It’s 11 o’clock!
Five of our group members had been trained by GALS Catalyst Workshop in February 2019. When they returned back they called for a meeting and shared their learning experiences. I found it to be an interesting content when I heard them about the program. I fell in love with the pictorial tool they used in describing about any content. I could learn a lot from Govinda Sha, Shanti Mahato and Manaki Mahato about the GALS tool.
I learned to draw various pictorials using the GALS tool. While drawing the Road Vision Journey it made clear about our family goals which obviously required money. Similarly using Gender Balance Tree, I traced about family work division, income sources, and family expenses. I even drew my Social Empowerment Map, which highlights my emotional quotient. I realized my anger was ruining our family environment.
I became restless after drawing these pictures. I realized I need to increase my income using minimal resources. We own a small hut, 2 kattha (0.06 ha) of land, 2 goats and 10 kattha (0.33 ha) of rented land for vegetable farming. My elder son has gone for foreign employment job in Malaysia. He earns Rs 15000 per month but all his savings were spent on my husband’s kidney treatment and marriage of our two daughters. After learning the GALS tool I have become active in taking household economic decision. I discussed with my husband and son to explore the income generating ideas. Finally, we thought of retailing mango fruits. In May 2019, my husband and I visited my parental home in Ranigunj to see my sick sister-in-law. There, I asked my father to help me in finding a Mango Garden for rent. At first, my father had a doubt but I convinced him. So, my father discussed with my brother and paid Rs 5000 as advance for a nearby mango garden in an area of bigha (0.67 ha) which actually cost us Rs 55000/. Later, we also took a rent for jackfruit garden. Luckily, this season we were able to get good rate for the mango and we saved 2 lakhs (1.5 from mango and 0.5 from Jack fruit). Now, we plan to start poultry farm and a grocery shop beside it.
I explained the Gender Balance Tree to my younger son and explained him how he is not helping us in household chores. You can ask my neighbors or my relatives about how my son used to never help us in household matters. But this picture did a magic! He is now working hand in hand with his father in the field. At the same time, Social Empowerment map has helped to reflect on my behavior. I usually quarrel and enter into argument with the family member. The relationship lines in the map made me realize I should start reconstructing these lines for better family life.
After participating in the GALS ToT session in August 2019, I got to meet with people from other groups which kept me further motivated for self-improvement. Earlier in the group we used to meet only for collecting money but after this GALS workshop, we are using group discussion method to solve our issues and share our problem. So, these meetings have become a space for sisterhood bonding.
Use of GALS tool has made powerful impact in my life. It has done lot of brainstorming in me let my thoughts wander around. It encouraged me to reflect upon myself and my family’s future. I was never comfortable to hold pen, but I practiced to draw the tools so many times that, now I can write smoothly. I want to teach these methods to as many people as I can. Currently, I am teaching my daughter who is visiting us and will soon return to her husband’s house. I also want to teach that specific people who were jealous of me. My nephew had seen my note copy and asked me to teach him. The male shopkeeper asked me if he could join our group. I laughed and replied, he cannot join the group due to gender constraints but I could teach him these tools.
Normally, in the morning we work in our vegetable field, and eat our lunch around 10 o’clock. At 11/12 o’clock our group members, gather in the temple for discussion and improving our drawings. So, sometimes when I am late, my husband sees his watch and says, “Hey Teacher, its 11 o’clock! Time for you to leave for work”.
Name: Urmila Sah
Age: 40 years, Married in 15 years of age
Husband: Bir Bahadur Sah, 55 years; 2 sons and 3 daughters
