Kathy’s Journey to India
Streetlife in India
Daily Life
1 – There is a lot of traffic in India. Quite often you can get caught in a
queue of traffic down busy streets and a lot of the time people just walk
out in front of you!
2 – Cars aren’t the only thing on roads here. Some people can afford
motorbikes and lots of people have bicycles. People walk down the road
pushing carts of things they have made that they want to sell at market –
and fairly regularly you get livestock walking down the road aswell!
3 – In towns and cities street traders often try to sell their wares to
passing people – can you work out what they are selling?
4 – A lot of people don’t have cars in India – so buses and coaches are
used a lot. If you can afford it they are an excellent way of getting into
town and going from city to city around India.
5 – Some of the roads in India are really small but this one is really big.
There aren’t any road markings here – so driving can be a bit hair raising!
6 – Pavements are not much better than some of the roads – some are
dusty, wide and very noisy with street traders trying to get you to buy
their goods.
7 – An alternative to public transport and cars are motorbikes. There are
hundreds of them everywhere!
8 – Because of all the street traders rubbish may appear to be a problem
- but cattle will eat anything!
9 – In India you really don’t know what will walk down the road next!
Kathy’s Journey to India
Real life in India
Daily Life
1 – It is a luxury to have a tap of water in a house in India. People usually
need to go to tap for the street and collect up water in jugs and carry it
home.
2 – Roads can often be very noisy – here you can see a man beating a
sheet of metal to make bowls out of to sell for his family.
3 – A street trader gladly creates the local cuisine and sells it to passing
pedestrians – even offering free samples to passers by!
4 – Some of India is very luxurious and well off. Here is a building which
was designed and built while Great Britain ran India.
5 – Not everyone is so lucky. Some people live in semi-permanent
structures made of corrugated iron. It’s very noisy and hot in these!
6 – A lot of people live in slums. These are places where people live which
are sometimes just made up of rubbish left on the side of the road. Very
poor people live here.
7 – It is not unusual to see cattle next to train tracks – they often
wander any where they choose.
8 – This man is similar to a taxi driver. You jump on a carriage – called a
rickshaw and he takes you wherever you want to go by pedalling on his
bike! He’s happy because he’s got a job and can feed his family!
9 – People are really friendly! They enjoy spending time with people they
know – and getting to know people they don’t know already!
10 – Out of town people prepare a simple meal. The meal may be simply
rice, bread, naan and water – sometimes this is a real feast!
11 – This is a typical meal people in India would eat. Notice how much of
it you can get in supermarkets today.
12 – In villages in India the idea of community is essential. On this visit
the local community put a meal together for their guests.
Kathy’s Journey to India
My life in Wales
Daily Life
1- Anglesey is at the Northwest of Wales, and is the main port for people
to arrive by ferry from Ireland. It is an area with lots of beaches and is
a favourite holiday destination for many people.
2 – Bangor is on the northcoast of Wales near to Anglesey. It has a
cathedral and a university which is internationally recognised, and has had
people settle there since the 6th century. Bangor also has the second
longest pier in Wales which is nearly half a kilometre long.
3 – Cardiff is the capital city of Wales. Over recent years it has had a
lot of new development take place and now hosts the millennium stadium
and the millennium centre. Cardiff also has a castle, the National Museum
and a university.
4 – This is a typical road in a traditional small Welsh village. Traditionally
people lived in close-knit communities and supported each other. As
industrialisation occurred a lot of people moved from these villages into
towns and this sense of community was gradually lost.
5 – The stone castle at Rhuddlan was built by King Edward 1st in 1277. It
was thought to have replaced a previous wooden castle which was built
about 200 years before. It is a well preserved castle and a big tourist
attraction for the area.
6 – Snowdonia is one of the three national parks of Wales. It boasts the
tallest mountain in Wales – Snowdon – which is over 1km high and even has
a railway which goes from the base of the mountain to the summit.
Snowdon has one of the wettest places in Britain and is about 2000
kilometres square.
7 – This is a road in St Asaph. St Asaph has a small population of about
3600 and has the smallest ancient cathedral in Britain.
8 – St David’s Head is near St David’s. It is an ancient burial chamber
and is a short walk along beautiful cliffs by the coast. It is thought that
there was a settlement here built in the Iron Age.
9- Tenby is a town on the coast of Wales which is popular with holiday
makers due to its long beaches and fun town. It also has a sea life centre
and harbour.
Kathy’s Journey to India
How Traidcraft helped
Self Help Centre at Mumbai
Shroff Self Help Centre is helping people provide money for their
families who wouldn’t normally be able to by helping them develop skills
and give them jobs. They also offer interest free loans and provide work
experience for young people. They work in slum areas and allow the
people are doing sewing to work at home so they can be there for their
children as well. Women who embroider earn around £21.50 a month (72p
a day)
A developing area at Kutch
The area of Kutch has had a series of natural disasters over the last 50
years. Due to the government giving money to them and supporting them
this area is now recovering well, and is becoming a developing region of
India. People are learning new ways to farm in a semi-desert environment.
Women are also starting to embroider garments which are being sold to
city women.
Agrocel
The Shroff Family trust gave some money to Agrocel which was used to
buy some land in a local jungle. Agrocel then started to research new
fertilizers which would be good for the local region to help crops grow.
Working with and learning from the local farmers they are developing
ways to help conserve water. The work of Agrocel helps local farmers
grow more produce cheaper, which helps them earn more money.
UGS
UGS has worked alongside Agrocel for over 30 years. By working
together UGS has managed to increase milk production from their herd
of cows from 4 litres a day to 30 litres a day. They have developed
irrigation to help conserve water and helped with the creation of wells.
As well as all this they have started a school to help educate young
people.
Hand Loom
Over 150 weavers work in their own homes on looms they have built
themselves weaving. The weaving is then usually decorated by local
women. The beige blanket shown on one of the photographs took 3
months to complete and won an award.
Print Shop
Traidcraft sell a lot of the products this block printers make. There are
lots of processes this cloth needs to go through before it gets sold. The
material often gets printed with mud, goes through dyes and is hung out
to dry laid on the floor to dry out.
St Mary’s Hospital
St Mary’s hospital is a hospital for Mothers and babies. In addition to
being a hospital there is a section which employs women to embroider
material. It is hoped that by doing this these women will be able to start
to make their own decisions, work as a group and build up their confidence
and skills. People from this business now need to plan, organise, design
products and set prices. An average wage is 50p a day.
Kathy’s Journey to India
Embroidary in India
Using our Abilities
The Design Stage
To create any product the first thing you need to do is design and plan it.
In India a loom may be prepared and the raw materials collected
together. The colour blocks are also prepared for the design.
The Production Stage
After the product is designed people then start to make it. There must
be enough of the product to sell to other people when it is finished, and it
must be done cheaply enough make money. In India women weave and
embroider at home so that they look after their children at the same
time.
The Sale Stage
When Traidcraft put the first order in for some of these garments a
small business became bigger over night. Originally Traidcraft bought
300 skirts from one producer, and now more and more skirts and being
ordered and sold in countries that include Canada and Japan. Someone
who was making bags also had an order put in by Traidcraft – and over
35000 bags were sold last year from this manufacturer!
Kathy’s Journey to India
Farming in India
Using our Abilities
1 – A T-Shirt created to advertise that Agrocel make and use fair trade
cotton.
2 – A successful farmer will help others learn methods they use – this
helps other farmers be successful too.
3 – Processed seed is very important in production.
4 – Cattle are essential to industry in India. Cows enable milk to be
produced and sold to people locally. They also produce methane gas which
can be used to power kitchens.
5 – By learning how to conserve water better means that crops can be
kept wet for longer which helps them grow better.
6 – To keep getting good water people need to dig wells. This well has be
made deeper each year to keep being able to draw water.