RID POVERTY & HUNGER IN 50 INDIAN TRIBAL VILLAGES

We at the Earth Trust have been in quiescent mode over the last 2 and a half months. We worked for three weeks in March of this year and since then we have been  waiting. The Nilgiris have been relatively safe. The District Administrators closed all the roads coming up to the hills. Migrant labourers here were amongst the lucky ones, the tea estates and the contractors took care of them.

Our fields have been fallow by default. Which is of course good for them. No farm labourers, no vehicular movement. How does one prioritize between lives and livelihoods? We are indeed passing through and existential crisis moment in the history of our species.

Agricultural activities come under essential services. So we could function. But choose not to. The safety and health of our staff many of whom are single parents - women, came first.

The last village we went to was Kodhumudi. Such a bright bunch of enthusiastic and enterprising village women. We had started a project to teach them to do job-work for another NGO-  in Coimbatore; it involved using bits of cloth,  No- waste principle. The NGO had sent all their left over pieces. They are sitting here at home. We cannot conduct on-line teaching as many of the women do not have smart phones. But the few who do, learnt to make masks and taught others. We asked them  to make masks for their village people and cover only costs. This is going to be the way ahead, inter-dependence and community living . As always it is the women who hold the whole fabric intact.

Our farmers have been calling us and telling us about elephants destroying their crops and produce going waste. The roads have been empty and animals feel safer encroaching. We could not take the risk of exposing our field staff.  We have just started operations in very low-key mode.

As a small NGO, we are having trouble meeting our basic requirements as all available funds have been diverted to the Covid-19 requirements and rightly so.

Gowri a student from Madurai,  interned with us for a month in February/ March. She had finished her first year of her Masters degree in Social Work (MSW), from The American College Madurai. She came she saw and she was conquered! She was brilliant with the school children of Iduhatty, teaching them about Solid-waste management. Not just the kids but the school teachers also enjoyed themselves !

Mukesh our techie turned organic farmer bought a native-breed cow. He named her Keppi after his grandmother who brought him up. Keppi had Kala, who was named after Mukesh's aunt !! The cow-dung of the native cows is far more potent for the soil and for preparing Panchakavya a soil micro-organism enhancer.

Ramani and her husband, - our farming couple from Gudalur brought their first Vanilla harvest- totally organic needless to say. Small events , but ones that keep us going.

Covid-19 has driven home the fact that safe food spells better immune systems. We are getting more and more enquiries from new customers. It will be a good 3 months before we settle down to a new rhythm. 

What is a source of great concern is how to balance lives and livelihoods

Another three months have passed. Our activities at Earth Trust can be summed up by the Zen proverb "Before enlightenment chop wood carry water, after enlightenment chop wood carry water". Before the GG report, go to the current village where our women's programme is being held, visit farmer's fields, collect produce and sell and pay farmers. After the GG report, go to the current village where our women's programme is being held -------------------. As  we often reiterate, our programmes run  throughout the year.

November 2019. The biggest challenge in our Skill Development programme  has been to take the women to the next level of independent functioning. They all knit and crochet garments  wonderfully, their tailoring skills need to improve. But enthusiasm makes up for lack of expertise. We have been telling them that if they learn to follow instructions in English, then they will become independent of Lalitha their teacher. Most of them have smart phones and the internet would open up a whole world of handicrafts for them. They have their own methods of interpreting instructions in Badaga, their language. The only disadvantage in this is that they are able to make garments or sweaters only for themselves. We are ethical middlemen for our farmers produce. We wish to become ethical middlemen for our women's handwork products too. This can happen only if there is standardisation.  Well, Lalitha our teacher, has finally managed to make a small dent. We decided that the women would make Christmas tree decorations . These were small projects the women could finish in an hour's time. The stars managed to look like visitors from a different galaxy, the trees looked like hats and the hats looked like  baby caps!!! BUT, BUT, the women followed instructions in basic English! There was a Christmas sale in Chennai which Lalitha and Jaya attended between 5th and 8th December. Out of 400 pieces made, we were able to sell 250. The rest we gave as gifts to the students from Cornell  University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences who visited us on January 7th. What an achievement for Lalitha our Women's programme Teacher. This is also the first step taken towards identifying and encouraging local leadership. Eventually, one woman will be able to routinely visit and take charge of 4 villages near where she lives. You should remember that these villages are far flung in the Nilgiri Hills.

January is full of festivals, the Harvest festival, the Festival of the Honouring of the cows/cattle used by farmers , Jalli Kattu the Tamilian version of a bull-fight. Basically we celebrate the (apparent) return of the sun from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Equator.

On the 7th of January 2020,, The Cornell-Sathguru Foundation based in Hyderabad organised a visit by 50 Cornell University students to Earth Trust. They were from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. They were accompanied by faculty , Dr. Marie and Dr. Tucker. They were visiting various organisations in the South. Officers from the Agricultural Universities of  Telengana and Kerala also accompanied them. Half of them came to us and the other half went to the Central Wheat Research Station in Coonor. They were given an introduction to the many methods of  farming practices taught by us to the farmers here, including bio-dynamic composting.  We understand that Bio-dynamic farming practices are not taught in Cornell.

We took them to Kengumudi, the village where our women's Skill Development and Health programmes are being run at the moment. The village had a festival dedicated to Hetthai, the mother Goddess. Some of the students joined in the dancing. Basically it has been business as usual for Earth Trust. The one special moment was when Sangeetha one of our trainees called up Lalitha the teacher and told here-'Akka, I made Rs10,000/- from stitching 40 blouses !! She is the mother of a very active 1 year-old !!  What better affirmation  do we need that we are doing the right thing, this programme is not merely about numbers. Thank you , The Earth Trust Team