This project has developed from a research trip in October 2001, when the artistic director Ray Mahabir travelled to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan (West India) and spent several months living amongst the village people. The villages are made up of refugees from the 1971 Indo-Pak war that settled in Jaisalmer district.
The Mulana village is 96 Km from Jaisalmer. The village is situated in the middle of the Thar Desert where sometimes the drought can last up to five years. Our work involves 35 family groups where no English is spoken, there is no electricity or running water, health facilities are left to the local homeopathic methods and work and education is very rarely available.
Work is brought into the villages and is sometimes the only means of earning a living, so the villagers have no choice but to except what is given to them and this is where the exploitation takes place.
SIA has started to work in the villages and aims to develop the understanding of self-confidence in the women and their work, so as they can expect a higher wage and allows them to achieve a higher standard of living.
Using simple teaching methods and basic everyday knowledge that we take for granted, SIA has begun to orchestrate this information that has never been seen or shown to the village woman before. The village women would therefore become increasingly independent and self-sufficient.