Looking outside through the rusted window railings of Namkhana local, I saw a glimpse of the bright sun shimmering on the freshly cut haystacks left on the field. Once these were lush with golden grains of “dhudher shor”, a rice variety largely grown in the Sundarbans, as these are the only rice variety that grow on the saline soils of the area and are highly priced in the markets. As the train moved away from Namkhana station leaving the fields behind, I floated back to the memories of the countless encounters that I had with the local people during my week in Mosuni islands. This was the first time I had stepped on the island with all the bookish knowledge I had been drowning myself into and waiting for a chance to actually see it on ground through various activities of engagement with the community like conducting FGDs within the villages for the piloting of our Caritas India project. As I had deboard the ferry, Taherur, an engineering graduate now working towards the development of his village came to pick me up. We went to the Sampad Kendra, Bagdanga, which is the informal workspace of the social activists and enthusiasts of the village who discuss various schemes, initiatives and cooperations and work towards making the lives of people better. Some being schoolteachers, members of the gram sabha, professors, people who donated most of their land and property towards welfare of the village and many more. My mind was fixed and prepared on explaining to them, the details of the research pilot project i.e., Climate change induced Migration, the impacts of climate change, how its related to loss of livelihood leading to unsafe migration and eventual human trafficking. But, as the exchanges and conversations started, the community members told me how happy they were to see Caritas India’s initiative towards working on such a crucial problem that needed addressal. I was surprised at how they spoke about Caritas India with such love and familiarity, and this was where I realized the imprint that Caritas India had left on the people of Mousuni during her emergency response 3 years back.

During Amphan which was an extremely powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that caused widespread damage, Caritas India supported by ECHO provided Inclusive Rapid Emergency Humanitarian Assistance to Communities in West Bengal affected by Cyclone Amphan in 5 Gram Panchayats (GPs) with 47 villages in the North and South 24 Parganas districts. Mousuni islands was one of them. The project had reached out to an estimated 51680 persons.

I met numerous people during my time in Mousuni, from the staff of the camp I stayed in, to the toto dadas who took me to my destinations while answering my infinite questions with utmost humbleness. Most of the times my questions used to be a little personal as these were important information for me, but it is not every day that you ask a person how much land they have when you have just met them for the first time. Apparently, each time the responses had something very common and that was, the lost productivity of the farms and loss of livelihood due to cyclones and the rising salinity. Amphan was the worst hit that people instantly remembered when asked about recent disasters and indeed its aftereffects could still be felt when the crops couldn’t bear good results due to the salinity intruded soils and accumulated debts due to failed fishery ponds. As Mohit Begg, a date juice seller spoke about Amphan, it astonished me when he said, ” But ma, one of the NGOs really helped us during the devastating times. Have you heard of Caritas India by any chance? They did some really good work in Mousuni “. That was the moment I realized how deep the impact of our emergency relief would have been for people to still be able to recall it with such gratefulness. Another professor I met told me word-to-word, the sectors of intervention Caritas India did, i.e., Food security, Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, Shelter and NFI (non-food items). He was absolutely right. Our interventions and support to the target communities included unconditional cash transfers to contribute to food security, activities to ensure access to safe drinking water at the Household level and at the community/evacuation shelters, improved sanitation facilities, increased awareness on hygiene and sanitation practices and necessary hygiene items at Household level and Conditional cash transfer for shelter repair.

Ever heard of the butterfly effect? Briefly, it’s the impact that the light fluttering of the wings of a butterfly that can create a tornado on the other end of the world. This is a testament to that very theory. The emergency relief had such an impact that the people of Mousuni now know and understand the importance of sustainable long-term solutions to these rapid climate changes. Caritas India had not only successfully been able to support communities but also had instilled in them the need for sustainable solutions. Almost everyone recognizes and talks about Caritas with faith and respect for the organization. So now, as we move ahead with CCMMS Sundarbans_CAFOD in parts of Mousuni, people are coming forward with all their faith to try and build new innovations for a better future. With the aim to arrest unsafe migration and promote nature-based solutions for livelihood generation, we look forward to making a much larger impact that can set an example and help many more facing similar challenges for survival.