OF ALL OF HUMANITY’S assumptions about humanity, there is perhaps little that surpasses the prejudices the well-heeled have about the poor. Even when most admit to social inequities as the reason why the poor remain disadvantaged, there is often a litany of stereotypes that follow. But Sanjit ‘Bunker’ Roy is different, and so is the social experiment he has engineered in remote Tilona, Rajasthan—the Barefoot College.
Set up in 1972, Barefoot College has been working to provide the only known cure for the issues that plague the poor: empowerment, especially of women. With practice as pedagogy, the Barefoot college “is in the process of exploding many myths by setting an example,” as Roy puts it.
This is perhaps best illustrated by its Solar Mamas programme, where rural women are trained to build, install and maintain solar panels and batteries. After three to six months of training, they head back to their communities and implement the technology, bringing a reliable source of energy to remote villages and earning themselves a decent income. Many go on to train others in their own, and in neighbouring, villages.
One such trainer is 57-year-old Leela Devi, who bends over her workstation while carefully soldering a circuit board during our interview. Having studied only till class 3, she never believed she could do this job. “The beginning was difficult. I told them that I am not going to be able to do this,” she says. But starting from learning colour codes assigned to different circuit components, she learnt the names of the various tools and instruments.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2023 من Reader's Digest India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 2023 من Reader's Digest India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Why Water Workouts Work
Swimming and other aquatic exercises have special benefits
Surf's Up... Again
A Hawaiian helps victims of a devastating fire in the most Hawaiian way possible
HUMOUR in UNIFORM
I got sloppy with my shaving one morning and nicked my skin.
NEXT STOP: WHO KNOWS?
We wanted to do a once-in-a-lifetime trek in northern Laos. Just getting there became the adventure
Leave the WILD Things Be
Wild animals have been made to serve a variety of human needs, including recreational ones. It’s up to everyday folk to decry the use of animals for entertainment
GOTCHA!
We asked for it: What’s the best prank you ever pulled?
Doing Dad's Bucket List
Laura Carney's father died suddenly, with unfinished business. So she started checking off the items for him
Buried beneath a Mountain
The amazing 17-day-long, multi-agency effort to rescue 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel
IS EVERYONE ON OZEMPIC?
Everything you need to know about the new diabetes drugs shaping the weight-loss revolution
DO MORE WITH YOUR TECH
You're undoubtedly missing out on cool features that can help make life easier, safer and even more fun