In the early hours of March 6, the Madras Seva Sadan, Tambaram, was a catalyst of change. Twenty-odd auto rickshaws were parked in a semi-circle. Unlike the yellow and black ones, these were vibrant blue, red, orange and green spray-painted ones that carried brand names and logos. A board that read ‘Sisterhood- Let’s Goa Rickshaw Rally 2025’ was placed on the rickshaw’s hood.
Fifty-seven women from The Sisterhood Group, a UK-based organisation, dressed in khaki shirts, sat in the driver’s seat, with two other passengers. The rally, organised by The Sisterhood Group, in collaboration with Madras Midtown Round Table 42 (MMRT42) and Madras Midtown Ladies Circle 7 (LC7), went on a six-day trip to Goa to raise funds and press the need for girls’ education and skills training for women.
One ride at a time
The rally ended on Tuesday, after navigating through the curves and cuts in the cities such as Bengaluru, Mangaluru and more. “They (The Sisterhood) used their social media and avenues to raise funds. They are deploying those funds through us as an organisation. We would use the funds raised for the community,” mentions Satha Annamalai, immediate past chairman of MMRT42.
Calling this initiative new in many ways because this is the first time a fundraiser is attached to this rally, Satha continues, “They took the responsibility of raising the funds, probably eighty percent of the overall funds. We will contribute 20 per cent through our fundraisers.” Once the funds are raised, MMRT42 and LC7 will put the money to right use. “We want to ensure that a good amount of children and women have been impacted. That’s the bigger responsibility for us,” he shares.
The team hopes to collect `3 crore, of which about `95 lakh was raised by the Sisterhood Group till date. “Three crores is a large sum, and we can educate so many young girls, train so many young women, so that they can get jobs, through this,” he says.
Fuelling effects
A classroom building project focussing on girls’ education, a skill training programme for women and young girls, helping them achieve financial independence and a postpartum anaemia project for new mothers — these are a few projects that the team plans to invest in. “These projects are something we have looked at and discussed with the group, and they were excited to partner with us because this is exactly the kind of work they have been doing,” says Poornima Subramanian, chairperson of LC7.
“We are charitable organisations, and we are coming together because we are a strong representation of women-centric projects. The Sisterhood is essentially a women’s charity. So this is a perfect opportunity for us to work with them,” she says, adding that the real work starts now for the team as they have “to oversee all these projects and get to our goal.”
For Satha, the importance of such campaigns is always defined by the impact it ends up making. Emma Sayle from the Sisterhood group, who are the impact makers, shares that this trip fell during International Women’s Day, and most women in the rally were entrepreneurs. “Normally, we would be asked to sit on panel talks. All we do is talk about the same things, how hard it is to be where we are as women in business. But, this trip is important to me because we have got an amazing and unbelievable amount of privilege when compared to a lot of the women and girls in India and other non-Western countries. So, this trip is about giving back and being grateful for what we have,” she concludes.