the priests, who were the pandits. And they needed somebody to do the dirty work. So they created a caste called the Untouchables, and it's their born birthright and duty to clean the shit of other people. And, for example, when I started working, I immediately wanted to put lunch in all the schools, I wanted to feed the children. And the villagers opposed me and they said, "We will not let our children eat with those children." And I said, "Why?" And they said, "Because they're Untouchable. They can't eat in the same place, they can't drink from the same tap." I put in water lines to the school, and at night they broke them, because an Untouchable had taken water from it, so it was desecrated.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: Is there anything to compare to in the West, this kind of caste system?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: Prejudice. But here it's religiously acceptable. They were branded. And they're no longer branded; what they are is they're denied education. They wind up being the ones that fall through the crack of education, so they become the scab labor. Like this boy: this boy's father works for 40 rupees a day. He has five children. He sold this boy when he was nine years old. We managed to get him back. He sold him because he couldn't feed the others. If you were taught, like these children were, when they were born, that they must be very careful, they must never take water from certain taps, they must never do anything that would make someone else's life or place dirty -- then if no one told you that it wasn't true, you would believe it. And the whole idea of Ramana's Garden is that it's not telling them that it's not true, it's giving them a life that makes them know it's not true. It's giving them a future. Look. This is going to be a multimillion-dollar resort. If we walk over there right now, there are 500 Bihari laborers building that. They're laboring for 40 rupees a day. They're doing that because they're hungry. They're doing that because they don't have an education. Never. Not one of these kids will every carry a brick on their head, they won't have to. Our kids are so well educated, and they speak perfect English. And when they come out of our school, no one would ever dare to believe they're Untouchable. That's what Ramana's is all about: making sure that every one of these kids will be able to go to university, every one of them. This little girl, living under a piece of plastic on the bridge, you know? She lives under plastic. Several of these kids do. They come here and go to school, and so from us they get their lunch every day, they get their clothes, they get their books. They get everything free, otherwise they would be in the street, begging. And if you beg in the street from this age, what are you going to do when you grow up? You'll either be a thief or a beggar. But she won't have to do that. None of them will. Anrak, what do you want to do?>> ANRAK: I'll be a teacher.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: He wants to be a teacher. His mother breaks rocks, and his father carries them on his head, they build roads.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: What do you want to do?>> GIRL: I want to be a doctor.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: You want to be a doctor?>> CHILDREN: Teacher. Pilot.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: So when I ask them, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and they actually are saying their dream -- that's almost unheard of.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: An architect, an artist, a painter, a pilot. A pilot with a difference. If they become a teacher, they'll be a teacher that makes a difference. If they become a doctor, they'll make a difference. It's not about just having a job, it's understanding that we all have to make a difference, in our own little ways, our own little pond. This is our pond.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: We want to feed you.>> CHILDREN: Welcome to Ramana's Garden.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: They will have a future where they can create their own future. Right here and now, they can say, I want to be an engineer, I want to be a doctor, I want to be a teacher, I want to make a difference.>> CHILDREN: This is our kitchen. Where we can get food. >> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: We have our own bakery. The kids bake cookies, croissants. They're learning to make a difference. They're learning that this food makes a difference. They know that people eat here and not in the other restaurants because we make a difference.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: So it's all organic and vegetarian?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: It's all organic, it's all grown by the kids. There's a benefit to grow your food healthy. So we now collaborate with a group that are trying to spread green awareness. They're called Navadania, and they have got over 1,800 farmers that are now willingly growing organic. So we support them. Down in the café right now, you'll find people down there that are saying, "We eat here every day because it's different.">> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: Do you have any success stories you can share?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: We have 13 teachers that are Untouchable and are teaching in schools in Delhi, in the high private schools of Dehradun, which is the capital of education of all north India. We have 16 boys that are electricians; two of them have their own electrician company, to do wiring, and bring light into Brahman houses. I like that. >> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: That must make you feel good.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: Yeah, don't you feel good when your kids do good?>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: Yeah. It's really rewarding.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: Yeah. It's nice.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: It's great.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: I like it. I love beating the system. I was an actress, living and working in Hollywood. I came to Pune, as a seeker. >> TITLE: Ganga (Ganges) River>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: I lived in an ashram for 18 years, and wound up in Lucknow, with the oldest and strongest disciple of Ramana Maharshi, which is why this is called Ramana's Garden. And he brought me here to Ganga, on a pilgrimage, and took me to a place that's seven kilometers upriver, which was a broken, decaying, the roof-falling-in old ashram, and there was a cave there where he'd spent a lot of time, and he told me that I needed to stay there in silence and [meditate]. And I started meeting kids, and basically kids were just coming because they were curious -- this crazy white lady in a cave by the bank of the Ganga. And you know, they didn't have any buttons. That was the first thing that struck me: none of them had a button on their shirt, and a lot of them would have the whole sleeve hanging off. So we started sewing buttons. And then we started making numbers, and then we started learning to write our name, and first there were five and then there were 10 and then there were 20. It's not like I came here and said I'm going to be a social worker and I'm going to change anything. I was trying to change myself. I started to feel totally helpless. Like, so many kids came, and so many villages needed help. And I had very little money left, and so I decided I had to leave. It was too big for me. I can't do this. And if I can't make a difference, I don't want to be here. I've seen something living here, these kids have touched me. If I can't make something change, then I shouldn't be here. I should do something else. So I was actually going to leave, and had come down from the cave to make those arrangements to leave. And Ganga rose; she rose double or triple her height. And while I was away, she rose and she took everything I owned in the world. The cave was gone when I came home. And I came back and all the kids were there to meet me, and they were so excited. And they were jumping up and down and shouting, "Ghate! Ghate!" ["Loss! Loss!"] And I started saying, "Ghate, ghate," because I thought it was some new greeting. And then all of a sudden I see that where my whole life, where my whole identity, where everything I thought I was, is a wave of water. It's gone. And in that moment, villagers start arriving, and they keep telling me, "Chinta mat karo," and I don't know what that means either, and it's, "Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine." And they build me a little structure. And they brought food, they brought a string bed, they brought a mattress, they brought carpets, they brought buttermilk. And there's 70 of us in there in a space this big. I looked at these people, and I realized: I'm not going to leave. They're giving everything they have, and asking zero in return. Their only concern that night was that it wasn't enough. It was all they had and they wanted to give more, and I'm going to pack and run?>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: What is the message of the Ganga?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: Every moment will be new. Embrace it. If you hang onto anything, you'll suffer. The essence is with the river. The essence is in the eyes of the kids. That essence, it's still here. Magic is still here.>> TITLE: With the support of the Annenberg Foundation, explore has made funding possible to: Ramana's Garden. To learn more: www.sayyesnow.org www.friendsramanasgarden.org>> TITLE: explore.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/explore-fighting-hiv <p>The battle against HIV presents unique challenges in different cultures around the world. In India, Dr. Suniti Solomon and her team at the YRG Centre for AIDS Research and Education are working hard to change attitudes and slow the spread of the disease.</p> Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:38:19 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/explore-fighting-hiv HIV, India, Dr. Suniti Solomon, HIV positive people, YRG Centre for AIDS Research and Education, Antiretroviral drug, Sexual intercourse, Annenberg Foundation, Global Fund, explore >> TITLE: explore >> DR. SUNITI SOLOMON [Founder and Director, YRG Centre for AIDS Research and Education]: I was working for the government for 22 years, and I couldn't do what I wanted. I used to see young people coming up to me for counseling. I said, "I need to talk." And the government said, "Your job is in the laboratory." So I quit, and I started the center with three people, two little rooms, and a kitchen for my laboratory. At one point of time, I think it was '97, I didn't have money to pay salaries for my staff. So I said, "We need to close down now." So I called my staff and I said, "I don't have money. You want to stay, stay with me; leave if you want." They said, "Pay us when you get money, but we are staying." I haven't had that same problem again; we are managing to run the show. Today, I have 200 people working for me; I have this building with three floors; I have a laboratory, which is 4,000 square feet. I used to see one new patient a week, today I see minimum 15 new patients a day. It's mostly word of mouth. One patient comes here; they go back and tell the others, "Look, I went there. I got the best of treatment. They've got good attitudes, they tell you what to do, they spend a lot of time with you. The doctors are good." And then when we started prevention, people said, "I need to go for a test, where do I go?" So we started a counseling center. "Where do I go for care?" We didn't have a place, except the government center where the attitudes were very bad. So I started day care. And then I need to admit, because people were getting sick, so I took two rooms in a lodge. And put "please do not disturb" outside, and we used to treat the patient inside. Then a lady who was going away to Canada gave me her house, which had three bedrooms. So we put six beds in there. And then I found this block, which was used for patients with leprosy, and was locked for the last 10 years. So then I asked the management, "Can I take this building?" and they said, "No, it's dilapidated, it'll fall." And then I beg, borrow, steal money to make this floor for administration. Today, more than 11,000 patients have been taken care of here. We have 20 beds, we have an intensive care unit, because the President of the Indian Network of Positive People, Ashok Pillai, was a patient. >> TITLE: Ashok Pillai (1968-2002)>> DR. SUNITI SOLOMON: He died in front of my eyes, with fits for four hours. And I needed a ventilator, and nobody would give me one. We couldn't sedate him more, and he died. And that day we decided, and within six months I got an ICU up here, with two beds. And we are able to save a number of lives. So it's been a struggle, but I think it's very rewarding. At the end of the day, you can sleep well. Martin has been with me from 1987. He's been with me for now 20 years. And here we draw blood. I don't think you find this anywhere else in India. You know, all these Vacutainers. We use only Vacutainers. India is a country with culture, religion, and so we thought we are quite safe. But, unfortunately, 85 percent of infections in India is spread through sex. Unprotected, penetrative sex. Because in India, men can do what they want. They have the freedom to have multiple partners, nobody will ask. Today I see software engineers, doctors, chartered accountants, industrialists, businessmen -- it has cut across all these -- because they feel, "I didn't go to a sex worker, so how will I pick up the virus? I went to my friends, or my secretary, or my classmates. So they are safe." Eighty percent of women we are taking care of -- roughly about 4,000 women -- 80 percent have a single partner that's their husband. We need to change behavior, and we know it's so difficult to change behavior. Now we are going down to the outpatient level. This is our Global Fund place, right? And that's Sangita and Pahal. Okay, and this is our outpatient: there are no patients here now, but ... okay, come. These are two of our counselors. They've finished the job for the day, right? That's Mobeen and ...>> ARCHANA [Counselor]: Archana.>> DR. SUNITI SOLOMON: Archana. Now tell them, whom did you counsel?>> MOBEEN: We just saw a male who came in for testing. But he was very much scared about his status. But after he got his report -- it was ... he was tested negative -- he was more worried about what others would have thought about him than actual the result itself.>> DR. SUNITI SOLOMON: Now, we have started doing testing free for everybody, because I think unless you really do free testing, people will not come in. And we find our walk-in is just doubling because of free testing. Now we also have a number of projects which are helping. For example, AIDS Project Los Angeles gives three drugs to 100 families, free testing for them, free monitoring for them. We have at least seven major projects. So I think we are trying to do what Robin Hood did. We steal from the rich and give it to the poor. This is Narayan, very well-trained pharmacist. And this is our pharmacy. This is three-in-one tablets: 840 rupees. This is one month's supply. It's about USD$800 in U.S.; it costs us 840 rupees, or USD$20. When we started treating people we had to give about 20 tablets a day. This is a new one, which has just come into India. It's just one tablet a day. So it's easier for compliance, or adherence. In U.S., this will cost you USD$700. Today, the whole scene is different. When somebody comes up, I say, "We have drugs today." Today, HIV is like a chronic disease. We can treat you. You will have a good quality of life for the next 10-15 years. But, unfortunately, in India, there's not even 100,000 people on antiretroviral drugs today. And we are talking of about 5 million who may need the drug, out of the 10 million who are infected. When we started, it was, I would say, 90 percent men, 10 percent women. Because women in India are getting the infection much later than the men. I mean, the ones whom we see here. So ... but today, there's roughly about 60 percent men, 40 percent women. So there are a lot of problems. So the girls don't get all the treatment the boys get. And she's the one who gets all the pressure, all the blows, if you want to call [it], in the family. But still, she has to keep a smiling face, and manage the show. In our center, when women come, either it's the man who comes and gets tested, and then he says, "I'm married." So we tell them, "Bring your wife." "No, no, no, she doesn't need." "She needs as much care as you need. Bring her, otherwise we are not going to treat you." So we literally push the man to bring his wife in. That's how we test the woman, and then do couple counseling. We did a trial for HIV phase-one vaccine here, and to get 32 volunteers, we had to talk to more than 3,000 people to come forward. That's because of the stigma attached to HIV; they don't want even to participate in a vaccine against HIV. If the priest, a Hindu priest, comes and says, "It's okay, that's alright, there's no problem being HIV positive," you know, the stigma attached to HIV will disappear in India. When the virus was first detected in the U.S., it was among gay community, among drug-users, and sex workers. So we knew that it was among a marginalized community. When we detected it in India, it was sex workers. So, naturally, all the stigma to this disease is because it was in this group of people. I always tell people who participate in my programs: If only we had detected HIV for the first time in a baby, things may have been different. There may not have been today the stigma we have for this disease.>> TITLE: To learn more: www.yrgcare.org>> TITLE: explore.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/explore-dr-dog <p>Education and personal growth can come in many forms. The Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation brings dogs into schools to help children break through their shyness, especially the developmentally challenged. Children with ADD, autism, and other developmental disabilities improve their speaking and social skills with the help of the program.&nbsp;</p> Sat, 29 May 2010 00:34:28 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/explore-dr-dog C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation, Animals Asia Foundation, Nanditha Krishna, Animal-assisted therapy, Learning disability, Annenberg Foundation, India, Charles Annenberg Weingarten, Doctor Dog, Chennai >> DR. NANDITHA KRISHNA [Director, C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation]: I'm Nanditha Krishna. I'm the director of the C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation. The Foundation has set up many institutes, such as the C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre, the C.P.R. Institute of Hindulogical Research, C.P. Art Centre, and the Saraswathi Kendra Learning Centre for Children with dyslexia, autism, learning disabilities, ADD, and so on. Dr. Dog is a program that was really started in Hong Kong by Animals Asia Foundation. In Chennai there are about 20 dogs in the program. They go to different schools. Some of the schools are for the retarded children with Down's syndrome and so on. We found that it was very good at making children speak. >> YOUTH: His name is Mikey. Yes, Mi-key. M-I-K-E-Y. >> YOUTH: I have a dog. It's a boxer. Its name is Bruno. Very friendly. Loves to play with people. My pastime is, you know, spending time with them. >> DR. NANDITHA KRISHNA: Dogs are not threatening. The child feels superior, and there's no pressure on the child, whereas when the parents say "do this," or the teacher tries to teach -- in the kindest way possible -- that is still too much pressure on the child. Talk to Jawal. Ask her, ask her what she ate for breakfast. >> YOUTH: What did you eat? Jawal, what did you eat? >> DR. NANDITHA KRISHNA: Whereas here he's talking to another being who cannot talk at all. >> YOUTH: Yeah, dogs are so friendly. >> YOUTH: It's a golden retriever, what I've got at home. >> DR. NANDITA KRISHNA: It is so much easier when there is a dog and they are able to talk. >> YOUTH: If you love to be with dogs, it's not hard at all. >> YOUTH: I take him for walks every day. >> DR. NANDITA KRISHNA: We just saw a case of a young boy who could barely speak, and who brought out one sentence, to tell the dog to give him a kiss. >> YOUTH: Good to have a dog. It's fun. >> TITLE: www.bluecross.org.in >> TITLE: www.explore.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/successful-female-entrepreneur-in-india <p>In India, small loans administered by local self-help groups are helping women pull themselves and their families out of poverty.</p> Tue, 04 May 2010 21:22:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/successful-female-entrepreneur-in-india Microfinance, United Nations, World Bank, India, Poverty, International Women's Day, Dalit, Andhra Pradesh >> VOICEOVER: Pakeeramma is proud of her giant barrel of rice, a year's worth of food. It took her a long time and a lot of work to amass such a visible sign of prosperity. Pakeeramma went from cleaning toilets a decade ago, to being a businesswoman today. A businesswoman who is building four new houses next to her own, to rent. Pakeeramma has two strikes against her: she's a woman, and a Dalit, a poor caste whose members have been discriminated against for generations. About 10 years ago, Pakeeramma borrowed 500 rupees from a World Bank-supported women's self-help group. She began selling vegetables door-to-door. Soon, her income doubled. She sold her vegetables to hotels. Her income tripled. >> M. PAKEERAMMA: I went to my mother-in-law's house when I got married and my father-in-law's business was cleaning toilets. I got 30 rupees per toilet: 10 rupees went for liquor, 20 for food. I had only one meal a day for 20 years. >> VOICEOVER: Now she's a landholder with a daughter in school, one son studying for his MBA, and another with a brand-new car to start up a taxi service. The big event of this morning is a blessing for the new car. Bought with a 25,000-rupee loan from the self-help group, it's a new car and a sign of still more success. Premeela, her daughter, thanks her mother for pulling their family out of poverty. >> PREMEELA: Now, because of her, I want to be a policewoman or a doctor. >> VOICEOVER: The key, according to the local self-help group leader, is capital. It seems obvious, but it takes money, Vijaya Bharathi says, to end poverty. >> VIJAYA BHARATHI: Capital will give strength and confidence to the poor and this project is successful in that area. So through bank linkages, by savings, by giving seed money, the project is able to show the poor a way to reach the capital. >> VOICEOVER: Pakeeramma is from one of India's lowest castes, and grew up in severe poverty. She says her husband used to spend most of their money on arak, the local home-brewed liquor, until she made some money and made him stop. Now it is her name on the titles to the land, and her decision to invest in the new car. >> M. PAKEERAMMA: If the country is to improve, women should be given opportunities in every aspect of life. >> VOICEOVER: Self-help groups like the one Pakeeramma belongs to are spreading throughout India. There are more than 600,000 such groups in Andhra Pradesh alone, and budding Pakeerammas in almost every village. >> VOICEOVER: For the United Nations, I'm Alison Schafer, reporting. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-s-sanitation-solutions <p>Lack of toilets is a serious problem in India. Human excrement pollutes fields and rivers, causing disease and even death. But the Sulabh Sanitation Movement is helping to change that, with cheap, eco-friendly solutions that already benefit more than 10 million people every day.&nbsp;</p> Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:53:35 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-s-sanitation-solutions Sulabh International, Bindeshwar Pathak, India, Sanitation, Hygiene, Improved sanitation, Stockholm International Water Institute, Human waste, Flush toilet, Water pollution >> VOICEOVER: World Water Week brought over 2,000 water experts to Stockholm, Sweden in August 2009. The annual event, hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute, addresses pressing global water challenges. A featured theme this year was the world's lack of toilets and it's devastating effect on the world's poor. More than two and a half billion people in the world don't have access to a toilet. Half of all hospital beds in developing countries are filled with people who are ill because they lack clean water and sanitation. And 5,000 children die each day as a result. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak is changing all that. For 30 years he led India's Sulabh Sanitation Movement, bringing new sanitation technology to millions and breaking down social barriers in the process. He received the 2009 World Water Prize from Prince Carl Philip of Sweden. The USD$150,000 award is the world's most prestigious prize for outstanding achievement in water-related activities. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK [Founder, Sulabh International]: Sulabh Sanitation Movement was started to fulfill some of the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi: good sanitation, and removal of Untouchability and social discrimination from Indian society. >> VOICEOVER: Lack of toilets is a big problem in India. Every day, 100,000 tons of human excrement pollute India's fields and rivers. Seventy-five percent of the water is contaminated by human and agricultural waste. This leads to illness and loss of productivity, which clips 7 percent off India's gross domestic product [GDP] annually. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Seven hundred million people still go outside for defecation. In India, ladies have to suffer the most and sometimes they have to face criminal assaults, snake bites sometimes. Girls don't go to schools because of lack of toilets. >> VOICEOVER: Dr. Pathak's Sulabh Sanitation Movement developed a twin-pit pour-flush toilet system that uses less than a half gallon of water, or 10 times less than a normal flush toilet. Today, over a million Sulabh toilets are used in Indian homes and in 7,500 public facilities serving more than 10 million people daily. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: If you adopt these technologies then you are saving water, you are saving global warming, you are getting fertilizer, and it's eco-friendly. >> VOICEOVER: In keeping with Gandhi's vision, Dr. Pathak is changing lives for the better for the more than 700,000 people who work as manual scavengers, cleaning human waste from pit latrines. Called "Untouchables," they are shunned by Indian society. But, thanks to Dr. Pathak, more than 60,000 scavengers have new jobs, jobs that have more dignity, and are more lucrative. And a new generation of Untouchable children will have a brighter future as a result of the education and training they receive in Sulabh-supported schools.