Blog Action Day - Poverty (Tsunamika Dolls)

My friend at work that volunteered in India this past summer and the summer before brought me back a precious little gift. A Tsunamika doll. A symbol of living hope.


"This project is conceived and executed by Upasana Design Studio of Auroville in the seaside villages of Auroville's bioregion. Nearly 480 fisherwomen from 6 villages are trained and from them around 180 ladies are now creating these little dolls called Tsunamika. She has been hand-made from fabrics left over from other creative works in Upasana. The project team, who trained the ladies, now supplies them with raw materials to continue producing the dolls. All dolls produced are bought from them in bulk and are gifted unconditionally worldwide by Upasana."

What strikes me here is that these women are being empowered to make life a little better for themselves. Many, if not all, were left with very little after the Tsunami. These ladies now have a job they can do daily. "When they earn money through work, there is dignity, pride and self respect in them, they know the value of what they receive, they learn new skills, they learn to discipline and channelize their energies. These are the real but intangible assets they receive, money is only a means to brings this out."

Ending poverty is not purely giving out money to those in need. It is helping those that need it to find that dignity, pride, and self respect that we each strive for regardless of our situation. It is a fundamental need we each have.

I proudly wear my Tsunamaki doll each day, pinned to my name badge at work. It reminds me of many things of which I am thankful and grateful.

My Heart's Been Touched Again by an Angel

I have a wonderful and dear friend that I have the pleasure to work with every day. She just returned this week from India from an 8 week volunteer experience. This was her second volunteer excursion to India and we were honestly expecting her to come home and tell us she is retiring to stay and help their permanently.

I can't express as well as she some of the experiences she has encountered, but I'll share a few she shared with us...

My volunteer time at the orphanage has been significant...4 hours in the mornings doing construction work...teaching English in afternoons & then in the evenings to be with the children for learning and play...all the 38 children here are so wonderful and in need of care...they all come to the home with sad stories...the orphanage is a rundown place you can't think that children could live this way...they have no toys, no beds, no books to read...nothing...the administrator is a very nice man who i admire greatly for what he tries to do for the kids...

The past 7 weeks i have worked with Indian workmen to build new toilets and demolish the old...by the time i painted the new toilets the kids had been using them ...they are a hole in the ground and some chemical needs to be put in to break everything up which gets done only occasionally...the stench, flies, mosquitoes, heat of the day were the conditions i had to endure to get these stalls painted... for the following week the kids kept thanking me for painting the toilets...a humbling experience ...

I have carried thousands of bricks and lots of sand and mortar...before i leave i
will have helped to construct the foundation of a building for the children to sleep in...they sleep out in the open with just a roof over their heads...the place is infested with mice...one day watching out for snakes in the rubble pile i was working in my feet were attacked by swarms of ants...that took a week to recover from...i only wear sandals to work in ... no work boots...sometimes it is even easier to work in bare feet..

I would like to imagine myself having the strength to do what she has done, but I'm not sure I ever could. My friend Kathy and the thousands of other volunteers around the world are making differences every minute of the day.

She brought me make a very touching memento as well, a Tsunamika doll. It's a tiny little doll made from a small scrap of pink fabric, little sewn eyes and a mouth, and another scrap of blue fabric for hair. "She has been hand-made by women, the women who live by the ocean, the women whose lives changed forever after the tsunami, the women who are exploring a new way of living, the women who are empowering themselves." These dolls are always a gift and are never sold. You may get Tsunamika dolls by contacting one of their worldwide ambassadors. Look at thier Project page to see the true impact these little dolls do for the women that are creating them.

It's these little things that are done daily, that pass us by, that we rarely see first hand, that are also attempting to make our world a much better, happier, kinder, and closer world for everyone.