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A ‘Musahar’ girl from Bihar broke the age-old barriers of education deprivation. Literacy rate among musahar’s is only 3 percent and falls below 1 percent for the women who are subjected to exploitation, violence, and sexual harassment since ages.
Reena, a shy and simple musahar girl from Bedwaliya village was no different when aspired to get educated to lead a better future.
Even after all the hardships she managed to get promoted to class 6 but her joy ended when due to sudden sickness and lack of public health services had to dropout from the school.
The next entire year was even more difficult for Reena and her family as she neither could attend the school nor able to assist the family in earning their livelihood. Once a little better, her family did not send her to school in order to make up for the income lost during her illness.
Reena is now coming to an age where most of the girls of her age get married but due to lack of finances she had to continue working to bear the expenses of her marriage. By the time Hamari Pathshala reached her tola, almost three years had passed since she had been to school and she had forgotten what she had learnt.
Today, Reena is married and taking bridge course to cover the gap in her studies for appearing in Bihar Board Open Schooling and Examination. The counselling and educational support provided by Caritas India Hamari Pathshala project made this possible for Reena and many other musahar girls. The project gives special focus on the development of teaching modules and training of facilitators to improve the system of education in the targeted community.
Reena and many others are receiving educational benefits and able to teach other children of her community. She wishes to continue her studies even after her marriage till her “Gauna” (a practice when the bride is finally taken to the in-laws’).
Supported by Millennium Alliance, the project with 18 months of its intervention has infused positive communication and reinforcement to build self-confidence and independence in musahar community towards education.
The project has reached out to 392 musahar girls from which 129 girls were mainstreamed into local schools. The intervention has helped 165 girls to avail RTE benefits such as school uniform allowance, books and scholarship.
A little hero, Singrai Murmu, 13, emerged as a change agent in the U3 programme. Despite his young age, he is passionate about protecting nature and is determined to make a difference. His journey to protect the environment is both inspiring and educational, and it serves as a reminder that even the smallest actions can lead to significant change.
Singrai’s family survives on 1 bigha of land; his father is a marginal farmer and often works as a labourer in various agricultural fields to earn as much as he can to support and provide for his family.
It all started when Singrai learned the importance of environmental protection in public meetings organised by the U3 programme, where he used to accompany his parents to these meetings. The U3 programme works towards fostering and securing self-sustaining climate-resilient and climate-adaptive agriculture and livelihoods through community-owned processes in West Bengal, Karnataka, and Telangana.
Whenever Mrs. Padmabati Routh, a community educator, arranged for a meeting, he would come along with the participants and listen to the speaker carefully. He showed his involvement in every meeting he attended and was inspired to save nature and preserve our natural resources from being destroyed.
Singrai didn’t stop there. He convinced his friends to join him in his mission to protect the environment. Together, they started planting trees in their community, and they put up placards on trees to stop deforestation and tree-cutting. They educated their neighbours about the importance of protecting nature and inspired them to take action as well.
His love for nature kept growing, and he got involved in sapling restoration. He cultivated the habit of sapling restoration, and wherever he would go to play with his friends, he would collect saplings from places with infertile soil and plant them in a proper place so as for them to grow and nourish. He eventually gathered his friends to go with him on his path to saving nature. The group of five children would make posters to spread awareness among the community and his fellow classmates with slogans such as “Save life, save plants” and ‘ No plant, no life on earth’.
He also requested that all his friends make more awareness-building posters and join in the rallies, cancer campaigns, World Earth Day, and green campaigns conducted by the programme. He actively participated in all the events to help influence and draw other children closer to working together and to let the community know about the devastating results of living without nature. Recently, he took the initiative, along with his friends, to hang some posters in the forest to spread awareness and prevent people from cutting trees. Through this action, he wanted to make people aware of the consequences of disrupting mother nature and the benefits of preserving and saving her from destruction.
He is the only junior volunteer on the team, and he continues his work whenever he gets time and involves his other friends in it.
Singrai’s journey is a testament to the power of one person’s actions. He may be young, but his passion for protecting the environment has inspired those around him to take action as well. His story is a reminder that we all have a responsibility to protect nature and that even the smallest actions can have a significant impact.
It was yet another scorching day in one of the villages of South Tripura, Kathalia Cheera. Down with high fever, Anojoy Chakma, a 7-year-old boy was brought to the community health volunteer (CHV) Ms. Shyamalaxmi Chakma by his elder sister, as their parents were out in the jhum since early morning.
Shyamalaxmi conducted Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) on the ailing boy only to confirm Pv positive malaria. As Pv drugs were not available with the CHV at that point of time, she thought to refer the patient to the Primary Health Centre (PHC).
However, another thought crossed the mind of the dedicated and compassionate volunteer to take an extra stride. She thought, “If I refer the boy to PHC, the treatment would be delayed because the parents are out in the field and would be home by late evening; thereby PHC would be reached the next day only”. She took the boy to the PHC herself along with the RDT kit and thus ensured timely treatment and saved his life.
After a week, Anojoy is back home cured, and is happy and playful as any normal boy of his age!
Under Integrated Malaria Control Project-II, Caritas India is scaling up effective preventive and curative interventions in the seven North Eastern (NE) states in India and covering 48 districts and 5663 villages to save lives from Malaria.
Rinku Kumari d/o ArunSaday and Pavitri Devi and Leela Kumari d/o Shiv Saday and Savitri Devi are from RantiMusahartola in Madhubani district of Bihar.They are the first ones to have cleared matriculation in their tola and are studying in Grade XI. When asked about their hardworking daughters, parents of both girls couldn’t conceal the pride and happiness they felt and exclaimed that their daughters were continuing their studies further. The girls too expressedtheir jubilation and determination to not think of marriage until they completed their education. The girls have taken up the initiative of teaching the younger children of their tola and encourage them to go to school with them. Their dedication towards highlighting the importance of education paid off when they realized that a hundredMusahar children from their tolawere enrolled in local Government schools as a result of their efforts. Both Rinku and Leelahave become the role models in their tola.
Mrs. Parboti Chawra from Thepelaguri, said that, they lived and is living a misery life; they could not even afford to buy mosquito net, soaps, mats, tarpaulins. But as they received it from Caritas Germany as a relief they felt very happy because these things were highly necessary for her family, as they had no source of income to buy the materials, she said. She also mentioned that, the relief kits helped them replace their old torn mosquito net with new one, used the hygiene materials for two-three days. But unfortunately, again, the second phase of flood (16th June 2022) submerged the village more destructively then the previous flood which occurred just a month ago. As a result, they had left the village and gone to higher surface land area to keep them safe.
They carried Caritas Germany relief materials like tarpaulin, mats, mosquito nets and some soaps along with them and spent the night in tents. She said that, these materials really helped them in second phase of flood, to shelter and protects themselves. The saddest part is that they have, almost nothing left in their home now, neither food nor the materials to cook food, all these things had flown out over flood water, she mentioned. Thus,
She told that the materials greatly helped them in second phase of flood, as they could equip and use the kits to make tents and other use. Furthermore, she said that it was a great initiative by Caritas India, that they have provided these particular things, in view, as a future perspective for further use in times of need. The outcome of the flood relief was very good as well as pleasing, because they could equip themselves with the materials for safety and household/domestic use. After all it helped them a lot to protect themselves from rain and sun during second phase of flood, and also, after they are back home from camps, the kits were helpful to them because there is no proper place at home to sleep just because of wet and muddy surface. So they made tent out of relief kits and are spending their night.
Ganga Barela, of village Sankota, practices farming on her family land. Earlier, due to high agricultural input cost of chemical fertilisers, her family was finding farming an inefficient vocation, thereby retracting from it. She brought the issues to the Jeevika programme team in her village, who with timely handholding, counselling and capacity building enabled her to take up vegetable-cultivation with cost effective agriculture practices. With a series of motivational discussions and required facilitation, Ganga decided to start mixed cropping cultivation and also adopt bio-fertiliser process. She sowed seed of ladies-finger and tomato in her land with support of her spouse and took good care of the field. Her hard work resulted in a handsome produce, which brings an additional income of rupees five hundred to her family. The amount varies from time to time and this has inspired other women members of the Self Help Group to resort to mixed cropping through Bio- fertilisation.
As an expansion of the initiative, Jeevika Haat, weekly market is organised on Fridays whereby the people from twenty five villages gather to sell and purchase goods. Jeevika Haat is a response to the difficulties faced by people in transportation to reach the nearest market place in Tiwni village in Umariya district. The process took almost a year, and now people have come up with around twenty shops connected with twenty five villages at a common nearby location, earning an average income of rupees two thousand a month.
Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction a program supported by Caritas India in North East India and implemented by Women’s Development Centre (WDC), Guwahati, in 15 villages under Morigaon district has a lots of story to tell. Of these clubbing strength of the farmers is one among the stories. With the help of WDC the villages have constituted what they call a farmers’ club in an effort to move a step to keep the program moving on with the support from NABARD and government schemes even after the project is closed.
Farmers’ club is a registered body under NABARD where about 10 farmers of a village come together and undertake trainings, activities and planning to augment their farming methods and status after consensus. They can access government schemes and benefits with the aid of this farmers’ club. In the CMDRR project, WDC had initiated formation of such farmers’ clubs to so they can bridge the gap between the Government and the farmers and the latter can access opportunities, more so in the event of a disaster like floods. They conduct trainings, awareness etc. in their villages by informing WDC that acts as a node between the village and the concerned experts/trainers.
The members of the farmers’ club discuss with other people in the village regarding their needs and problems. A total of 13 farmers’ clubs have been registered under NABARD in Morigaon in 15 project villages. These farmers’ club acts as a bridge between the village people and the government and also functions as a Task Force Group in the event of floods.
Jawaharilal Hazarika, president of Nabakharbori Krishak Sangha farmers’ club happily narrated the benefits that the farmers’ club could bring in to the villages after its formation. “We receive heavy floods every year and suffer huge loss of agricultural produce. With the help of the club we have brought free seeds for the village, and procured pump sets on a heavy discount. This is a great help for us as now we have the power to reach the government and access opportunities”, he commented.
Apart from trainings, the farmers’ club performs another significant function- preparing the Plan of Action (POA). Morigaon has 632 villages and 85 panchayats. In this context, a farmer’s club becomes a decentralized structure of taking the concerns of the villages to the Gram Panchayat. While a Gram Panchayat conducts 4 (effectively 1 or 2) meetings every year, a farmers’ club meets regularly once or twice a month and as and when required and discusses their issues together with the rest of the village. Women are an integral part of the process. As put by Kanchanmoni Gohain, District Development Officer, NABARD, “Co-ordination is more important than assistance in the farmers’ club that can result in linkage with many agencies”.
Ranu Pandit is a widow leaving in Radhanagar. Ranu Pandit lost her husband 6 years ago due to a deadly sickness. Since then she is been working hard daily as labour and maintain her family. Ranu Pandit has two young daughter, both of them are studying. During this flood her house was severely damaged since it was a kaccha house. She and her daughter had to take refuge at nearby relief camp. But the relief provided by caritas India helps them to overcome the situation after the flood. They received all the items – Hygiene, food and Shelter Kits. They are very much thankful for the team as well as caritas India for helping them in this situation.
Cotton Ch Momin visited several Govt. hospitals in East Garo Hills in Meghalaya and traditional practitioners to find relief for his ailing wife from severe allergy with high fever but could not succeed. Affording private hospital and treatment outside the state was beyond his capacity.
After being hassled and failed, he decided to treat his wife by giving home-made traditional medicines prepared from herbs and extracts. The results were slow but encouraging and within few months she recovered completely.
Momin started his traditional medicine practice from there and now he can heal disease like jaundice, epilepsy, broken or fractured bones, fever and dysentery through traditional herbal medicines. Basically, a farmer by occupation, he can treat many other diseases in Gitokgre village in East Garo Hill of Meghalaya through traditional medicines.
Initially, he was known to very few people in his village as he did not want many people to have known him as a traditional practitioner. But after the leadership training of awareness programmes of Farm Northeast-II, his mindset changed.
He is now active in agriculture, farming, organising meetings, programmes and much other work. He is also a president of the farmer club and a traditional practitioner to promote medicinal practitioners in the area. He has become the main resource person in the area for sharing his knowledge in terms of traditional medicines and is encouraging and motivating other practitioners in the area.
Apart from being a traditional practitioner and a farmer he has taken a loan from fisheries department and started fishery in a small pond. Though the return is less it adds to his profit. He motivates other farmers to take up fishery and earn their livelihood through various means.
“I do not charge for the treatment but when someone gives me forcibly, I had to respect their feeling”, says Momin. Traditional healing has become one of the sources of his livelihood. He expressed his gratefulness to the FARM Northeast-II programme for changing his thinking and knowledge to boost his confidence. He is more than happy to share his knowledge with others who is willing to learn.
Ranju was standing beside the school wall watching people queue to receive their relief but her name was not in the list. At an age of 26 she had become widow with a mother of one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. She only thinks about her daughter’s future.
Her house was washed away in the flood and now the mother and child lives with her husband’s relative at Dezoo Chapori village in North Lakhimpur, Assam. She helps in house work but always worried as anytime they can ask her leave the house.
“We wanted to raise our daughter by giving her quality education but our dreams remained as dream”, exclaimed Ranju. She used to stay happily with her husband Madhav Prasad Sharma and daughter in their house close to the river but never thought that the same river will take their house one day.
“Madhav had a medical shop which was their only source of livelihood. After his death, the shop is closed and whatever income used to come has stopped,” narrated Ranju with tearful eyes.
Every one affected by flood has their own story of pain which only brings back the moments of deprivation, confusion, hurt, loss and psychological trauma.
Ranju came to know about the complaint box installed at the distribution point for grievance redressal, so she dropped her application in the box mentioning her case for support. The village committee along with Caritas India personnel reflected on the application and considering her vulnerability had decided to extend emergency relief support to her.
“I will use this money for the admission of my daughter in school and reconstruct my house” said Ranju. She further plans to reestablish her husband’s closed medical shop to become independent so she can provide good education to her daughter.
The complaint redressal mechanism of Caritas India during emergency is an effective step to invite community to submit their confusion, complains and feedback for redressal and improvement. It not only creates space for community to express their views but also brings accountability, transparency and participation.
Every day after distribution of relief materials, the village committee and Caritas India personnel sits with the community and open the complaint box to hear the issues and unanimously decide for its redressal.
Caritas India Headquarter:
Caritas India, CBCI Centre, Ashok Place, Opposite to Gole Dak Khana,
New Delhi - 11 00 01, India
Tel - 91 -11 - 2336 3390 / 2374 23 39
Email - director@caritasindia.org
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