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 SHEM: Compassion in Action The word for woman in Tibetan means “born low.” Under the burden of that definition, Tibetan women have often not seen themselves as capable of leadership. But a new organization, SHEM, is helping women students in Qinghai Normal University to become grassroots transformers of their home communities. The founder of SHEM, Michelle Kleisath, is its one non-Tibetan member. She describes herself as having lived a pretty typical American suburban life until she signed up for a gender studies course as a student at the University of California at Davis. “I felt like I woke up, and that I’d been asleep my whole life. I could see how many ways I had held myself back because I was a woman.” Looking for bigger challenges than she had ever sought before, upon graduation in 2003 she moved to Tibet to teach English and sociology at Qinghai Normal University. Noting how self-effacing her students were – “Most would have their heads down, staring at their shoes. You could barely hear them.” – she decided to offer an after-hours gender studies class to women. The results were dramatic. Not only in her classes, but across the university, the women began speaking up and participating actively. “Their confidence skyrockets,” says Kleisath. “It’s not what I’m teaching them, it’s the space we create.” Within a year, the students were asking for more. They wanted to find ways to demonstrate their new sense of competence in the world. Would Kleisath teach them how to initiate development projects? She knew nothing about the subject, but plunged in, did research, and offered another after-hours class. Fifteen women learned how to identify needs in their communities, design a proposal to meet one of those needs, submit the proposal to international donors, and implement the plan when it was funded. The results were astounding. Six of the initial proposals received full funding and are now completed. Since then, another ten have been funded and ten more are proposed. The projects arise from the daily life and needs of the women’s home communities: 110 solar cookers for families of Heluoshi village; 12 new dormitories, PE equipment and books for students at Ri Zang Primary Boarding School; a concrete bridge spanning the Ra Chu River and uniting five communities totaling 5,000 people; 60 milking yaks providing nourishment and a source of income for impoverished elders in Jemda; thirty aluminum butter churns in Fudi village to replace the traditional but increasingly expensive wooden ones. In every case, the recipient village contributes some funds and nearly all the labor to realize these projects. This is powerful, relevant, grassroots development, initiated and overseen by young Tibetan women who not long ago were afraid to lift their heads to speak. The women have formed an organization to keep the training and the projects going. It is called SHEM, which in Tibetan means charity and compassion. It might just as well mean courage. As one of the students says, “Before, I always don’t believe in myself.” Now, “I want to look for chances.” References:
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