Ayang Aier, Nagaland
Once there were two friends who would go to the beach every morning to play. After playing for few minutes the younger boy would disappear from the scene. This went on for some days. His friend started to wonder and worry. He thought that his friend was no more interested to play with him. One morning, he followed his friend without letting him know. To his amazement, he found his friend struggling to pick and throw starfish which were lying on the beach into the sea. He shouted to his friend “Are you crazy? There are thousands of starfish, so what difference would it make?” The young boy did not reply and continued what he was doing. After sometime, his friend shouted at him “Come on lets go, leave them alone. What difference would it make? Its impossible for you to pick all these and put them back into the sea.” The young boy coolly picked up another starfish and replied to his friend, “Of course it makes a difference - to this fish”, and he threw it into the sea.
I believe, all will agree with me that the greatest challenge of today’s world is how to make the world a better place for all to live in peace and harmony. And the thing that I fear most is can we accomplish this in the midst of political and socio-economic injustice. Many a time as a social worker, I am placed in a position like the younger boy. They task looks so big. As I struggle with my work, there are questions that always hit me – am I making any change or difference or improvement? What have I accomplished? What difference would it make? To dream of changing the world completely to a better place for all and to put the chaos of the world in order would be like Karl Marx dreaming of “Utopia.” Yet to dream of brining hope to a few that surrounds us is not beyond our reach. What keeps me going or comforts me is that “little drops of water makes an ocean.” What I do may be small or may be invisible, but it does make a little difference to those lives.
Sisterhood Network (SN) is a small organization that began in May 2001 with an aim to empower less privileged and neglected women and girls in and around Dimapur in Nagaland. What brought me to SN is my dream of working with the poor, oppressed and downtrodden of society and also a desire to work with like minded people. SN’s center is in Dimapur district. Dimapur is a small town in Nagaland. It is the commercial center of the state. However, 70% of the business of run by non locals and there are few avenues for local people in business. There is the problem of a high rate of unemployment because majority of the population is dependent on the government for jobs. People no longer hold on to traditional values and virtues. There is corruption in almost all the institutions. Some use bribe to get a job. Dignity of work is disappearing among the younger generation. Most of them want easy money and opt for white-collar jobs. The spirit of tribalism is getting higher. Above, all, the tension between the Indian Government and the Naga local government (underground) is making the public insecure to live in their own land.
Against this background, there are many whose lives are marginalized and are ignorant. Among them women are the ones who suffer the most, since they are illiterate and dependent on their husband for their survival. They are confined to household activities, unaware of this rights and resources that are available from the government and other institutions. At SN, I was given the responsibility to look after the self-help groups (SHG). I did not know from where to start because this was a completely new task. Before joining SN, I was in teaching profession for 3 years. My work was confined to the classroom but now I have to go outside the wall to the women. It was a challenging task. No one gave me an orientation of what SHG is all about, neither was there any past record of the SHG to refer to. In the beginning, I had a hard time to relate and communicate to some SHGs because they could not understand Nagamese (conversion dialect) nor English, and neither did I understand their dialect. I took the help of interpreters and this made communication easier but I don’t know how far I understood them and their feelings.
One difficult task was to link the SHGs with the Bank. The bank was not receptive and tried to find fault in the documents that the women submitted. I had to accompany the SHGs every time they went to the bank and after several attempts, they were able to open their accounts at the bank. For loans, it was more difficult. We made several attempts together. The women nearly gave up and started accusing me for what has happened. I got irritated, yet I did not give up. I heard from some source that without bribing, it is impossible to get the loan from the bank and this was true. Some women were willing to bribe but I was able to convince them that such a practice is evil and we should fight against such corruption. Finally, I personally went to meet the Bank Manager and Field Officer convincing them that these are the groups that deserve to get the loan. After 6 months the loan was sanctioned. Another challenging task was how to sustain and maintain the SHGs.
Though several learning seminars and workshops were conducted on capacity building, two SHGs were defunct. As it is said that “experience is the best teacher” I have learnt that proper orientation should be given to the SHG during the formation of group, in which I have failed. It should be made clear right from the beginning that when our focus is only on economics and neglect the other aspects - social and spiritual - the results or rewards are one sided. The experience has also helped me to reflect and evaluate my own leadership skills. Another challenging task at SN is counseling the young girls. Most of them are school dro-outs who were doing nothing and have no avenues open to them, yet when they come to SN outwardly they look happy and content with their lives. However, as I sit, talk and listen to their stories, I come to know that most of them are confused and seeking some purpose and meaning in life. Some of them had unpleasant childhood experiences because they became orphans when they were very young or parents are divorced or they are from poor background and so had a very hard life. These girls lack self-confidence and self-esteem and have no motivation or interest to work for their livelihood.
My desire is to see these girls growing as mature, independent and responsible adults, but things do not always happen like we dream or wish. Some of these girls are very tough and very difficult to deal with. I try my best to release them from the prison of their past experience and to let them understand that there is more to life. In spite of my efforts, I could not see much change in them, but over the days and months I have learnt to accept them as they are by putting myself in their position. I have come to understand that I cannot change a person into a completely new being. Maybe, I can change his / her outward being but the real change should come from within the person.
Today as I reflect back I am reminded again that there is no short cut to success and that winners are the ones who do not do different things but they do things differently. As it is said “action speaks louder than words”. Maybe what I have told them did not make any sense to them, or may be I was too judgmental, pointing fingers at their weakness, or may be I was expecting too much from them. I do believe that the seed that I have planted today in them with love and care would one day grow and bring a difference to their lives. I am also comforted by knowing the fact that I am not alone in the struggle, but like minded people are in the same boat with me.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Sowing the seeds for a better life
Going behind the mask
Renthung lo Kithan, Nagaland
From my childhood I see two classes of people – the high and the low - the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. The context from where I come was indeed not pleasant. There was so much injustice, so many inequalities. I used to wonder why the world is so cruel. The rich people have all the powers whereas the poor have no voice -they are always neglected. Where are their rights? This painful scenario really disturbed me and concerned me. I joined Sisterhood Network in 2001, right after my graduation, which helped me understand many things about the realities of this world. I want to make the poor aware of their rights as persons, to make them aware of their dignity and abilities, to help them to be confident of themselves, to make themselves self–reliant and to believe that their dreams will be realized in this life.
Connecting with the women’s group and young girls who are poor and marginalized is sometimes hard. They are not aware of where they are, who they are etc. After some months or years they do not remain the same. We see changes socially, economically, etc., which concerns not only the woman but helps her family and thus involves the society. These are the positive responses that we see. The main purpose here is to let them come out from where they are and then treat then like humans. It is amazing but slowly we can see the differences in their lives – they are confident, self reliant, aware of where they are etc. These changes do not come by overnight. It is a slow process where we need a lot of patience. From my experience thus far, looking at their backgrounds, studying their situations and dealing with them is very important – all are not same, some are difficult, some are not that difficult. In the process these are also challenges that I face. I begin to lose patience when things are not working according to plan. At times I just want to give up. Sometimes I feel like I cannot go on any longer, any further – I am tried and exhausted but I remember something here – “at the end of the tunnel there is always light”. There are also times like when I just leave things like that when I can do more or can do better. This is my life journey, my challenges that I still face and like I said it is hard sometimes but as I look back, through these hardships and struggles I have also learned something.
There is one incident that I faced two or three years back. One of my staff and I went to one office to collect project money given to the women’s group. We went to the Managing Director’s and office she said that everything is alright and the money is ready to be given to the women’s group. We reached the cashier’s office. There we saw that he was a bit reluctant to give the money sanctioned. The problem here was that he wanted to get some commission from us which we did not agree to. I finally I told him “Are you going to give us the money or I will go to the Managing Director’s office and report. You are paid for your job. What is this extra money for?” He then signed everything and gave us the money. Our society is corrupt. One should not compromise with the system. One should be strong, courageous and able to say what is right. That is my biggest challenge. Imagine how many persons the cashier must have taken money from like that, many of them poor and illiterate villagers. One thing I also learnt is to always “prepare my mind” because we never know what will come our way, what is ahead of us.
Reflecting back, evaluating myself, I should say that I have come a long way. My life journey was full of ups and downs Sometime it is discouraging and painful, but I have a strong belief that things will not always remain like that - someday it will change – “after a sunset, there is always sunrise”. In the beginning of Sisterhood Network there were only two of us. We went visiting from house to house. In a bag we carried water, some eatable things, torch, etc., since sometimes we reached home late at night after talking to these women. This is how the women’s group started. Their husbands do nothing, their children cannot go to school because of the economic problem. The women weave somehow and earn something to run the house. Even here marketing is a problem for them. The reason is they are not exposed and also not confident of themselves.
As I look back now there are certainly some changes that I see. Guiding them, seeing them change, finding marketing for them, organizing seminars on food and health, exposing them to different things, leadership training etc, these have really brought something to their lives. Let me also share something about young girls here. The young girls we are dealing with are school drop-outs, where most of them cannot continue because of economic problems. Many are educated but unemployed, some are trouble markers at home. Like I said before, some take time to change, even years, and some take a few months. I am not a psychologist nor a counsellor, but I try to read their mind, study the background from where they come, listen to them, gain trust from them and slowly they begin to open up. Their stories are heart rending, they narrate painful experiences in their lives which have left bitterness in their heart. Father and mother divorced, some from a broken family, some parents sell liquor thus affecting the whole family, the children in particular. Their life is full of emptiness. It is challenging for me to deal with these girls. I would say that it is a long struggle to for me. Most of them are stubborn and do not want to listen. Sometimes they seem to be smiling outside but that is not from their heart. Sometimes I get angry with them because of their behaviour, but again I remind myself of the world they come from. It certainly takes time, but things change.
Like I said most of them are from broken families. Since they come from that kind of world, it is difficult dealing with them. I can give you one example here of breaking the mask which they wear. One girl I observed was very quiet and the smile she had was so empty. Her mother and father divorced when she was only a kid and she stayed with an uncle. First I tried to make friends with her, talk to her casually, laugh with her, listen to her and thus slowly she began to open up and told her strory, her painful experiences. I try to be patient and win her trust so that she was comfortable with me. Many a times I go behind her trying to talk to her because she wants to keep a distance, trying to be alone, but I try to be friendly with her showing that someone loves her. It is so hard for them to accept the word “love”. This is my biggest challenge and I face this – to break that which is already in the heart it takes time.
In my job though I am responsible for the finance area, I am associated with all aspects of work of the organisation. It is indeed not easy but I try my best. At the end of the day as I reflect back it may be a little or simple thing that I do but it matters to me because I know how much I can do. Reaching out to the poor and needy gives me joy, though there are hardships and failures. We face many challenges but that makes me stronger. I learn many things out of that. In all my working “prayer” is the greatest weapon which gives me the inner strength to go on. The vision and the final goal that I have may not reach 100% perfection but atleast some will be fulfilled in this life.
An unending struggle
Bhaktabatsal Mohanty, Orissa
I was born on 15th August 1959 in a small village called Goudapada in Cuttack district of Orissa in a poor middle class family having faith in Gandhian ideology. In my village 80% families are dalit and 20% are Brahmin and Karana (General Caste). During my school days, I saw the discrimination towards untouchables in our class as well as in my society. My grandfather and grandmother spin the charka every day and at the end of the month my grandfather goes to the weaver’s house for weaving of khadi. Most of the family members are engaged in weaving khaki. In my childhood I was attracted towards khadi. I asked my grandfather, why the schoolteacher discriminated against the dalit students in class and in school functions. In our family we respected all people as humans.
After the completion of my studies I came to Utkal Sarvodaya Mandal and worked with Rama Devi, a great Gandhian Sarvodaya Leader of Orissa. I was involved in the JP movement in 1978. In 1982, in the month of June, Rama Devi sent me to Batighane near Paradeep for cyclone relief work. When I started the community kitchen, I again saw untouchability and discrimination in the village.
1982 August 30th a devastating high flood came to Jagatsinpur area due to breaking of the Dalai Ghei. Maa Rama Devi sent me with a team for emergency relief programme. As the water level came down I saw most of mud houses of the poor dalit community totally collapsed. They lost almost everything they had. The General Caste people had good houses, where dalit people could take shelter, but the poor dalit had to spend the night under temporary shelters made of polythene sheets donated by us.
I took up a challenge for the dalit people. I conducted a survey of how many houses had collapsed in the flood-affected village. Out of the total collapsed houses, how many houses were of the dalit people. I saw that 90% of the houses collapsed. I took the challenge to build these houses within one year for the dalit community. I faced many obstacles from other caste people in the period of house construction. I organized work camps, invited youth from different districts and built the houses before the monsoons.
1984 June 5th I got married to a committed dalit lady called Bhagabati arranged by Maa Rama Devi and Sarvodaya people. We declared each other as life partner and took oath in the presence of NGO leaders, Gandhian people, journalists, youth leaders, etc. It was a great personal challenge in my life. I struggled for survival in our so-called civil society and among blood relatives.
1985 after flood rehabilitation we formed an organization for dalit and poor people called “Antyodaya Seva Kendra” and started rural development programmes. Different donor agencies came forward to support us. I have a clear vision of my development work. With some like minded friends like Biranchi Upadhya, Sanjaya Khatua, Chakradhar Mishra, Mab Mishra and Rabi Jena (Sanvodaya worker), we published a magazine named ‘Upakala’ with bi-monthly issues. We started a people’s movement in the name of “Green Coast” for protection of the coastal environment and mangrove forests.
In that time in Rajnagar block, Orissa Government was providing land to refugee Bengalis. In name of providing land to refugees, the government and mafia planned to cut 1200 acres of Sonei-Rupei dense mangrove forests in 1990. The Tehsildar, B.DO and contractors set fire with petrol in the mangrove forest. Our Sabuj Bahini of the Green Coast movement and workers of Antyodaya Seva Kendra protected the forests and stopped the cutting. The Tehsildar of Rajnagar booked our leaders and myself under different charges. I took anticipatory bail but five of our friends stayed in jail for two months. We distributed leaflets – The cry of Sunei Rupei - where we argued that there was no need of land for migrated Bengali people. This was only a political game. This is a great challenge to the Orissa Govt. and political leaders of Kendrapada district. Finally the cutting stopped in Sunie Rupei mangrove forest. At that time we were all ready for any storm in the coastal belt, when waters of the Bay of Bengal comes into villages with high speed cyclonic storms.
We organized an interface workshop on the costal environment and invited senior scientists, social activists, educationalists, NGO friends, environmentalists, etc, but after workshop nobody bothered. In 1999 November a devastating cyclonic storm came affecting 14 districts along the coast, drowning thousands of people, cows, goats into the Bay of Bengal.
When I was involved in issue based people’s movement, some funder disagreed with our work and threatened to stop the support. Internal conflict star ted in the organization and I left voluntarily to take responsibility of local youth.
In 1992 my working partner Srimati Bhagavati started some welfare work among primitive tribes Junga and Bhuyan. She registered that organization in 1994. I was wandering, searching, analyzing evaluating my work - where am I and what direction should I go? I was conflicted and roaming like a mad man for two years within forests, staying with indigenous people, trying to live like and learn their language and understand their problems. I learnt many things which I have not read in books. Day by day, I became friends of the tribal people of Kendujhar. Another eye opened in my heart and I committed myself to work for the tribal people. I saw the land problems and different issues in mining pockets.
1995, Reo Tinto Zinc (RTZ) Limited, a London based company came to Gandamardan OMC iron mines. Cleverly they formed a new company “Orissa Reo Tinto Zinc Mining Company (OMC) Limited”. Very soon an MOU was signed between OMC and RTZ. In the prospective period RTZ would provide technical help, guidelines, testing etc. OMC would bear all expenditure of RTZ person and provide office support. They stared testing by digging a tunnel and taking the iron ore to Australia. They planned for 60 km of Malantolly and Gandhamardan (full of iron ore) to be transported to London over 15 years. RTZ planned to raise the iron one in a mechanized manner. In the prospective period Uparjagan natural stream dried and indigenous people suffered. We organized the tribals and organized a meli (convention). “Adivasi Milita Kriyanusthan Committee” was formed and we are demonstrated against RTZ in the district and block headquarters. We started no cooperation with RTZ people in the village level. The villagers did not allow them to access the mining area. We gave a memorandum to the President, Prime Minister, Governor and against Reo Tinto’s activities. We blocked NH5 and NH215 day after day long demonstration at Sukati and Kendihar town. RTZ was forced to leave Gandhamardan area.
This was the impact of collective leadership and peoples movement where tribals took leadership and faced the Government and RTZ in a non violent struggle. I try to visualize the mining situation of Kendujhar and what is going to happen in 10 to 15 years. I take leaders (men and women) to Badamapara area, where Tata has already completed mining. They see the real situation after mining. The natural streams have dried, forests are destroyed, tribal people have left their native land and migrated to Paradeep and Bhubaneswar to work as daily labour. There are dry destroyed naked hills all around. A good road was built, train line built, good houses constructed by the company, but after taking out all the iron ore, the company left this place, just like an anti-social person after his physical satisfaction, gives some token money to the tribal girl and leaves, not bothered about her future and self-respect.
Currently one hundred and thirty different iron ore mines are operational in Suakati, Baripal and Joda Badabil blocks. We suffer the impacts of increasing air pollution, degraded natural forests, a close-knit mafia has cut down all the sal trees. The natural streams have dried, the ground water is degraded. Agriculture lands and paddy fields are destroyed. There is cultural erosion in the name of civilization. There are unwed mothers and unwanted children, and increasing cases of HIV/STD/AIDS.
17,000 trucks are plying on NH 213 and everyday an accident happens. According the laws for rehabilitation laid down in the mining laws, the peripheral work is not satisfactory and affected people are not getting the benefits.
One RTZ went back, but other companies like RTZ have come in with mining leases. And the tribals have lost all they had – their forests, lands, and their homes.
Against all odds
A Kathyayani, Andhra Pradesh
I was born in Baraddipalli village, Chittoor Dist., which is in the Western part of Andhra Pradesh. My father is a teacher. I hail from a respectable family. After completion of my education in the village I had gone to the nearby town for higher studies and completed my graduation in 1987. Then I searched for a job. Many offers came from cities and towns, but my father refused to send me to faraway places.
In our area there is no opportunity for jobs for youth. There is only a voluntary social service organization named Grama Pragathi Samstha (GPS) providing jobs. I approached them and they appointed me as an additional teacher. I joined there in 1988. I faced some problems in visiting various schools, because there was no transport facility. My father sent my mother along with me to the villages as escort since I was an unmarried girl. That is how my work started. Seeing my hard work and commitment the Secretary promoted me to the office. I got involved in different programmes for women, health, disability and children.
I got married to a colleague in the same organization. While working in GPS I found that they rendered good services for all sections of people but for the disabled they were doing only a few activities. They never thought about their sustainable livelihoods. So I decided to do something for the disabled if any opportunity came. After a few years because of the poor health condition of the Secretary of GPS, the organization was closed. I lost my job and become unemployed.
Through involvement in GPS’ activities I had a good rapport in the villages and I thought that we should register our own organization to render services to the poor and needy.
In 2001, my husband and I registered our own organization named “Rural Small Industries Development Society”. We searched for funding. We struggled a lot to get funds from government and donor agencies. While applying for government schemes it could take a long period for sanctioning. After they send the first installment, they take two years to send the second installment. In the meanwhile, staff cannot be paid and the work also suffers. At such times, we cannot ask them to work and contact with villages is affected too for sometime.
One donor agency sanctioned Rs.100,000 for a six-months training program. They took signatures for the total amount but released only Rs.90,000. It is over three years since then and they have still not released the remaining part.
To get a loan to work with the disabled, we deposited 25% of loan amount with a government institution, as per their requirement. They sanctioned the loan and we repaid the amount in the given period. The condition was that if we repaid the loan amount they would return our deposit. It is over one and a half years since then but there is no sign of repayment.
In the meanwhile we deposited Rs.37,500 for another loan of Rs.150,000. It took over a year to get this amount released. We have spent over Rs. 800 on telephone alone in following up the case. To go the office physically is difficult because it is far from where we stay. We contacted the Director over phone. The Finance Officer asked us why we reported to the Director and also made some comments regarding our programme. We told him that he was welcome to come anytime to see our ongoing programmes. In a week’s time he released the money. Through this we were able to undertake programmes for the self-reliance of disabled persons.
At the beginning we formed fifteen women’s self-help groups (SHG) and linked the groups with banks for getting loans for income generation programmes and also signed on the papers. The government introduced ‘Velugu’ programme and merged the groups and brought them under their control and appointed a volunteer to follow up the activities women groups. They also provided some honorarium to the volunteers. The government changed and the procedures were changed as well. The Velugu authorities did not pay any further any honorarium to the volunteers. Most of the women’s groups became irregular in repayment of their loans. Migration is also to some extent a cause for non repayment of loans. The women’s groups are no longer under our control, but the bank authorities ask me for repayment of the loans. We struggled a lot and asked permission for two months for settle the matter since the women’s group members had migrated. After 3 to 4 visits to the groups the members got together and repaid the loan amount.
Some group members requested us to help their groups in getting loans for income generation programmes with bank linkage. I also realised that we need to take care of staff’s requirements even when our organization faces funding crises,. For this purpose we have provided micro-finance to the staff as a secondary source of income to sustain their livelihood. They are therefore able to do more work and are honest in the activities.
Like while steering a vehicle, one observes backwards, side-wards and moves forward, in the same way we observe what is going on in the field, push the staff for getting good quality work, and move forward in search of funds. For implementing our activities effectively, I often have to act as the manager and as a peon, at times as a project officer and also as a field worker.
We faced a lot of problems in getting licenses and exemptions also. There is a lot of corruption in all offices. In local government offices they cannot pressurize us because of our services to the community, but in dealing with higher authorities we are still struggling.
These are some of the crises grass-root level NGOs facing now days. From my experience, I feel that to get funds from foreign funding agencies is better than to get funds from the government because the foreign funding agencies maintain punctuality in releasing funds and also collect the work from us in a systematic manner.
While facing constraints, we solve the problems of the disabled in society to some extent and bring confidence among them to sustain their lives independently. We also solved the problem of alcoholism in three villages and are slowly motivating farmers to apply organic manure in the agricultural fields in place of chemical fertilizers. Our success, though slow but steady, is the source of our strength.