The Green Tara Project

So today was the seventh class with the KGBV girls.  I am amazed at how fast these young ladies are picking up the techniques.  In the first class today, we reviewed wrist grab escapes (in which I’ve included biting), and striking to the throat.  In their second class today, I decided to change things up a bit and do situational settings, like girls finding themselves physically cornered, and when a verbal altercation escalates into a physical one.  During the ‘cornered’ scenario, I realized that the girls were letting me get way too close, even though I had explained to them that I was posing as a bad man.  Repeatedly, and one after another, it was clear that the majority of the girls did not have an instinct of a physical boundary for themselves.  This is not uncommon in people who have experienced substantial physical abuse.  And I think, from my discussions with people here, that there is a cultural component as well – Indian people, especially in rural areas, do not have a sense of privacy, and thus have that lack of a concept of ‘personal boundary.’  Regardless of why, I worked with the girls with the help of Sharda in trying to get this concept across.  This is one of those cognitive skills that will need to be reinforced over time, but in looking into their eyes, I did see a small spark of ‘Aha!’

This happened again when I was trying to explain the ‘No is a complete sentence’ concept, and that a man who does not respect ‘no’ effectively does not respect the girl who is saying it.  Sharda once again translated, trying to piece together what I was trying to explaining to her in a combination of english and hindi.  And as she was speaking to the girls in a blurring rapid stuccato, I watched their faces.  Their looks ranged from confused (as if it was just such a foreign concept to them) to almost dumbstruck (as if they were thinking, “You mean that a man has to have respect for us?” in a combination of wonder and…Aha!