India Trip 2023
In April of 2023, Georgetown Project RISHI received a grant from the Georgetown Social Innovation and Public Service (SIPS) fund to travel to Rajasthan, India!
Three of our board members including our Co-Presidents, Shreya Arora and Sanchi Gupta, and our Vice President of Finance, Sresth Viswanathan, spent 6 days meeting with members of our NGO partner, Gramin Avam Samajik Vikas Sanstha (GSVS) and working on our ongoing projects. Scroll down for a detailed description of each day!
Day 1 - Monday May 29 Location: Ajmer and Beawar
On our first day, we met with our project managers Sumant and Anita and learned about the 3 pillars of GSVS - child rights and abuse prevention, livelihood improvement, and women's health and nutrition. We also got to visit mineral grinding sites and learn about a prevalent respiratory health issue at these sites called Silicosis.
Day 2 - Tuesday May 30 Location: Ajmer
GSVS and RISHI conducted qualitative surveys with women from Fatehpura and Suhawa villages for our Lucky Shakti Leaf project. We also learned more about the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation which is working to end child marriage in India and has partnered with GSVS!
Day 3 - Wednesday May 31 Location: Beawar
We visited 3 crèche centers run by GSVS and helped distribute food for the children. These centers provide 3 meals a days for migrant children and offer classes, vaccinations, and health checkups.
Day 4 - Thursday June 1 Location: Amritpura Village
We met with women who participated in our Lucky Shakti and EcoFemme projects and discussed their experience using the iron-releasing cooking leaf and reusable pads. These meetings helped us understand what we need to do moving forward!
Day 5 - Friday June 2 Location: Piplaz and Fatehgarh Villages and Beawar
We learned about goat-rearing: an alternative income generation scheme for women. GSVS provides an initial loan to participating women which is payed back in installments. We spent the rest of the day in administrative meetings and discussing our current projects and exploring ideas for new projects!
Day 6 - Saturday June 2 Location: Ajmer
On the last day, we discussed what we had learned on the trip and our plans moving forward with our LSL and EcoFemme projects. That wraps up our 2023 India trip - thank you to all who supported us!