A parents meeting was organized at Barli Development Institute for Rural Women from 28- 30^h August 2009. This has now been a practice for about 18 years in that approximately half way through the 6 month training programme, the parents and guardians of the trainees/students are invited to the Institute for 3 day meeting to witness the work of the Institute.
107 members of families of the trainees came from 30 different villages of Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Bihar. they were all warmly welcomed by all the staff. On 29th the Director Dr. Janak Palta McGilligan introduced all the members of staff to the parents and their respective roles in training the young women. Many of the parents and family members and the trainees also introduce themselves and spoke about the training the young women receive at the Institute.

They were extremely overwhelmed to see their daughters involved in gardening and vegetable growing, cleaning, making the food with the solar cookers, reading and writing and learning many other skills like cutting and tailoring.

Maliki Kharat’s father Mr. Badadu kharat said that, “I am so happy to see my daughter able to read and write and now also speaks Hindi.”

Bunny Dawar  mother  Mrs. Gurli Dawar said, “we could never imagine that our daughter can  learn to read and  write and she will be an inspiration for many more girls who would like to come and get training from this institute.”

Babita’s father was impressed to see his daughter chanting a  prayer  in Hindi so nicely, just after 3 months when she came she was illiterate. 

Nanti’s brother pointed out that he appreciates the love, unity and harmony among all the trainees.

Pooja’s father Sham said, “When my daughter was at home she was illiterate now she can read and write and at the Institute she has also learnt home remedies for the various diseases.”

Madhi’s father Ramesh said, “My daughter learnt the use of tailoring machine and many good things, I am happy to see the change and improvement.”

Sangita’s father Silad from Alirajpur said, “The atmosphere here is very nice my daughter has learnt to read a book in the class in three months. She was fortunate to come here. Geeta’s mother Meera said “my daughter came here just to learn cutting and tailoring but it’s amazing to see her learning so many things and above all her personal behavior has improved.

Brother of Artti Taroly Mr. Antar Singh from Badwani said that in villages people don’t think about their daughters but seeing this institute I can say really women are being empowered.

Neetu’s father from Bihar said, “I came here not just to see my daughter but also to visit the Institute. The environment in the Institute is very nice. Happy to see that the girls are given such good education, they can make a better future.”  Urmila’s brother Chandra Sahu shared “After coming here I am really happy that she is learning and doing her best its all because of the love and care she gets from the staffs here.”

Indra said, “A women should be educated and literate because mother is the first teacher for her child. If she is literate she can easily take care of her family she can also take decision about how many babies she needs to have.”

Neetu said, “In Institute we learn unity, service, consultation, co-operation, health and development and we can by this be helpful to our families and the community.”