Tamil Nadu, 23. - 26.09.2009

My visit to Madurai was made in such a short notice that I had no idea where I was going to, besides knowing that Madurai is in South of India in the state of Tamil Nadu and has the most magnificent Meenakshi Temple, I did not know what to expect and having been never in South of India, I was little worried about the travel and the hectic schedule. I was also thinking of the administration of the lot on going in Jodhpur. Therefore I kept the schedule short and promised myself to do my best and learn as much as possible during my visit.

After traveling, transiting, for more than 15 hours, I landed in Madurai. It was raining and very humid. I was taken to my hotel which I chose to be near the Antenna Trust’s office. After having a good long night sleep I had to be ready in the morning to meet with the people behind the most successful Micro-Finance and Self Help Group of South India, who is working with more than 18,000 women.

After having read a lot about the Antenna Trust since the thought came up of my visit to Madurai, I was looking so much forward to meeting with all the people behind this successful program.

Next morning I met with Mr. Devamanoharan who welcomed me with a great smile, he was very kind to come and pick me up personally at the hotel and then drove me to meet with the rest of Antenna Trust team. I was taken to their office, where I was introduced to team members of Antenna Trust. I was given all the necessary general information about the team work, Micro-Finance, Self Help Groups, administration, accounting and information of those affiliated people and projects that are working with the Antenna Trust in and around Madurai for a few years now.

I also had an opportunity to meet with Dr. Denis Vonder Weid. I was happy to meet with him after reading about his work with ASC (Antenna Scientific Committee) and I was impressed to see his work, his motivation and his respect for people. His work was helping sooo many people in 16 countries, all the projects were making a difference in the lives of people affiliated with them.

Volunteers of Sambhali Trust and my research of preparing the Sheerni Project Proposal (Micro-Finance and Self Help Group) introduced me to a lot of people from Government and NGOs working with the Micro-Finance and Self Help Group issues in and around the city of Jodhpur for many years. The result helped me prepare myself for interacting and understanding the Antenna Trust and its day to day activities and it also made me confident about my interaction with the experienced Antenna Trust and its team.

Later that day I met in a meeting with Mr. Devamanoharan and Dr. Denis Vonder Weid. I introduced myself to them and my work here in Jodhpur with women empowerment. They seemed very impressed with my presentation, annual reports and Sheerni proposal and my motivation of starting the Sheerni Project for the women of Setrawa village. After our meeting, I got introduced to Mr. A. C. Prabakaran, who is the chief operational officer of the Antenna Micro Credit support system. Mr. Prabakaran gave me a lot of advices and information on starting, running and setting up the Sheerni Project 3000 Kilometers away from Madurai here in Setrawa village. I cannot thank him enough for all the important information he gave to me and helped me understand the process of Self Help Group and how Antenna Trust works with the other NGOs in the Micro Credit Support System.

After my meeting was over with Mr. Prabakaran, to my surprise Mr. Devamanoharan introduced me to Mr. Rajendranm, the Director/ Founder of Exit Trust. I didn’t know I was meeting with the gentleman whom Ms. Laura Quist did reporting for. I was really very impressed with the work Ms. Quist did for the Exit Trust, we learnt so much about the Self Help Group and its client from South of India from her report, it was very useful to us for preparing our Sheerni Proposal also.

I was looking forward to some time speaking with Mr. Rajendranm and to have the first hand experience of his work by meeting the women who I have read about in the report of Ms. Quist. Mr. Devamanoharan wanted me to go with Mr. Rajendranm to his office, meet with the women of Self Help Groups. Mr. Rajendranm is a very kind man, he showed me all his paper work from his administration, proposed me some useful documents for starting the Sheerni Project here in Setrawa.

After lunch at a local restaurant I was introduced to the Founder/Director of Dalit Trust, we went 25 kilometers from Madurai in a small village where we had the Self Help Group women waiting for us. We got warmly welcomed by these ladies, we saw what they were doing and how successful and happy these women were. They have been working individually but all in part of a group; they were really nice and happy people.

Since we started working on the Sheerni Project proposal for the last 11 months, it was my first experience in meeting with powerful, successful Self Help Group women. These ladies showed me their minute’s reports, their registers of credit, repayments, conclusions, notes etc., I was so happy how neat and clean their work is.

After visiting the Antenna Trust and its team, I am sure my time was very useful for the formation of the Sheerni Project. I have had the privilege to have visited the wonderful, friendly people who are so open about their work, I have learnt so much in those two days which is going to help me do much better in implementing the Sheerni Project in Setrawa.

I see some of the reasons of their great success which are hidden in their openness, their wonderful team, the trust they have amongst each other, the motivation, the structure, the sharing, the understanding, the clean and clear paper work and the smiles on their faces etc.

In the end I would like to mention that I would be so thankful, if we could bring a similar structure like of the Antenna Trust and its team with their help here in Sheerni Project running in Setrawa village and could make a difference in the lives of sisters, of those sisters in and around Madurai getting benefit from the Antenna Trust and its team.