Women of Oda
These are women we have worked alongside for years - members of our Women’s Cooperative, parents of the children in our Education Programs, parents of our staff; women who have delivered children at our clinic, and women who donated the land we built our clinic and facilities on.
In their interviews, they have shared about their experiences as women in Kalikot, their perspectives on education, and their dreams and ideas of the future.
This photo series is in partnership with Women’s Empowerment support staff Raj Kumari Dura, photographer Kevin Remington, and photographer and researcher Hannah Wilson. Interview translations are in progress - here are some first, powerful excerpts of their stories.
Perspectives from Women of Oda
Deuka Singh
Mahabai-2, 60 years old
On being a woman in Oda:
“With my first husband in a different village, 8 days after I gave birth the first time, my mother-in-law tried to make me work [in the fields] and was scolding me. This and other things. I had to leave that place. I have one son here, with my second husband. This husband - he passed away when my son was 1 year old. He was so sick and at that time, we did not have the clinic, and there were no cures or hospitals.
Men, husbands, if he does not understand what his wife is doing - her work, or her struggling - then that is not love.”
Amrita Singh
Mahabai-2, 73 years old
On being a woman in Oda, and donating her family’s land to Oda Foundation:
"My husband died of a high fever, when there was no treatment near to us. Oda Foundation needed land so that we could have a hospital, so we gave our land, and now it is here, so I am happy for that.
I was married when I was 15. Being a woman here - this is hard. For births of sons, they celebrate with meat and play music, but when I gave birth to daughters, we do not do those things - because that is the tradition, in the village. What can you say. But in the village, everyone is our relatives. and everything is our heart.”
Dudhkala Pariyar
Mahabai-2, 40 years old
On the Women’s Cooperative:
"My husband passed away - I am a single woman. I make money for the 9 people in my house. Through the Cooperative things, where we save money, single women can get support. We can work and become known for what we do. For example, I can make clothes for when women have newborn children, and I can have support to make more and sell more.”
