Setrawa and Jodhpur Project
by Charlotte Madden


Before arriving in Setrawa, I had previously traveled the South and parts of Rajasthan. So to me, the village of Setrawa came as no shock. Except maybe showering with a bucket, having to cook for myself or trying to explain what a capsicum was to man at the fruit market. Lucky for me our next door neighbor Goonjan was talented in many areas of life. She taught me how to cook a different type of chapati every night! If we ever needed any help she was always there, whether it was turning on the gas stove, calling us to start the water pump or translating to our jeep driver/vegie man.

I remember the first afternoon I arrived; I found myself playing a cricket match with many of the local children. The teams consisted of, Team Australia comprising of myself, and Team India which was the rest of the child population of Setrawa. To their surprise however, my batting and bowling was spot on, leaving Team India out for 15. What I liked most about Setrawa, was the tight-knit community, and lack of hesitation anyone had in helping anyone else.

In Setrawa I took the morning sewing class and the afternoon English class with girls aged 12 to 18 years. During the morning sewing class, we made a patch work pillow. Each girl was given a small patch of calico and asked to design their name on it using fabric paint, embroidery or beads. Previous volunteers have made comment on the lack of individuality amongst the group. To overcome this, I nominated a different craft to each girl. This project was very successful and quite unique as a result of being individually creative.

By 4-o'clock it was time to take the afternoon English girls. We originally had both afternoon classes in one room, however as the week progressed, it was too hot to hold both classes in the same room, so class was moved into my bedroom. I found it really difficult teaching English because the girls are all at very different levels. The girls in Setrawa find it very easy to write English as most attend school, yet struggle to speak it. We encountered a problem with one of the girls from our class as her English literacy was at a very elementary level. As a result she wasn’t able to participate in the activities. We tried to solve the problem, trialing her in the small children’s class, however she felt uncomfortable, so she rejoined our class. This is the case with other girls too, yet we have come up with no solution. There are not enough volunteers to split the English classes into, beginners, intermediate and advanced, so we have no choice.



On Friday afternoons we introduced sport for the two classes. I think this class is really important for the girls’ health and also because they get to be actively involved. They love this class, they love jump rope, and they are certainly not afraid to hit a cricket ball for six.

The Setrawa project has so much potential because there are so many girls who want to be educated. There were very few girls absent over the two week period. In the case where Karishma was unable to attend school, she wrote out an application explaining why she needed time off. The help of local teachers to help has also been a huge help. Without the local teachers I would have struggled immensely. There is so much heart in the people of Setrawa, it is for that reason I had such a positive experience.

After I had been in Setrawa for two weeks, I was moved into the Jodhpur project where I was opened up to yet another new world and more great experiences. My arrival into the Jodhpur project happened to coincide with Holi Week. Holi Week is the festival before harvest. I think in total I celebrated Holi for three days, left soaking wet, pink skin, 1 pair of ripped pants, an array of multi-colored clothes and 1 sandal. Constant water fights, Rajasthani dance and a lot of chocolate, was a great way to be introduced into the project!

The girls in Jodhpur were not shy and very affectionate towards me, which made me feel very comfortable. By the second day girls were saying ‘I love you Char, I miss you Char”. I found that the Jodhpur project was more of a refuge for the girls to hang out. After English in the morning we usually sat around dancing, painting, doing each others henna or making bracelets. There isn’t quite as much structure as Setrawa, as such I found that with it more relaxed I was able to get to know the girls better.