Empowering Indigenous Girls

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by Margaret Gonsalves

Before 2003 my empowerment programs for indigenous girls were totally from a patriarchal perspective. While studying Introduction to Feminist Theology with Mary E. Hunt many years ago, my heart sensed a feminine touch, and my spirit resonated with a feminist approach. It changed my outlook to welcome new ideas, promoting life fulfilling empowerment.

In a capitalist society there is a tendency to hectic competition in the ruthless race to rise higher and higher while trampling on the rights of those on the lower rungs of the ladder. It was 2005. I came across Matthew Fox’s book A Spirituality Named Compassion, which prompted me to move from a patriarchal mindset of climbing Jacob’s ladder to dancing Sarah’s circle.

In India there is still a different kind of colonialism, where “Women are the world’s last colony,”1 to be freed. Women are going through a hellish time and are searching for our lost humanity in the hullabaloo. The present patriarchal methodologies of education rely too heavily on words, logical reasoning, academic excellence and other left-brain approaches. Realizing that the entire Universe is the primary source of all our learning, I adopted Tagore’s methodology of learning under a tree.

In her article “Hope is dancing when you can’t hear the music” Joan Chittister says “Hope is the dream whose time has come, whose dance is already real — even if some of us cannot hear the music.”2 I heard the music and developed my signature program called ‘MADness’ (Music-Art-Dance), a no cost with job-oriented skills, ‘A 100 Days Spoken English Course’ for the indigenous girls.
Adopting a feminist alternative of dancing Sarah’s circle proved to be the “spirituality of laughter and joy… a symbol of birthing, creating and faithfulness – laughter stemmed from the fact that God’s imagination for creativity is so much greater than the human imagination.”3

MADness envisioned holistic ways of educating women through dance, drama, humor, arts, music, play, story-telling, parables, body prayer, creative visualization, yoga, balancing of right and left-brain approaches for socio-political relevance and holistic transformation, keeping the local and the global context in mind in proper equilibrium.

The ongoing evolutionary story of the universe prompted me to connect these girls so they could drink deeply from the power of the universe. I invite each girl to write her name on the mud-floor with flower petals, seeds and stones to make them aware of oneness, that we are made of cosmic elements. Every Part of Speech was taught while cooking, cleaning, eating, gardening, tilling the ground, swimming, and playing on the seashore.

MADness envisioned liberation and rebirth of the masses of women from centuries of patriarchal slavery and oppression. It promoted a culture that respects women as equal to men in every sphere of life, giving full recognition to women’s multidimensional contributions to the family, the working place and society. Developing a holistic perspective of the Indian woman who is spiritually awakened, intellectually enlightened, emotionally mature, socially sensitive, and humanly creative leading to awareness that they are not a commodity but a sacred reality to be venerated is our goal.

MADness fostered an eco-consciousness that sensitized girls to look at their own reality and predicament, the groaning of Mother Earth, thus working toward greening her, without giving into despair knowing “despair is a luxury that we can ill afford.”4

Whenever the girls faced a hopeless situation, I helped them recall a pithy saying, “If you think you are too small to bring about a change, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.”5 This all-inclusive MADness methodology aligned with Man-Woman-Nature-God, where each girl celebrated in her body the homecoming of the feminine.

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Kamala Bhasin, http://www.humanrights.asia/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Women-are-the-last-colony.pdf (December 05, 2021).

2 Joan D. Chittister, Hope is Dancing When You Can’t Hear the Music, (Article Online), March 30, 2004. Vol. 1, no.50, http:www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/fwis/fw033004.htm.

3 Mathew Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion, p. 44. Inner Traditions, 1999.
4 Mary E. Hunt, WATERwheel: A Quarterly Newsletter of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual. Vol. 15, no.3 (Fall 2002): 2.

5 Bette Reese, http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/betty_reese/ 17 No. 2004.