Last year we had 9 major states of India badly affected by floods and it called for our prompt intervention. Its a common knowledge that floods are devastating and sudden. But when its a flood prone area, constant motivation to adapt and improvise to such disasters is unique. We have come across various such stories of motivation over the years of our work in relief and rehabilitation. Here are few stories from our work in West Bengal..
In a small village named Chousa has a dense population of 800, last year’s flood was the most devastating. They lost an important and only connecting path to reach the river bank. They used river water for their agricultural and other routine activities. More than hundred villagers participated in this activity and also contributed ten bamboos along with fifty sacks for a better support so that in rainy season the soil doesn’t get washed away easily. Now that the connecting path is repaired villagers are relieved about the fact that they don’t have to struggle to get back to the river bank.
In the village of Dhulkumari, in Bankura block, after the people of the village cleaned the pond. And they promise to clean it every year.
The pond had been in regular use, cattle’s drank water from here apart from the daily chores that were done. The pond had a thick layer of water weed, and a dirty smell hovered in the area.
But the picture has changed now..
Kanai village is on the banks of the river Sali. Majority of the population is of the farmers, use simple tools to cultivate fields. Yet theydo not own the lands and gets 40% of the cultivatedfood grains and vegetables from the king of the native village in return. Under cloth for work initiative after flood they decided to work on creating a vermin-compost pit to make their own manure.
Another story is of a specific short cut. Not all short cuts are bad...there are few which actually does more good than harm. This story is about Beheratuli village, where people had to travel an extra 1.5 km to reach their nearest medical facility and school. Because there was no bridge to cross a canal. So with a little motivation from our end, people got together and built a bamboo bridge over the canal. This made their life easy and less time-consuming.
'Cloth for Work' under Rahat-Floods initiative
48 villagers of Gabgaon, Balasore district (Odisha) cleaned a pond in 2 days
We are trying to do our bit by reaching comprehensive winter kits to the most neglected in the far flung and flood hit villages... and thus our need and demand for woolens is much bigger..
At the onset of winter, Goonj has once again launched Odha Do Zindagi (ODZ), its annual winter campaign.
Some more pictures by our team on ground.
Voice from the field...
(Click on the image to view the video)
As on Sept 2nd, 26 big trucks of material with a large quantity of family kits, dry ration, tarpaulins, blankets, utensils, toiletries etc. have been sent from our Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Rishikesh centers .. other centers are also gearing up.
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