An all-women team from India arrived in Rotorua on June 5 as part of Mothers on Wheels, a transcontinental journey to explore the evolving role of mothers and the family unit across cultures. The initiative, led by Madhuri Sahasrabudhe alongside Urmila Joshi and Pratibha Jaju, is currently making its way through New Zealand after covering Southeast Asia and Australia.
Having started the New Zealand leg in Auckland, the team reached Rotorua yesterday morning and is set to travel through Napier to Queenstown. In each city, they are engaging with local communities, educators, and families to better understand the emotional, cultural, and social aspects of parenting and motherhood.
“When we look at today’s societal problems, we see a pattern—low emotional awareness, lack of empathy, and fragile self-worth. These are often rooted in childhood,” said team leader Madhuri Sahasrabudhe. “We believe empowering mothers is key to changing this.”
In Rotorua, the team visited Tiaki Early Learning Centre, where they held discussions with teachers of Māori, Filipino, and Fijian Indian backgrounds. The visit was facilitated by Dr Guna Magesan, Director of the Centre. These dialogues focused on the realities of motherhood across cultures, the challenges families face, and strategies for nurturing young children in a rapidly changing world.
Spearheading the initiative is Sahasrabudhe, a national-level Kabaddi player and avid traveller from Delhi, who brings a unique approach to grassroots social research. The team travels overland by car, facilitating in-person conversations, administering surveys, and documenting experiences to build a global database on parenting and family systems.
The idea, Sahasrabudhe says, is to strengthen emotional development in children by focusing on their earliest environment—the home—and particularly on mothers. “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam—the world is one family—is more than a philosophy for us,” she said. “It is the spirit that drives our work.”
The journey follows the team’s earlier expedition in 2018, where they drove from Delhi to London, traversing 22 countries and engaging with over 300 mothers. Their findings culminated in the 2019 Global Mother Conference in New Delhi, inaugurated by then Vice President of India, Shri Venkaiah Naidu.
After a pause during the pandemic, the initiative resumed with a renewed focus on Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Over the next four months, the team will continue collecting stories and data from across New Zealand to contribute to their ongoing global study on the emotional and societal impact of motherhood.
The three-member team includes:
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Madhuri Sahasrabudhe – Team leader, athlete, and advocate for women’s education.
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Urmila Joshi – Organiser and long-distance travel enthusiast from Pune.
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Pratibha Jaju – Social changemaker making her first international journey, with a focus on community wellbeing.
The group is encouraging educators, women’s organisations, researchers, and policymakers across New Zealand to connect with them, share local perspectives, and contribute to their growing network aimed at fostering emotionally resilient societies.
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