| SHAMA, Inc. A flame of hope for India's poor By Heidi M. Pascual |
| Inc. was founded by a couple who originally came from India, but later found a warm home in Wisconsin. Jagdish Chander taught in the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Mathematics Department for more than 32 years, but she never disconnected her ties with India. She was well aware of the poverty and challenges continuously faced by families back home. "Because we know how it is to be poor, in the first place -- in 1987, I just thought we (my husband, my friends) needed to do something," Chander said in a brief interview with Asian Wisconzine last fall. "We called it the 'India Project,' and we said, 'First we should raise some money and do some do diversity education in the area.'" Chander realized that her three daughters had gone to public schools with no other Indian kids around, and thought 'diversity education' would be an important element to increase awareness of people in central Wisconsin in order to get support. "People learn about poverty in school, but they didn't have the clue to the beauty of that ancient culture," Chander said, and thought it was necessary to combine "education and the desire to do something for the very poor, especially women," in India. The India Project focused on women initially, in recognition of their role in the traditional family. "We thought we needed women leadership first, so I thought women leadership might come from the college-based, literate women who can help out," Chander recalled. "So we started with the scholarship program in a Bombay College, a women's institute that's been providing free education from kindergarten through master's program, and they have been doing free education for the last 75 or 80 years." The India Project has since evolved into an organization with a broader focus because of expanding work. "We used to work with churches, sometimes with Indian organizations and foundations. Then we thought after 2000, it's time for us to have our own project," Chander said of Shama, Inc.'s birth. They thought to make 'SHAMA" an acronym, as follows: * S - for Scholarships. For girls, to provide primary through higher secondary education, food, uniforms, health checkups, and scholarships to ease the financial burden on students' families. The SHAMA, Inc. Kids program supports this effort. * H - for Home industry. For adult women, to focus on career building through classes such as tailoring, computing, and tofu-making. Loans and incentives to women for self-employment are provided. * A - for Activism. Educating women about self empowerment and their legal rights; giving voice and finding solutions to particular needs of women and children through democratic village assemblies. * M - for Medical and AIDS awareness. Reproductive health education, HIV and STD prevention for women and high-risk groups; treatment for leprosy and tuberculosis and prevention and cure of blindness. * A - for America-India alliance. Introducing India and its culture to the local community; raising awareness among Indians in America of the dedication and interest of Americans in other cultures; fostering communication between women, children and their sponsors. People in India feel the compassion shown toward them, building respect and gratitude toward Americans. Indian children, adopted or immigrant, come together to learn about Indian culture." While Americans are under the impression that India is becoming a "wealthy" nation, the reality in India is far from that impression. "When I visited Bombay, I saw kids in the slums living in these amazingly poor places that you couldn't help but close your nose," Chander said. "We started a sponsor-a-child program, the Shama Kid program, a one-to-one kind of support where you'd know this is the child that your money is going to. You sponsor a child for $10 a month, and we give the child school supplies, uniforms, shoes, and one good and nutritious meal a day; then after school academic coaching, and teaching them English because their teachers don't know English. We usually send pictures and show the things they gave in a huge bag: textbooks, pencils, other school needs, board games, etc. We work with the school and the teachers are volunteering their time. So we're not paying anybody in India or anybody here either. Nobody is charging anything, so 100 percent of the sponsor's contribution goes to the children." Another project is the Shama Well, or Women Empowered through Living Loans, that provides women loans for self-employment or training. "We just thought our women were being left behind," Chander lamented. "Women take care of the whole family including the children, so once we empower women, we empower the whole family." How does it work? "We started to sponsor an interest-free loan for women ($15 a month for one year, which comes out to $180)," she explained. "They use the money to learn what they have to learn to be self-employed." There is a great future shaping up in the horizon, Chandra beamed. "One of the things that we're really excited about is that we made a small, women cooperative which will use renewable energy on the farm!" she exclaimed. "One woman will get cows to do the work, then two women will run the village café or food stall, one woman will run a gas-operated machine, using cow manure with the bacterial process. She will learn to operate and manage that. Then she will sell the byproduct to other women enrolled in the farming, to use that as a fertilizer. So we're very excited about this renewable source making it, because that village doesn't have electricity. We can create and then maybe get the men involved in bigger things!" Chander's excitement was visible in the sparkle of her eyes and her sweet smile as she showed several photographs of Indian women in the midst of their newfound independence through new trades and skills acquired, courtesy of Shama, Inc. "Learning a trade, being a business woman, learning how to manage - this is economically empowering!" she said proudly. "There's no reason it won't go good. We started quite a few sewing schools in the village and in Bombay. We will get orders to sew some stuffed toys or simple stuff. Right now, their sewing skills are not that sophisticated, but they will learn it and then become better. They can make a much better living from sewing." The "shama" has been lit, and with the determination of Chander and her group, there's no question Shama, Inc.'s flame will burn for many, many years. To know more about Shama, Inc. to make a donation, sponsor a child or participate in the Shama WELL Cooperative program, please visit their website at http://www.uwsp.edu/multicultural/SHAMA. |
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| "Shama" means flame -- or something that warms and provides light to an otherwise cold and dark place. There are many of these places that you and I are very familiar with, especially those of you who came from either a third-world, or a still-developing country. "Shama," however, is a word uniquely Indian, and the choice of the name for a nonprofit giving back to help others is no accident, because Shama, |
| Jagdish Chander (r) with supporters at last falls's India Day in Madison |
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