In this article, a devotee tells about her experience in Women Empowering. What a coincidence. It has been published on ammascandal, just a few days after several posts were sent on the newsgroup Ammachi Free Speech Zone. The posters were saying that according to their own experience, Amma cares a lot about men and neglects women. Does amma have spies on the newsgroups? Anyway, what the devotee says is not so charitable :
"When many of the women who were a part of our first batch of plumbers signed up, they didn’t know that they would be ultimately learning plumbing; they thought they would just be learning how to use a computer. When they came to understand the actual syllabus of the course, many of them continued only because of their trust in Amma and the credibility of MA Math."These poor women registered for a surprise! They didn't know anything about what they were about to learn. Why not asking them what would be useful? They surely know what kind of knowledge they need. They surely know what kind of business would be profitable in their region. They surely know what they miss most. The M.A. Math doesn't need their opinion to make decisions. It's plumbing or nothing. Take it or leave it.
These poor women thought that they would learn how to use a computer. When they understood that they would learn plumbing, many of them continued. Does it mean that several of them left? Were they so disappointed that they refused to partake of the training?
Many of these poor women continued only because of their trust in Amma. It means that those who stayed were not happy to learn plumbing. They didn't stay because they thought it would be of any use, rather because Amma is a famous powerfull religious leader. They stayed also because of the MA Math's credibility. Attending a training held by such a famous and powerfull organization must be the greatest opportunity that they will ever have in their whole life, even if it can't be further from their actual needs.
These poor women thought that they would learn how to use a computer. What's so special about computers?
"Initially, they were enthused by using computers for the first time—something they never imagined they would ever do. A few had computers in their own homes but were forbidden by their husbands to touch them. This had made them fearful of technology and had deepened their insecurities."They were expecting it, they were enthused by it, they were denied it. Unfortunately computer initation was not part of the program. How many of them stayed because it was the only occasion that they will ever have in their whole life to learn a few things about computers?
Amma had so much compassion for these poor women that she even paid for everything!!!
"She made it clear that she believed in them, covering all the expenses of their education—from training to tools."This quote is incredible. She gets $18 millions in foreign donation each year, we don't know how much she receives from India. Does she expect the world to applaud because she bought plumbing tools? Is it so extraordinary to cover all the expenses of a charitable project? Isn't it about giving free help to the poor? How do her charities usually unfold? Do the poor have to pay for some of the expenses? The Women Empowerment project has been partly funded by the United Nation Democracy Fund, so how can she proudly congratulate herself for covering all the expenses?
Plumbing is certainly a good job for those who choose to learn it. The problem is that these women never had the choice. The society requires them to follow unfair rules, no matter their opinion. Though it pretends to empower them, the M.A. Math does exactly the same. It's plumbing or nothing, their opinion doesn't matter either. So what was the real aim of this charitable operation?
"Within 18 months, the WE Project met its goal of providing vocational training to more than 3,000 women struggling to find financial independence."This is crystal clear. The goal was not to help poor women to gain financial independence. The goal was only to provide a given number of vocational trainings, "3000" was the target. Is it in order to add one more hit on Amma's charities list?
Money again and again, more money to save the world. What about the women? Maybe some of them succeeded in making something valuable out of this masquerade but obviously most of them didn't. Indeed the devotee who wrote the article notices that something was wrong in the scheme :
"our initial pilot studies exposed the need for something beyond vocational training to help ensure employability""Help ensure employability" surely means that most of the 3000 women couldn't find any employment at the end this outstanding vocational training. Now that's a great discovery : learning anything to anyone doesn't lead anywhere! These women were struggling for financial independence. Without any job the struggle is likely to continue after the training. That is cruel.
Sudhamani Idamanel,
You were once a poor uneducated girl. You know how cruel life is for women like you. You found a way to escape your fate. Now that you are rich and famous how dare you fool your kind?
Shame on you.