Friday, 7 February 2014

Nareshwadi Field Trip – An Incredible Experience

Eleven of us from Enactus Somaiya Social Cell set out on a field trip early morning on 31st Jan 2014. Nareshwadi Learning Centre, Dahanu is an 11-acre campus which boasts of a primary school, a high school and a vocational training institute. The campus is surrounded by a hospital, an organic farm and a goshala which provide better opportunities to the tribals in this area.

The Project Warli of Enactus Somaiya Social Cell was started as an initiative to empower the Warli tribe. The vocational training institute of Nareshwadi today not only trains the tribals to create world class Warli products but also assists in selling those. The Warli Products sold at Enactus Kiosk’s are sourced from here.

The visit to the vocational training institute was a required dose for us new Enactus Members. While working for our projects at the retail end has been enjoyable, we truly got insights into actual production of these artifacts when we saw them made. The tribal art of Warli is a combination artistry and storytelling and it signifies the bountiful culture and art of our country.


Team Warli aims to add a few new products to its catalogue this year. Samples of the new products were created and along with the Warli painters the team members took to brushes to learn the finer nuances of the art. Team Kruti also took initiatives to spread its wings in Nareshwadi. While all current Kruti products come from Sameerwadi, Karnataka, it seems a good idea to expand the project to empower the women of Nareshwadi.

The Enactus Team also interacted with a few kids studying at the Kokilaben Kotak Primary School at Nareshwadi. It was fun revisiting childhood rhymes through these children. The team further took a round of the farm which produces mainly fruits and the goshala which has around 40 cows. At the end of the day, none of us wanted to return to our busy and adulterated metro lives after a day spent in small indian village glory.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment