Letter From the President

Losing Our Foremothers and (Re)Gaining Our Bearings

On a warm February evening in 2019, a group of us were walking to dinner at On the Rocks, a lovely oasis in Jodhpur not far from Sambhali Trust headquarters in Jodhpur. I was a new Sambhali Trust volunteer, and I loved the destination but hated crossing the busy road that stood between me and palak paneer.

As I ventured across, someone from behind took me firmly by the elbow and a cheery voice said, “You’re not going to make it without me.” And with that Sarah Harrington guided me expertly through the oncoming cars and buses, motorcycles and auto rickshaws to the other side and closer to dinner.

That was Sarah, Founder and President of Sambhali UK, in a nutshell: knowing what needed to be done and doing it with strength and a twinkle in her eye.

Sarah’s guidance was not limited to my physical safety—she inspired Sambhali U.S.

I first spoke with Sarah by phone shortly before I arrived in Jodhpur to volunteer for two months at Sambhali Trust. As I did, my enthusiasm for what I was about to do (so very different from anything I’d done before) went through the roof. If Sambhali Trust could hold the heart of this smart, witty, compassionate person, there must be something wonderful about it.

The next day, Sarah messaged me to tell me her second grandchild had been born. That’s how quickly the connection was made.

I first met up with Sarah when we were in the desert visiting Sambhali Trust’s rural center.  Nothing like sunset on sand dunes for a bonding experience. Sarah and a group of British and Irish volunteers who had come to Sambhali Trust to work with the women in the Empowerment Centers on an embroidery project, quickly adopted me and helped me through my first weeks of adjusting to life in India.

A month later when we spoke of the idea of creating Sambhali U.S., Sarah not only offered sage wisdom on many fronts, but pulled out her phone and reached out to two amazing former Sambhali Trust volunteers, Amanda (Mandy) Frisco and Laura Iwanyk, whom she’d met years earlier. Mandy and Laura became founding members of the Sambhali U.S. Board of Directors, with Mandy as our first Secretary and Laura putting together our volunteer trainings—among their many other contributions that enabled Sambhali U.S. to get off the ground.

Sarah was a Renaissance woman: she worked on a motorway construction site and served in the military in her youth, became a lawyer in her middle years, and was an artist throughout. She was also a keen observer of people, as shown by the portraits she made which became part of the embroidery panel project.

Sarah continued to be a valued advisor to Sambhali U.S. and even as she battled cancer there was no one who was quicker to read our outreach messages and respond with praise and encouragement.

But with Sarah’s death at the end of May and the loss last winter of Badan Kanwar, Sambhali Trust founder Govind Rathore’s mother and the inspiration for Sambhali Trust, we indeed must continue to make it across without the guidance of these two wonderful foremothers.

And as sad as that is—as deeply as we mourn their loss—that is what they enabled us to do, to take that inspiration and bring it to the generations that follow.

We all have our own foremothers and know the impact their firsts—and their loss— made on us.

Cecelia Cohne University of Utah 1932

I’m remembering my Aunt Cele. My grandparents, all immigrants, didn’t have much formal education, just lots of smarts. Aunt Cele went to college and then 13 years later so did my mom. By the time my sister and I came along, it was assumed that we could go to college, even graduate school, if we wanted. And so it continues with my children and grandchildren. Generational change.

Indeed, that is the story of Sambhali—the influence of strong and brave women, and why we believe this work will change women, families, and generations to come.

It is the story of two Poojas.

We highlighted the story of the first Pooja last Mother’s Day. At age 32, she is now gaining education at a Sambhali Empowerment Center. Her goal is clear: She wants her daughters Kuhu and Twisha* to study, go to college, and achieve everything she could not. As she said, “I did not get what I wanted. My children will get better.”

The other Pooja began at Sambhali when she was a little girl facing disabilities and a life of illiteracy. She was one of the first group of girls to travel from her desert village to Jodhpur to join the Sambhali Boarding Home program and one of the first to go on to college. When I saw her last March, she was excited about her new life: the village where she is respected as an educated person, her new husband, and her pregnancy. A few weeks ago, Pooja called me to share the good news that her daughter had been born. She showed me the face of tiny girl sleeping next to her and said with a smile, “She will be educated.”

Image: Kathleen Gerber, Photographers Without Boarders

Neither Pooja was thinking of it, of course, but their statements were an honor to Badan and Sarah, and to our family foremothers, and all they have given us.

Our foremothers who helped us get our bearings in life, who taught us what we could become. With their very sad loss we know we must now regain those bearings. That’s what they showed us how to do. That’s what Sambhali does every day.

In appreciation of our foremothers around the world, and of you who help to bring their vision forward,

Shereen Arent
President, Sambhali U.S.

*Names of minors have been changed.