The first session

Today, was the most important day for Samaan.  We went live.

I was extremely nervous about how the whole thing would go. I had been speaking to them in person and telephonically to ensure that they feel motivated enough to show. and they did.  

Meet Sunita Maushi and Kaushalya Maushi. They work as domestic help in our residential complex. I was also accompanied by Manoj Sir (He is the expert who is guiding me, more about him in a separate post). We started off by briefly explaining what is Samaan about and asked them to discuss a few self-related questions with each other. Then they would share each other's answers. Even though I explained most of it, Manoj sir probed them for maximum details and a deeper understanding of their situation. It was a bit new for me to do that and I tried to observe how he did it. I was feeling slightly unsure about how far I can go in probing them, thoughts such as would they be ok to divulge many finer details with us. Most of the session was, us engaging with them, learning about their background, education, family, household, expenses, etc. 

We realized that both the women come from vastly different backgrounds and are battling different challenges Hence, they will also require different interventions. One of them couldn't read but earned almost triple the amount of the other. Their financial situations, levels of understanding, literacy and problems. Each of them will require various types of guidance and I am slightly overwhelmed about how we would do that. 

What I am satisfied about is the way we closed the session. I am confident that we were able to leave both of them looking forward to the next session. Now the onus is on us to give them value for their time. It's surely going to be challenging. 

I will keep updating this space. 





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