Women Of The Dust
by Ruth Carter

Commissioned by Oxfam to mark their fiftieth anniversary, Women of the Dust focuses on an itinerant, all-female workforce gathered on a dusty Delhi construction site.

They hail from Rajasthan, where yet again the rains have failed, there is nothing to harvest, and stomachs are empty.

The Jamadar (middle man) has brought them here to work for a Delhi 'fat cat' building a large complex in the developing capital.

Asha waits to give birth to her first child - she's hoping to travel to her remote village and be with her mother as is the tradition.

Her time is near but there is no money.

Lali, a child bride wedded at four, awaits life with a husband she cannot recollect.

Nisha and Mohini, the privileged Bose sisters, run a rural development programme - they no longer see eye to eye and wonder which way to turn.

Ruth Carter's haunting and poetic piece captures the pride and resilience of the workers and questions a system which confines them to a ceaseless cycle of toil.