Empowering women in a Delhi slum

This is the story of Terryl, one of our travellers who went from just going on tour with us to India to actively teaching the women in the Delhi slums how to sew sanitary pads they could wash and re-use,  empowering them in so many ways.

Using our travellers’ skills

Before our travellers come on tour, we like to find out if they have any special skills. Often, our travellers want to bring something to help the communities we work with – but equally often they actually have a special skill they can bring instead, which really helps us continue to empower the people we work with.

In Terryl’s case, she’d learnt about sewing washable, reusable sanitary pads, and she asked if she could bring some along to give to the women she’d meet in the slum in Delhi. Simla took her idea one further and said: this is a brilliant idea for them, but could you teach the women how to sew them instead?

Terryl was (understandably) a bit nervous about teaching a group of women, who didn’t speak English, but – she agreed!

Terryl teaching the women in Delhi to sew sanitary pads

As soon as Terryl had agreed to teach this, we got started! Ahead of the trip, we asked Terryl for the pattern, and worked together with one of the women in the slum who runs some classes there, to figure out the quantity of material needed. Our tour funds supported the purchases of the material and once we were there, Terryl took the lead and instructed the women on how to sew the pads, with the help of translations from our tour leader and the women who runs classes in the slum.

In Terryl’s words:

My hope was to make life a little easier for someone and to maybe give them a skill they too could share. I never thought I would have the chance to teach a bunch of women, let alone in the slums of Delhi.

I came away from the project feeling I had achieved a small goal. Only days ago I received a message from the ladies in India thanking me and telling me they had been practicing the sewing. I hope some of the younger travellers understood what the idea was about and how lives of women are so different from our western world’s, in the most basic ways. I hope the ladies on the project use and expand the idea.

Empowerment tourism

Now that the women know how to make these washable sanitary pads, they are going to make them for their daughters too, and pass on the knowledge in the village. That ripple effect is just amazing.

Our travellers are not the normal travellers. They are inspiring leaders and change makers, and we always aim to bring these skills out of them.

We take the locals on this journey by allowing them to use the skills they have and the ones we can teach so they can better themselves to grow, learn, and earn an income. In return, the locals will teach us (as travellers) the real beauty of travel; they teach us the simplicity of life and will remind us how grateful we should be in life.

This level of engagement promotes self-awareness and has a much wider impact upon everyone involved.

It’s an example of what is possible when a tribe stands together while having fun touring a country and making an impact on the world. We bounce ideas off each other, and we elevate each other. We can become more than our component parts. This is our way of unlocking skills for our communities and inner passion of our travellers – this is Empowerment Tourism.