On Their Wheels

A year later, Thorel and Dauiaud have travelled to west Africa, Tanzania and Nepal. India is their fourth stop in four months.

They are aboard the Jagriti Yatra, which has 450 students from India and abroad. The 8,000-km-train journey across India is being undertaken to encourage social entrepreneurship. “This is the only trip we didn’t plan in advance. Everyone we want to work with is under one roof,” says Dauiaud. The Yatra, with social entrepreneurs, businesses and start-ups on board, follows a school-on-wheels concept.

The duo started a project, Why Not Women, a year ago. The initiative takes them to a different country each month where they select one social enterprise that empowers women. “We give ourselves 30 days to help them in any way they can — marketing, raising funds through crowdfunding, and forming a business structure, among other things,” says 22-year-old Thorel.

The projects they select vary, touching all sections of society. In west Africa, they helped an enterprise that recycles plastic waste into cloth bags that are then sold in the US and Europe. In Tanzania, they worked with a project that taught girls how to code. “In Tanzania, men learn computers while this kind of education isn’t considered important for women. So, we worked with an organisation that provides free classes to girls in programming,” says Thorel.

Their favourite memory so far is of a girl who built an online platform discussing fistula, a social taboo in Tanzania. “All of 16, she was frustrated at the state of the women affected by fistula who were being branded as witches. Her final presentation on the topic the audience to tears. During such times, you can really feel the power of entrepreneurship,” says Dauiaud, 22.

Travelling has also helped the two girls understand the emotions of people around the globe. For instance, in Nepal, the team worked with a centre that sells second-hand woolens, from Kathmandu to the more remote areas of the country for winter. “Those people don’t like charity. So the women in the area wash and repair the clothes before they sell them,” says Thorel.

They already have a few leads for their Indian project. A young entrepreneur who has invented protective innerwear for women that electrically shocks an assaulter and another group that builds solar lamps from scratch, are on top of their list.

From India, they will backpack across to Philippines and Indonesia, following which they plan to return to France briefly, before taking off again. “On the way, we’re also documenting the people we work with through photos and videos, updating our website — whynotwomen.wordpress.com — regularly.”