Day 13- eye opening

The trip is winding down. I can’t believe it.

We visited the Thiyagam Women’s Trust. It provides jobs for disabled women.  They find women who are physically disabled and teach them to sew or work with computers. After they train the women, they send them back home so that they can run a business out of their own home. We were able to visit both sights.  It was so interesting. Some of the women have no legs and others just have stubs but, they are able to sew amazingly well. 
Depending on ability they also train some women who are mentally disabled.  We had translators so, we were able to speak with the women and ask questions. One thing that stuck out to me was how they translate mentally/physically disabled. They say “differently abled.” Of all the pc ways to say it, I actually like that.

We also visited a domestic violence shelter and counseling center. There is so much stigma here regarding marital problems and seeking help in any way that when it gets to the point that the woman actually goes for help, the stories are horrible.  They actually use the terms domestic violence and torture interchangeably.  After hearing the stories, the term women’s empowerment takes another meaning entirely. It’s not about silly women’s rights; it’s about keeping them alive.  

And then we worked on our projects. We met with our groups and discussed our projects. We are starting to form an outline and condense our information.  What ever it ma seem like we actually are studying and working hard.

I'm starting to realize why they told us to bring flash lights. The power goes out randomly. It happens all of the time and no one knows how long it will last. When the power goes out, so does the air conditioning and it gets hot fast.

There are only five days left on this trip. It flew by.

In Christ
~Michelle