by Pinal (Student, Masters in Social Work, Mahatama Gandhi Labour Institute and AWAG intern)
It is unbelievable how much wisdom I have attained in a short span of three months! Back when I reflect, it was like a blank paper, I had come to AWAG for my internship, along with seven other classmates. I had high expectations to learn, was looking forward to understand the philosophy of feminism and wanted to know all the work that AWAG has been doing for women betterment and empowerment. And let me comment, my expectations have been fully taken care of.
Over the course of the internship, I studied the black and white in the classroom and also visited the field to gain practical experience. Miss Tasneem Sara, helped us during the course and there were several other AWAG members like Praveen Bhai, Nazma ben, Naseemben and Gauri ben who helped us have a better understanding about social work.
Out of all my experiences at AWAG, it was incredible to go and do the field work. We were given a form and were divided into groups of two. We then went to two major grass root level communities and collected the information as asked by our trainer. Sometimes we went to houses of Dalit women and sometimes Muslim women. We later had to make a brief comparison about living conditions, psycho-socio behaviour, etc between the two communities. All this apart, but doing this gave me immense satisfaction and a lot of learning. Until now, I had never gone into the core. I had only read or watched on television about the life of slum. But this experience change my perception altogether.
Seeing women making Agarbattis for hours together and getting wages as low as Rs 17/- per day, made my skin crawl. I tried to be friendly with all the women whose houses I visited and I wanted to know about them, about their lives and lifestyle as much as possible. Later when I had to write the report about the differences, I did not struggle. The points came to me automatically, something like I knew them so well and understood them so deeply.
Another thing, that I learned and enjoyed taking part in at AWAG was the “pop-up” shops. We were again divided in groups and we conducted these small stalls in our local residences. We were successful in selling many of the AWAG products and in raising money for women at AWAG’s short-stay home.
My overall experience at AWAG is a very memorable one. I think it was really a wise decision to choose AWAG from all the options. I have lot of things to take back to my colleagues, and more than that, my perception towards a non-government organisation has altered. I feel more respect for this field now and feel glad that I am going to make a career in social work. Even after this internship I look forward to volunteering for AWAG. I would take pride in working for women in need, and like they say, every step further serves a purpose.