Shadhika Newsletter Archive
July 30, 1995
Dear Friends,
It has been a long time since you last heard from me about Shadhika. When I returned from Calcutta in February, from a five-week visit, I was brimming with joy and excitement after watching and participating in all the new activities of Paripurnata, and had every intention of sending out a news letter to bring you up to date. But, alas, this spring has not been good for us.
First we had a series of problems with Peter's family. We had to go to New York in March to bring his uncle here to live with us. After that Peter's brother died suddenly and he had to go to Paris to attend the funeral and, at the same time, to place his 100 year old aunt into a nursing home.
Last, but not the least, I had my own problems as well. In mid-April I was involved in a serious car accident. I broke four ribs and my leg, and suffered multiple cuts and bruises. My recovery has been long and slow. I am doing well now, but still have a little limp and some aches and pains. My doctor assures me that I will fully recover in time. Slowing down is very hard for me, but I have little choice for the moment. I hope you understand that my long silence was not a sign of negligence...
Paripurnata is really flourishing, thanks largely to two young women, Mitali Banerjee and Ratnabuli Ghose, recently hired as community and social psychologists. With their boundless energy and dedication they revitalized and expanded Paripurnata's entire program. Their most significant innovation is perhaps the community education program they launched.
They started by conducting a survey to determine the immediate needs of the surrounding community. The results indicated that the community's lack of understanding of the nature of mental illness posed the most serious problem in the way of rehabilitation of Paripurnata's residents. Incarceration of "non-criminal lunatic women" has now become illegal, but the elimination of prison has actually created a void that has not yet been filled by another alternative. Families of troubled women, scared and anxious about the stigma of a "crazy" relative, have no way to deal with the problem and tend to throw the woman out on the street. This is the prevailing attitude that awaits Paripurnata graduates when we try to place them back into the environment where they had been before their prison term.
Based on the survey results the Board of Directors and workers together decided to launch a community education program and outpatient clinic. The mission is two-fold: to provide general community education on the physical and psychological abuse of women, bride burning, the dowry system, the preference for male children, etc.; and to provide specific counseling to families of Paripurnata residents and the general public by way of individual and group sessions at a clinic.
Last fall Paripurnata, along with several other women's and mental health organizations, put on a march through Calcutta to launch Mental Health Observation Week to further community awareness of mental health and women's rights issues. Along the way they distributed flyers in three different languages. While watching a video tape of the march I could not help but think of another march I saw some 15 years earlier, when women were demonstrating in Delhi to reinstate the Sati system (where the bride is expected to burn in their husbands' funeral pyre), claiming that a widow's life is worse than death. How different these two marches were! I was proud of our efforts to bring about some changes in at least a handful of lives in the past few years.
Mitali and Ratnabuli organize neighborhood meetings, lectures, and seminars aimed at providing information as well as an opportunity to ask questions. These events are surprisingly well attended, and are largely responsible for the demand filled by the Clinic program.
The Clinic is operating with the help of two psychiatrists from a Calcutta Christian mental hospital, for which they receive token honoraria. You may recall that Paripurnata has not had the use of the entire government building where it is located. Part of the building has been vacant and unused. After much negotiation with the government, an unused part of the building was made available for the new clinic on a contract basis. The contract needs to be renewed each month -- such are the ways of bureaucracy... The clinic provides treatment for the residents of Paripurnata as needed, and it is open to the public free of charge. Donations for services are accepted. The Christian mental hospital also accepts in-patients needing treatment before or after entering Paripurnata. I visited the facilities and found their treatment programs to be very impressive.
Now let me tell you about the residential half-way house. When I was there early this year, there were nine women living at Paripurnata. The youngest was 19 years old. They all attended classes on literacy , art and sewing, as well as on human rights, women's rights, and current law applicable to their cases. In this group all but one resident is uneducated, and that one has only gone as far as the 4th grade. Accordingly, the main emphasis is on teaching them marketable trades, rather than trying to give them a formal education, as that is not realistic during their stay of nine months to a year. Our experience is that encouragement is a successful strategy: most residents willingly continue their education where they eventually get placed. One of the current residents has some experience in sewing and batik work, she assists the art teacher in conducting some of the classes. The job placement program is directed by a social worker, who is assigned to find placement opportunities through contacts with the community. She holds town meetings where community agencies and people in general are invited to hear about Paripurnata and are approached for help in finding jobs or training opportunities for the residents.
I visited some of the past residents who are now back in the community. Bula and Mridula are living at a women's dormitory operated by the West Bengal government and run by volunteers. Here they are given work to produce hand woven saris, household linens, embroidered and batik clothes, which are then marketed. They also have further training opportunities. The women get nominal pay plus room and board. Both seemed very happy and proud of their independence.
Another of the former residents, Bina, is now living in a working women's hostel and works as a teacher's aid at a nursery school. She makes enough money for basic necessities, and her brother helps out if she needs something extra. Another former resident has been placed with a catering outfit and she lives with the woman who owns the business. She gets room and board and a small salary. Two others are placed with families where they work as house keepers.
You probably remember Adele, one of the women from our very first group, who had worked as Paripurnata's first housekeeper till she "ran away" one day, now resides in Delhi and is married to a documentary film maker. She and her husband came to visit and made a documentary movie about women in prison, after care, and placement. Most of the film was made at Paripurnata. I have been promised a copy but so far I have not received it.
Of course, it had taken a great deal of work to allay people's fear of employing women out of prison. It was gratifying to witness that change, though very slow, is nevertheless possible. Thankfully, so far none of them have had any problem, and the successful placements can serve as examples for further placements.
One former resident is teaching at a nursery school in the mountains run by the catholic church. She keeps in touch with the Center regularly. It seems the Center continues to serve as a home base to some of the residents who come to visit on a regular basis. They feel safe to come and discuss problems they may have.
In general, the women who have been taken back by their families have had more problems than the ones who are placed elsewhere. There are family conflicts which were never fully resolved. Our field workers make regular home visits and hold family meetings in attempts of conflict resolution, and teaching new communication skills. Two of our women had severe problems resulting in depression needing hospitalization. One is back with her family but comes for day care. Family members are also encouraged to attend group meetings.
I have the general impression that the women who have gone back to their homes seemed envious of the ones who are living on their own. They envy their friends' independence. Some of them would like to be able to come "home" to Paripurnata for weekends or even on a regular basis. The ones I visited and those who came for a reunion during my visit kept requesting an opportunity to return "home" to refresh what they learnt while they lived at Paripurnata. But, of course, Paripurnata has neither the space nor the resources to provide that service.
The perennial space problem has not been solved. The land donated for a new facility, which you may recall, turned out to have so many legal and zoning problems that it was not worth pursuing in the end. The old doorman, employed by the government for the last 25 years has been occupying three rooms at the adjacent building to Paripurnata (separated by only a courtyard). We had been petitioning the government to let us have at least one of those rooms for the last three years with no success. The doorman, seeing and recognizing the space problems, voluntarily gave up two of the rooms for the use of the Center. Those rooms were renovated and made into a dining room and kitchen. The old kitchen and dining room are now used as class rooms. The old man is retiring within the next year or so. It will be a loss for the residents. He has become an important part of the residents lives. They call him Grandfather and very often he acts as one.
But we have to maintain a positive attitude. The space problem might find a solution yet. I received a note from Dr. Siromoni that the West Bengal Government has offered them a piece of land not too far from Calcutta. Hopefully that will be less riddled with problems than the previous possibilities.
The members of the Board and my brother last year organized several fund raising events aimed at raising a building fund. It was encouraging to see local people take some interest in the program. My brother, who has taken quite a leadership role in the community and in his church, has organized some management training programs for non-governmental organizations.
The two new employees, Mitali and Ratnabuli, have impressed me immensely with their dedication, innovative ideas, and skills. These two women give many many hours of their time for which they are not compensated. They both come from rather affluent families which is lucky for us. They arrive at work in chauffeur driven family cars but work long hours, travel to the worst slums of Calcutta, and don't mind spending some of their own money if necessary. My general feeling had been that Indian work ethics leaves something to be desired compared to our Western rush-rush-rush, but seeing this devotion gave me new hope.
Of course, this is not to say we have no staff problems. We still have a few employees who believe in doing the minimum amount of work and the maximum amount of complaining. I would like to see them removed from their responsibilities, but some of the Board members are unwilling to do that. I try not to interfere too much with day to day operation. I only tell them about my observations and give them suggestions.
Well that is about all I can tell you at the moment. We missed getting together last year but I am very much looking forward to seeing you all this fall. An invitation to this year's fund-raiser party is enclosed. It will be on September 17. We will serve a simple Indian dinner and show you the video of the women's march. I am looking forward to seeing you then.
I thank you for your support in the past and hope to have your continued help.
Very sincerely,
Juthica Stangl