RID POVERTY & HUNGER IN 50 INDIAN TRIBAL VILLAGES

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