Four female singers: In a solar cooker, you can cook food without any wood.
HOST
(IN HINDI): The joyful voices and laughter of women and girls can be
heard in small villages throughout India’s Rajasthan state and in
dozens of other countries including sub-Saharan Africa, South America,
and Afghanistan.
Four female singers: You need neither gas nor a stove.
HOST:
A soft glow flickers in the dark night. Youths are gathered together,
intently poring over their papers as they are filled with expanding
hope. Solar lanterns provide them with light to do their studies. These
are the diligent students of Barefoot College’s night schools.
HOST:
Founded in 1972 by Mr. Sanjit Bunker Roy, Barefoot College was set up
with the ideal of providing impoverished rural residents with
practical, sustainable skills to better their own lives and benefit
their communities.
The goal is to empower the most vulnerable
people in society with the tools to live productive lives in dignity
and self-respect.
Ram Niwas(m): People locally who want to
learn from each other, interested in doing something for the
community’s best. These people are barefoot, who are illiterate,
semiliterate local people, the rural women
Ram Niwas(m): can come and learn from each other together in this place. So this place is a college.
HOST:
Supported by a group of like-minded professionals, including lawyers,
engineers, and doctors, Mr. Roy established the first Barefoot College
campus in Tilonia, Rajasthan with a vision that, “…
it will not be
the training for training’s sake; it would be the view to place young
men and women in positions of responsibility in their villages and
mobilize their existing potential.”
Thus, local villagers are
provided with information and training on solar power generation,
rainwater harvesting, healthcare provision, and education to become
self-reliant citizens.
Teja Ram Ji (m):
Bunker Roy, the founder member of the Barefoot College, he said that
okay, what can the village people do themselves for their life, how can
they can change or how can they improve their life themselves? Local
persons have experience knowledge, they have their local knowledge and
the professional, they have books knowledge.
For more information about Barefoot College,
please visit:
www.barefootcollege.org