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Focus on Ankur Kala in Kolkata, India
By Vi Cottrell
Ankur Kala celebrated their first 25 years in 2007. Its founder, Annie Joseph writes: "As I look back these last 26 years I am filled with extreme gratitude and happiness for the unique manner in which Ankur Kala was born with 5 young girls who had completed their batik training from Seva Sangh Samiti, Howrah. We were given a small space and a loan of Rs.900/-.
"The conditions of Pilkhana described in Lapierre’s City of Joy was truly appalling and women battling with violent alcoholic husbands, children with tuberculosis and absolutely no source of income would come to Ankur Kala with great hope as word spread that a new centre had started. This was our humble beginning to provide economic empowerment to women so that they could live with dignity... Slowly but steadily as more and more women kept coming to us, Ankur Kala diversified into other crafts Like tailoring, catering, silk screen printing, making of jams, squashes and pickles...
"Many hundreds of women and children have gone through our intensive skills, business, social, spiritual training which is holistic and it is really fulfilling to see many of these women training others in turn. Our numbers may not be spectacular but those women we have trained and “touched” have been women of substance and in turn have become mothers bringing up their children with good values and in many cases they have moulded their husbands and entire family — thus being agents of re-building our society which has declined to such an extent.
"Our vision remains to empower more and more women all over West Bengal and slowly but surely to re-build a more just society — “where the mind is without fear and the head is held high”.
Annie goes on to describe the situation in India today: "As you know there are two India’s existing side by side — INDIA SHINING and INDIA CRYING. While on the one hand we have malls, hi-tec industries, booming economy, India is leading with so many rich people with private helicopters, on the other hand there is the stark reality of almost 65% people still living below the poverty line. Many have no roof to their houses, no electricity; have to walk miles to fetch water and fuel, no education. Indeed it is a great cause of concern for all of us. We have been talking constantly at our various meetings at the Governing Body level, staff level, senior girls level and have come to this conclusion that there is an urgent need for networking effectively among the civil society, educational institutions, NGOs and likeminded people to come together to bridge this great divide."
One of the speakers at the celebrations spoke about Annie Joseph, her strong values, the dream she had of working for the poor and under privileged from when she was very young, and the hardships and battles she has fought over the years. In particular he spoke about the way she had resisted corruption, particularly from officials when she tried to get an export license, and also from tax officials. On both occasions it became clear that payment of some extra money would ease the way. Her refusal meant returning day after day to stand in queues and wait. In the end she triumphed, and today, “Ankur Kala has gained such a name that even if the junior level workers go to the office their work gets done”.
FROM TRADE WINDS, OCTOBER 2008. A publication of Trade Aid, NZ. www.tradeaid.org.nz
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