Hi Andrea,

I've been lurking... we're moving back to the US so am
busy finishing work, etc before the move. But this is
an issue that I've had many off-the-record discussions
with learners in India, Pakistan, France and the USA.
I did a paper on Learner Voice for the SCUTREA
conference on who was really listening to learners and
were they saying what they felt teachers within the
dominant culture wanted to hear.

I am currently reading Three Cups of Tea. I really
like the NWFP region of Pakistan and have projects
there, so  I have been curious about it for a while
now. Will get back to you when I'm done.

Have you read Lewis Al Samri's book? We were
interviewed by Francine Stock of the BBC's Midweek
show, after the award I won last year. He was in the
Iraqi army and played a role of the terrorist in the
film on 9/11. He has a scary and thrilling story of
how he escaped Saddam's army and ended up in England.
And the after effects of having been on the run and
the fear of being caught. The book I find absolutely
offensive is Asne Soren---- The Bookseller of Kabul.
The worst most culturally imperialistic rubbish book
ever. But both of Khalid Hosseini's books were good
reads. Have you read them?

Cheers
Ujwala


--- Andrea Wilder <andreawilder at comcast.net> wrote:


> Hi Ujwala--

> 

> Nice to hear your voice!

> 

> I am wondering whether you have met Greg Mortenson,

> and even if not,  

> what you think of his work?  I am making an

> assumption, which may not  

> be correct, that you have read "Three Cups of Tea."

> 

> Andrea:)

> 

> On Mar 8, 2008, at 7:21 PM, Ujwala Samant wrote:

> 

> > Dear All,

> >

> > After having seen Tom Sticht's piece on Namtip, I

> > began to look for women who have made a huge

> > difference in literacy and still continue to do

> so.

> > One such woman is Dr. Farida Lambay, the Principal

> of

> > Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work, and

> co-founder

> > of Pratham, India. She is also the person who is

> well

> > known for her work in adult literacy in the slums

> of

> > Mumbai and launched the first Urdu literacy

> campaign

> > in Mumbai. Dr. Lambay is a  tiny woman, full of

> energy

> > and a woman of great vision and compassion. She

> has

> > done incredible work in family literacy and is

> active

> > not just in adult literacy, but in

> children's/street

> > children's rights and family literacy. As a

> doctoral

> > student, I was fortunate enough to have her as one

> of

> > my 'guides' as a founder of CORO for literacy in

> > Mumbai where we worked on literacy as a tool for

> > social change, where women banded together to deal

> > with intergenerational alcoholism and gambling

> amongst

> > the males in their lives. The beauty of this

> movement

> > was that they mainstreamed young men to do most of

> > their work, because they realised that excluding

> men

> > would mean only one gender would break the cycle

> of

> > violence and poverty. Farida Lambay's sense of

> humour,

> > her vast compassion and ingrained sense of

> fairness

> > drew me into literacy, as it does her graduate

> > students today. She is truly inspiring and I hope

> that

> > during her visits to the US, she will be invited

> to

> > share her experiences.

> >

> > This day is important for me because that is when

> I

> > saw social change and literacy come together in a

> > crowded bus after a rally in Mumbai. Farida and

> Madhav

> > Chavan had organised an electrifying rally and on

> the

> > bus to the slums, the inspired women went back and

> > broke every illicit liquor till and faced their

> > demons, with courage and confidence.

> >

> > There are of course others like Lalita

> > Ramdas,Varavarn, Maria Almazan Khan, Shirin Rai,

> > Shaheen Sardar Ali and Nasira Habib whose work

> with

> > women's groups in Pakistan is breathstopping. And

> we

> > have Anuradha Joshi whose work with SIDH

> > (www.SIDH.org) has turned out spectacular teachers

> and

> > health programmes with a core of reflection and

> > action, Anutai Limaye, Vimala Ramchandran who need

> > mentioning.

> >

> > I hope this listserv will use the 8th of March  to

> > celebrate such lives.

> >

> > Thanks,

> > With warm regards

> > Ujwala

> >

> >

> >        

> >

>

_______________________________________________________________________

> 

> > _____________

> > Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page.

> > http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

> >

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> >

>

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> >

> 

> ----------------------------------------------------

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