Golden jubilee festivities at Delhi's Barefoot College embrace craft to empower communities

By: WE Staff | Saturday, 26 March 2022

The Social Work and Research Centre, also known as the Barefoot College Tilonia, is celebrating the Golden Jubilee of its founding at Triveni Kala Sangam, Mandi House, where they held their first crafts market in 1975.

Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy founded the institution in 1972 as a non-profit dedicated to the education and upliftment of rural people throughout India. This celebration—which began on Friday and will run until March 28—brought together exciting events that pay homage to their work and celebrates 50 years of successful solutions in solar and renewable energies, women empowerment, and other areas.

The Tilonia Bazaar, a crafts bazaar organised by the organization's handicrafts section, is one of the many attractions of its Golden Jubilee festival.

Handwoven bed covers with block prints, bell totas [bird wall hangings] crafted by elderly women, apparel and bags, wooden toys, rugs, and other items made by rural women from around Rajasthan are on display.

Roop Singh, who is incharge of the ‘Hatheli’ (handicrafts) section of Barefoot College, shared, “Our main motive is to connect these women with the organisation. They come from conservative families and were scared to venture out into the world. But once one woman joined the organisation, others slowly started taking this up.” The women are first trained, and then—according to their skill-set—given specific jobs with daily wages. The sale for the products sold here is retained so as to uplift women by providing them healthcare facilities and education. Showing us a bedsheet that was handmade by the artisans, Singh elaborated, “We try to overlap crafts to not just create a unique product but also provide work to as many women as possible.”

Different aspects of the event are dedicated to the development work that Barefoot College has done in many villages in areas like as solar energy, water conservation, and so on. They also have a folk music and puppet show going on, as well as a Tilonia photo exhibition curated by Indian photojournalist Pablo Bartholomew. "Tilonia has a lovely way of reconnecting us to our roots while also introducing the villages to technology." "Getting to meet the artists personally is a joy in and of itself," says Kavita Bahl, a guest we met on Friday.