RID POVERTY & HUNGER IN 50 INDIAN TRIBAL VILLAGES

One of the many concerns that occupy us at Earth Trust is the need to have a 30-year road map to navigate by. Far-fetched and futuristic as it seems, it will act as a base plan to guide our actions now. Climate change predictions, climate-refugees, strained and dwindling natural resources, changing demography, all this has to be factored in. At the core are the women of the world, who have to pick up pieces, hold their families and communities together, keep everything going without falling apart themselves.

One of the first things likely to happen may be the decrease in rural inter-connectivity. The prohibitive costs of transportation as fossil fuels become scarce and therefore more expensive will necessitate a shift in the locus of activity. In the hills here, the basic unit is still the village, hattis as they are known. This long-winded stating of the obvious brings us back to the women and our women’s programmes.

We are now talking to the women about these serious issues. They of-course are only concerned about educating their children and sending them down to the plains to take off on their personal upwardly mobile trajectories. In many hattis, half the houses are empty. What is worrying is the fact that politicians are buying up properties here. This does not bode well for the Nilgiris.

In the meanwhile, as part of our regular women’s programme, we have included the cleaning up of their local water source and planting grass in their wetlands. We work with Cleancoonoor.org, another small passionate NGO involved in restoring grasslands. We are talking of barter of vegetables and have assured them of our help and guidance growing them.

August and September saw a decrease in vegetable production of our farmers because of erratic and unpredictable rains. We are working on trying to get them subsidies or low interest rates to put up small green houses. Our customers patiently wait for things to improve because they too support our mission. Shivakumar, in charge of our resource farms went off to Madurai to go on to the next level of AHA (International) training. Sanjay our farm outreach Supervisor stepped in beautifully.

The Women’s skill development programme has been successful in imparting knitting, tailoring and crochet skills in Kattabettu and Billicombai villages over the last three months. Many of these women though are still dependent on the teacher-Lalitha, to tell them-Now do this , next do that etc. It has been our ongoing efforts to help them follow instructions in English. This would make them independent and open up the whole world of internet patterns to follow. We should not forget that the smart phone in India is very affordable.  Finally, finally, this is happening. Our efforts to make them form small groups in far flung villages are bearing fruit. What is interesting is how one woman exhibits natural leadership qualities.  This Is also part of our long-term strategy to develop local leadership.  We are teaching them to make Christmas tree ornaments as these projects are small and they are slowly learning to follow patterns. Later, in Chennai, for the first time, we are going to be part of a yearly December sale. For the sake of these women we hope the whole venture will be a success. So, for the last fortnight, they have been happily making Christmas bells in improbably bright colours and sizes. The colour combinations leave us speechless but their enthusiasm is infectious!! 

Au revoir for now, and wish our women luck.

Thank you,

The Earth Trust Team