Marie-Elaine – Canada

I arrived in India in 2014 in order to collect data for my PhD research thesis. This was not my first time in India, so I realized I became a kind of insentive of my environment. I am not bothered anymore by all these things who shock foreigners when they come for the first time in India. But my collaboration with SIDART is helping me out to re-opening my eyes to such social problems, and to get aware again of these realities, so deeply integrated in women and children’s life. As a PhD student in Anthropology (Canada), my small contribution in this huge amount of work is to conduct a research on son preference, pregnancy experiences and women’s reproductive health issues. My research is related to SIDART’s projects which promote women’s empowerment, women’s rights, gender equality, and women’s status improvement in Indian society and contribute to SIDART’s mission furthering knowledge about the challenges the women face. Even I just became, few days ago, a new member of the SIDART’s team, I already feel like a part of a big and dynamic family. SIDART welcomes new members and volunteers with warmth and kindness, and I am very grateful for it!