Unexpected Trainers

Training borrowers in viable enterprises entailing products and services has been uppermost in our goals. We have had fine partnerships. On the United States side, the Bellevue Rotary and other Washington Clubs have been exceedingly generous with their grants toward funding Prosperity Rings borrowers.

On our October India visit to the Tiruchirapalli area members of seven Rotary Clubs offered training in their expertise. Past District Governor Raja Michael of RC Tiruchirapalli provided an office for meetings, and made key introductions.

His friend, Selva Kumar, from RC Tiruchirapalli Elite, had a wealth of ideas and will find trainers for batiking, canteen, sanitary napkin production, boutique packaging of linens, dried flowers, and doll making from scrap material. He proposed the idea of identifying a place for a Sunday market for the borrowers’ products.

After lunch with the ladies-only Rotary Club, the Karur Angels, the members showed us their factories and committed to provide training in carpentry and handbag production. At the RC Tiruchirapalli Midtown sponsored prosthetic limb fitting clinic, we met patients of all ages, and the director offered to teach quilting to our ladies. We toured a RC River Cauvery Rotarian member’s state of the art dried banana plant. The director promised training for our borrowers. Six of their members, after showing us the technical school for young people which their club supports, offered to do training. Their expertise ranged from cell phone, bicycle, and home appliance repair to perfume production and beautician service to welding. Yes, “Welding can be done by women.”

Everywhere we went, members of the local Rotary Clubs were eager to pitch in. Our partners came along to every meeting and soaked up the information on training opportunities. We are already seeing the results of their connection between Rotary trainers and borrowers itching to launch a new found skill into an enterprise.