HANDSHAKE WITH CHARISMATIC CLINTON
CHARISMATIC CLINTON US ex-President visits primary school, meets self-help groups to discuss diarrhoea prevention measures
Clinton interacted with students and assessed the working of selfhelp groups in Jabrauli village. The programme was organised under Clinton Health Access Initiative, a health scheme of the Clinton Foundation. The primary goal of the initiative is to reduce the number of children dying from diarrhoea. The programme is being implemented in 38 districts in UP. Earlier, Clinton was welcomed by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
LUCKNOW: Jabrauli village finally had its moment of fame with Bill Clinton on Thursday. Dressed in a T-shirt, the US ex-President reached the village around two hours late, on a hot and humid day. But his charisma attracted hundreds of villagers including women and students.
“Give our best wishes to Hillary. Tell her that Indian women want her to become the next US president. It would be the victory of womanhood,” 17-yearold Deeksha Varma told Clinton. He smiled and promised to convey her sentiments to Hillary.
For women like Shalini Trivedi, Kirti and Prabha Tripathi, meeting Clinton was a dream come true. Shalini said, “We listened to him carefully. He thinks a lot about the progress of women in this part of the world.”
The Clinton Foundation had arranged six groups of women and children to interact with the ex-president Clinton, who had been tutored what to say. A group of foundation workers, including its media wing, had arrived early in the morning and watched the local volunteers’ mock presentation.
On arrival, Clinton straightaway went to meet a group of students of Poorva Madhyamik Vidyalaya. Here volunteers of Clinton Foundation gave a presentation on good habits and how to identify and prevent diarrhoea. Clinton also interacted with the students. When a student asked: Do you have such schools in your country too?” Clinton answered, “Yes, we have many schools. I hope that you may come and see them one day.” Another boy asked, “Did you like our village?” Clinton laughed and said, “Yes, I loved it.” He asked the kids whether they would teach others the things they had learned in school and they chorused in the affirmative. Next, it was the turn of the women’s groups. Here volunteers demonstrated how to prepare ORS.
He said he was happy to see that small self help groups had brought about a change in the lifestyle of women in rural India, and added that his foundation would continue to work for women’s empowerment because there was still a wide gap between the status of western women and their counterparts in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Kirti, a housewife, asked Clinton about what he planned for women’s uplift. Clinton said his organisation would continue to work to educate mothers and families to treat diarrhoea. Prabha Tripathi said she would love to meet Hillary and asked when Hillary would visit her village. Clinton said she would come swoon. The women also sang a few songs in Avadhi language. Clinton enjoyed ‘Samooh ke kariye vikas ho, gyan se bhariye bhandar ho’, as the lyrics were translated to him.