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CHAPTER 03 · THE LISTENING PARTIES

A Phone. A Mat. Ten Women.

WHY WE STARTED THIS

A chatbot needs signal and reading. Most of the women we wanted to reach had neither — 22 villages with no internet presence at all, and grandmothers who'd never been to school. But every village has one woman everyone already listens to. Give her the lesson as audio on her own phone, and she becomes the classroom. The listening party was born out of what wasn't there.

Rural Sindh has no internet to run a chatbot on. So we turned Raaji into audio — Sindhi lessons a champion could download once and play offline, forever. A listening party is simple: one community woman leader, usually a menstrual champion, gets the audio on her phone and invites the women and girls of her village to hear it together and talk it through. Whatever she can't answer, our team answers live — watching the party over whatsapp from homes and offices across Pakistan. Ghulam Sughra in Pir Bux Brohi. Uzma in Dundh. Urbeli in Wahid Bux Gopang. Goal for spring 2022: 500 parties, 10,000 women, through people they already trusted.

Thirty women and girls holding Listening Party posters
april 2022. thirty champions, thirty posters — لسننگ پارٽي. each one went home and ran her own.
Women in a circle in a brick courtyard, one holding a phone
a courtyard. a phone. a circle.
A champion in front of a pink floral cloth speaking to seated women
she hangs a cloth. that's the stage.
Women under a thatched roof, a champion holding up a phone
under the thatch. the phone held up so everyone can hear.
A listening party under a Business Development Group banner
dundh, larkana. uzma's house. the 'sughar' (skilled) business group became a raaji room.
Women seated before a blue and white embroidered rilli
the rilli goes up. the party starts.
A champion in yellow standing, addressing a courtyard full of women
a laptop on a chair. a champion who's done this twenty times.
Women on a mat watching a laptop
the whole village on one screen.
Girls in a circle under a tree in a village courtyard
under the neem tree. i came to listen this time.
Saba seated in the middle of a large group of women
the team. all of them.
THIRTY WOMEN, THIRTY POSTERS
Thirty women in a courtyard each holding a printed Listening Party poster in Sindhi
every woman trained that day, holding her own poster.
THE WHOLE KIT FIT ON A CARDBOARD BOX
A laptop balanced on a cardboard box for a listening party in Urbeli
urbeli. the laptop, the box, the whole rig.
Two phones running Raaji held in women's hands over a quilt
two phones, one quilt, raaji in both.
A phone held up in the center of a circle of neighbours
a phone held up like a lantern. the circle leans in.
Women gathered for a listening party in Muzaffarana
muzaffarana. another circle, another courtyard.
Shahida leading a listening party in Bharmi
shahida, leading her own party in bharmi.
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SABA KHALID · POETICA STUDIO
saba@poetica.studio