An Interview with Sharon Elizabeth, our first pilot small scale fundraiser
We recently posted a podcast with Sharon Elizabeth Freundlich, our first pilot tester for small scale fundraising. Her cause is for a non-profit in India who she previously worked with, Dalit Women Forum which aims to mainstream the education of girls in order to increase their living standards. Click here for an in-depth view of the fundraising objectives and outcomes. As well as this podcast, it was a pleasure to sit down and interview her for the medium blog, to find out more about her passions and link to the cause.
Sharon’s passion for female education as empowerment, and gender and caste equality came from her mother’s example. In childhood she saw her mother suffer domestic abuse, separate from her husband and continue to empower herself. Despite struggling, her mother was educated and graduated with a science bachelor’s degree. This enabled increased job opportunities that were more sufficient for the survival of their family than the work an uneducated person can do in India.
This is Sharon’s inspiration, the strong pillar that her mother is. It also inspired her to become a social worker, which led her to living in Finland permanently a few years after an ICYE International cultural youth exchange programme and falling in love. She also worked for Dalit Women’s Forum for several years in India before moving to Finland. Despite the distance between Finland and India she continues to be active in wanting to help the community and continues to empower herself through learning the Finnish language in order to gain employment.
She found We Encourage through our Facebook posts about small scale fundraising. Dalit Womens forum is a small grassroots organisation that is in pause due to lack of funds, especially in the current climate, but also because former funds were diverted to larger organisations which has left the children they supported at a loss. So, Sharon Elizabeth seized the opportunity to reach out to Anna, and we are grateful for her initiative.
What is Dalit Womens forum?
Schools are a business in India. Those that are good are often unaffordable for those in a deprived community, with coronavirus having a big impact on these daily wage workers who now have no employment or money for food. Education isn’t a priority, let alone for girls who are discriminated against due to a patriarchal society that would rather they did housework or be married off.
India is also comprised of castes and Dalit people are a deprived community that are discriminated against by the Hindu faith that classes them as impure people, the lowest caste, who are not able to enter temples or high-class houses. This discrimination has continued into the modern day, regardless of a Dalit’s personal faith, and presents itself in poverty, a lack of opportunities and continued physical discrimination. There is still significant violence, to the extent of death, against members of lower castes who marry or date those of higher castes. There are also countless cases of rape against Dalit women due to this mentality of superiority by higher castes.
Therefore, the odds are stacked against Dalit girls who face double discrimination, their gender and their caste. But this can be changed through the empowering action of education, as Sharon Elizabth’s mum displayed. As she mentioned “as a woman I should be independent, not oppressed mentally, physically, socially or emotionally. I must be empowered to be independent financially, physically, mentally, socially and emotionally.”
Dalit women are oppressed through caste and gender, and this is wrong. Sharon Elizabeth knows the meaning of having people help and try to empower others. The support from her mother, who herself was empowered, effectively changed the course of her life. Without it she could have been a drop out, domestic servant or rag picking. Everyone deserves an opportunity. Therefore, Dalit Women’s Forum works for human rights, child and women’s rights, to create opportunities and empowerment that can create the chance for a girl to provide resources to raise her own, and her families, living conditions and standards.
It is a pleasure to work with someone so committed to the cause, despite physical distance, and we are looking forward to seeing our small scale fundraising campaign come to fruition. Don’t forget to listen to our podcast to find out more about the Dalit Women’s Forum.
