On Tuesday, January 28th, my social justice group zoomed with The Aarti Home students who are based in Andhra Pradesh, India. The Aarti Home is a shelter/program that makes sure girls are recognized and educated so that they can have a promising future. They find children who are neglected by families or maybe abused into exploitation and help them create dreams and a healthy vision of what they want to be. We got this interview opportunity from Zoe Timms, the founder of The Women’s Education Project, because she was another expert that we conferenced with that had ties with the Aarti Home. Zoe set up a virtual call for us to get personal with other girls our age and learn more about what their day to day life looks like.

Beforehand, Zoe told us that we shouldn’t just ask what the girls’ experiences were or how they got to where they are now, but more like a friendly conversation that asked about favorite classes and songs. She also told us that we could share an American snack or meal that would be new to the students. My social justice group decided on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We got strawberry jelly in a squeezy tube, white bread, and of course the peanut butter, to make the recipe as stereotypically American as possible. When the time came, we hopped on the meeting and introduced ourselves. The Aarti Home students then greeted us and told us that they were going to make their favorite dish, dosa. Unfortunately, the zoom was very glitchy, but we still got an understanding of what was going on. It was very fun to watch and I appreciated their willingness to show us something new.

Then it was our turn to make the sandwich. We set up plates and laid out everything we needed. We made sure to specifically describe each item and explain a step by step tutorial on how to assemble it. Once we finished, we showed them the finished product and they seemed very interested. Moving on from the cooking demonstration, the Aarti Home girls started to ask questions about what hobbies we enjoyed doing and what we wanted our career to be. We answered with things like dancing and playing tennis when all of a sudden one girl in the shelter said that she also really liked to dance. Once she said that, everyone else got super excited and the girls decided that they were going to show us some moves. They put on some music and performed a whole choreographed dance that we were not expecting. Once the dancing stopped, they asked us if we could do the same. We did not know how to respond but ended up doing the macarena. It was genuinely really fun and we had a great time. We asked a couple more questions and then the girls said that they had to go because there is quite a big time difference. It was about 9:00 pm at night and they had to get some rest. We waved goodbye and shut the computer.

Looking back on the experience now, it was so interesting to be able to do something like this. We exchanged many smiles and it was very chill and laid back. My social justice group is very lucky to have gotten to do this and we are grateful that it worked out.

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February 15th, 2023, my social justice group met with the founder of The Women’s Education Project, Zoe Timms. We invited her to talk about her work with girls education in India and how she found courage in herself throughout the process. We first discussed things like where she went to college and how she got the opportunity to go abroad to India for a year. When her professor presented the idea to the class, she was immediately all in.

While in India, Zoe noticed that the area she was in was very polluted and many families were in poverty. This made her feel compelled to help out more and go beyond just college. Many girls were not in school which was a main problem Zoe was passionate about. To get more personal, my social justice group asked for a specific story about a girl who went through the education program. She told us a touching story about a time where karate class was taking place and one 12 year old girl had polio so she couldn’t really participate. A couple days later, Zoe saw the girl saying that she actually joined in on the class with everyone else. This showed commitment and how the young girl really tried something new, even when she was discouraged. Another question my group asked was what are some barriers you come across when trying to help girls out. She answered that many men in a young woman’s family are usually defensive about their daughter getting a better education than themselves. This was one of the main restrictions that could occur when choosing to take action. To end off the interview, Zoe told us that she got to know herself even more when starting the Women’s Education Project. She couldn’t really believe that she made all this progress and devoted so much time to this topic.

Before the interview got set up, we were emailing Zoe and she told us that we could possibly do another fieldwork where we would talk to girls our age in India through a virtual meeting. We could share cooking recipes or maybe do an arts and crafts project. In about a week, our social justice group will now do an additional interview with Zoe Timms, but this time with girls ages 13 or 14 to find out more about their culture and possibly do cool arts and crafts projects they would want to share.

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On January 19th, my social justice group zoomed with the program director of GLI (Girls Learn International) to learn more about how girls struggle with getting the access to education. Ashely is very devoted to human rights issues and helping out girls who deserve better treatment get the right materials and knowledge they need. GLI focuses in the U.S., but also outside of the country, empower girls to make sure they feel supported.

One thing that I thought was very interesting is that GLI offers sex education to girls who may not have known about it in the first place. This is important because it teaches the students how to make informed decisions and keeps girls safe from abuse that could possibly happen. Another significant factor was how GLI makes sure to prioritize safe living conditions/family problems before doing anything regarding education because it is important to make sure a student has stability before carrying on with other things. They can provide necessities like period products or getting food because that could be something that holds a girl back from attending school in the first place. Interviewing Ashely was very informative and I am so glad that my group had the chance to talk with someone who is very experienced. She taught us that leadership and taking action is very important to gaining justice which I will take with me in later fieldwork.

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On January 4th, my social justice group sat down and had the opportunity to talk to Sarah Symons about how she engages with girls who may not be able to attend schools. She founded HFC with her husband in 2005 and is devoted to make a difference in places like Nepal and India in order to make sure everyone has a fair chance at learning.

Sarah Symons has traveled outside the country to help girls on sides of railways, involved in domestic problems, and other hardships that make it difficult for girls to go to school. She has also provided shelters for kids who may not have a place to sleep.

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