RID POVERTY & HUNGER IN 50 INDIAN TRIBAL VILLAGES

THE EARTH TRUST (ET) REPORT OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 2022

 Safe food through sustainable agriculture 

and

Womens Programme For Optimal Health through Skill Development

October being breast cancer month, ET conducted two awareness   programmes as part of its optimal health initiative among rural women.

One of them was at Bearhatty attended by our own trainees and other women from the village. It was attended by 25 women. The other was in collaboration with another NGO Clean Coonoor at the Coonoor Waste Resource Management Centre attended by 40 women who work at the centre to segregated Coonoor’s solid waste and convert wet waste from the market into compost. Both sessions gave women an opportunity to ask sensitive questions and understand the disease better and detect it early. The success of these breast cancer awareness programmes has created a demand for them among other women’s groups and we hope to hold them year round and not just in October so that the reach is far greater.

In November herbal remedy class was taught at Bearhatty by Dhanalakshmi our student from the previous village. They are the practical lessons of the health classes which were taught by one of the Bearhatty trainees.

ET was also represented at the annual national Kisan Swaraj Sammelan (farmer freedom meet) at Mysuru. This was an opportunity to network with 3000 farmers, seed savers, safe food activists, experts and others and to tell them the story of the Earth Trust journey in the Nilgiri Hills.

Our programme ended with the certificate day at Bearhatty in early December where students expressed their gratitude for skills and knowledge imparted. The function was attended by the village headman, ET trustees, the Panchayat president and relatives of the trainees. Three trainees were awarded a cash prize for demonstrating leadership at the local level. We also distributed rooted saplings of herbs grown on our Biodynamic farm.

Our next three month women’s programme was inaugurated at Jagadala at a space donated by the Coonoor Panchayat for the purpose. Again ET’S rapport with village heads and decision makers at the community level makes all this happen.

Later in December, ET was part of the Nilgiri Wild Food Festival organised by the Nilgiri Foundation and Keystone Foundation. We had a display of our farmers’ produce at one of the events and provided vegetables to meals curated by well-known chefs. Produce from our small farmers were appreciated at the chef’s table events held at local restaurants as a fundraiser for SPCA and The Nilgiri Foundation. This event was widely covered by the press and social media platforms and the year ended for ET on that happy note!