Adaikalam for Women
Ananya Children's Creativity Centre;
the top floor will be a dedicated space for women.
It is to be named "Adaikalam"
which means "place of solace"
(the third floor will be for the Sanmathi Ethical Digital Literacy program)
The Story
A few weeks ago one of the many strong, powerful, beautiful women that GCI works with lamented that every member of her family expected her to be doing household chores all the time, even when there was nothing else to be done at that moment (85% of these women work outside their homes as domestic help, street vendors, street sweepers, work in shops or small hotels cleaning and cutting vegetables, etc.).
She dreamily joked how happy she would be to go to a place where, for a little while, she would not be expected to do anything, a place where she could just be.
Such a simple idea, really, but all the other women sitting in the meeting retorted: "such a place is non-existent for women like us."
We asked the women what they would expect in such a place, if such a place could exist. Almost all of them said, "Nothing. We could just go, sit around and do nothing, maybe talk to someone, watch a film, sing songs, play some games." They mentioned several indoor games that they used to play when they were girls.
Adaikalam will be a place where women can feel a sense of belonging, regain their inner strength, join a yoga session, calm their minds, laugh, play games they have almost forgotten and be themselves without anyone expecting them to do anything for anyone else, even if just for a little while!