Harvesting the paddy

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday picnic

I spent a couple of days at a Tribal Convention organised by SPREAD for the adivasis (tribal people) to give them the chance to talk about their issues, what they are doing about them and perhaps more importantly to celebrate their culture.  When you have a big group of people gathering, food is very important.  I hung over the cooks while they were preparing the food, a mixed veg curry, dali and rice.

First prepare your vegetables.

Make sure that the cauliflower is chopped into florets so that all veg is a similar size.

Put the prepared vegetables to one side.

Put a little oil into a pan.

First fry your onions until brown.

Add a little chopped garlic

and crushed ginger and fry until slightly browned.

Add a little ready prepared spice.

Then add the prepared vegetables and 2 measures of split peas.

Add salt to taste

Add a little water and stir well.

Leave to simmer for several hours, adjusting the temperature if necessary.

Take care to use an oven glove to prevent you from burning yourself.

Prepare the rice

and serve on disposable plates.

Back from Delhi

I had a trip to Delhi this week, only the second time I've been out of Koraput since I arrived here in August.  I went to a VSO conference to discuss ongoing VSO strategy but it was great to be able to meet most of the other volunteers, many of whom I only new by name and email, catch up with some of the people who arrived in India at the same time as me and to meet the new group of volunteers who are currently attending the in-country orientation.

It was lovely to meet everyone and spend a few days comparing notes, enjoying luxuries like hot showers and having food cooked for us.  The trouble with Koraput is that it's such a long way from anywhere it's easy to feel pretty isolated but getting together with other volunteers occasionally helps to remind me that I'm not alone.  It also gave me the opportunity to do a bit of shopping and buy a few essentials, like more malaria tablets. soya sauce, decent vinegar to replace the stuff on my shelf mouthwateringly described as "glacial acetic acid" (sounds delicious doesn't it?).  Oh, an copious supplies of toilet paper as my local supplier had failed to make the promised delivery materialise.

The conference was really interesting and came up with some scary statistics.  Some of them I'd heard or read before but it is good to be reminded of the reason we are working in India.

• The Indian government spends around 1% GDP on public healthcare.  Compare that to around 5% spent by the US or over 8% spent by the UK.
• 28% of the Indian population are officially below the poverty line (total population over 1.1bn)
  
• 80% of Indians live on less than 20 rupees per day
• 35-40% of Indians can't read or write
• 50% of Indians are less than 25 years old and many are disconnected with the realities of the country and unaware of the issues faced by large sectors of the population.  There are also many who are passionate about doing what they can to improve things in India - part of our discussions revolved around what VSO can do to encourage and support youth volunteers, using their energy and innovation to address some of the issues here in India.

There were many more statistics and we had some inspirational speakers and it was a privelage to be able to listen to some of them and take part in the discussions.

The journey to Delhi was a long one.  15 hours on the overnight train from Koraput to Bhubaneswar, a couple of hours waiting for the train to Delhi, arriving around 24 hours later, getting to the VSO office around midday Monday feeling distinctly crumpled and somewhat smelly wearing the same clothes I'd put on Saturday morning.  I was in 3 berth sleeper coaches, allocated to the bottom tier.  The guy in the middle tier was obviously tired and asked me if he could make up his bed during the afternoon.  It didn't feel right to say no, he looked so shattered but this meant that the back of the bottom tier was raised to become the bed of the middle and I was hunched up underneath, unable to sit properly for the rest of the day and my back started to seize up into an attractive, uncomfortable hump.

Later in the evening, a man asked me if I'd mind moving to the adjacent coach so that he and his wife could both be in the section that I was in with the rest of their family.  This was no problem for me as I was travelling alone and it did at least mean I might be able to sit up properly.  The man's companion grabbed my bag and carried it through to the next coach and then demanded baksheesh from me.  I don't mind tipping staff on trains and in restaurants if they've done a good job but didn't feel much inclined to pay out any money when it wasn't me that wanted to move.  A bit of an argument ensued but the 7 young men in my new section of coach came to my aid and saw him off.  Unfortunately one of them rather spoiled my gratitude by dropping a rather large backpack off the top tier which came crashing down on my head.  A good aid to an already aching neck and shoulders.

The  trip home was easier as I flew back to make sure I got to Koraput on time to set out on a field trip on Saturday.  Unfortunately this meant I had to get up at 4am to get a taxi to the airport for my early morning flight.  Another taxi was waiting for me at Vishakapatnam  airport, sent by my NGO to whisk me back to Koraput, only 4 hours away.  It was probably pretty easy for him to spot me and M, the only 2 white women coming out of the airport but he carried a sign so that we could spot him among all the other waiting drivers.  I've seen a few variations of the spelling of my name but this was the first time I'd come across this one:  "Hellary".  I'm not convinced it will catch on.

A tale of two more children

This lad has locomotor disabilities, his club feet making walking almost impossible and clawed hands preventing him from grasping and holding things.  He needs surgery.   He is only 4 years old, a good age for surgical procedures to start as his health is reasonable and he is young enough to learn to walk and use his hands.
SPREAD has been working with his parents who were not fully aware of what could be done to support him and improve his chances in life.  Their support worker has explained the process for getting the treatment he needs so badly, giving them moral and practical support advising them of their rights, to get to medical centres,  helping them to fill out forms, translating at the surgeries and advocating the rights of the child.  He has a good chance if he can get the surgery he needs but there is still the problem of finding the funds needed to get him through all the treatment.

This girl is blind.  She was born with cataracts.  Her family were devastated  and their first instinct was to feel that she was no good, adding to the burden of their already tough lives. The family has been given lots of support and advice by their support worker to help them come to terms with their changed lives.  The girl has been given therapy and learning materials to help her develop and assistance to get the health check-ups and health-care she needs to stay healthy and attain a reasonable quality of life.  She's now a valued member of the family and enjoying life.

A beautiful couple

I want to tell you about a couple that I met on my visit to the SPREAD project with people with disabilities, somewhere out in the field near the border with the state of Chattisgarh.  They were a striking looking couple, full of smiles and looking after a couple of the children who had come to the meeting.

Both the man and the woman are mentally impaired, have  locomotor disabilities and problems with their hearing and speech.

SPREAD has been helping them attain their legal rights and providing them with vocational training. They now earn income through activities such as leaf plate making using forest products.  These plates are commonly used in this part of India, providing a cheap and clean way to serve food, completely disposable and biodegradeable and more important (for me, anyway!) - no washing up!

A tale of three children

There seems to be a high incidence of cerebral palsy (CP) here in this part of India compared to the UK.  I don't have the statistics for this area - this will be gathered sometime but is not yet availalbe - but seems to be higher than normal.  I can only guess why - it could be malnutrition during pregnancy, little or no medical support during childbirth, early motherhood - plus plain statistical risk.
CP comes in many different forms and levels of disability, from very mild through to very severe.  It can affect motor control, cause paralysis, problems with hearing and sight and a variety of other problems.  It can affect people's quality of life and may reduce life expectancy in the more severe cases.

This lad - who does have a name but I don't want to invade his privacy any more than I already am - is 5 years old and lives with his parents.  He has little motor control in is left side, his limbs flailing when he tried to do things.  SPREAD made a frame to go round a large piece of paper, with lots of coaxing and practice he learned to keep his drawing inside the box.  The box was then made smaller and smaller until he had a box only a a few centimetres wide.  It's helped him to improve his motor control and  his ability to do basic survival techniques like feeding himself.  He is now learning to read and write.

This lad has CP and is quadriplegic.  He has spasticity in his hands and couldn't hold a pencil.  SPREAD has been working with him, doing simple things like adapting his pencil by wrapping it in cloth to make it big enough for him to hold and giving him lots of support and encouragement.  He now goes to school and is learning alongside other children without disabilities. 

This girl is 12 years old.  She has CP, is quadriplegic and has problems with sight and speech.  She is being helped to learn some basic activities to help her look after herself.  She can now sign her name and do some basic calculations.  She seemed to be really enjoying herself  and was playing hide and seek with me and my camera.




Much of the work that SPREAD does with children with disability is educating the parents as much as the children, trying to help them come to terms with having a disabled child in their family.  Advice, guidance and practical support is provided to help them claim any legal entitlements to education, health and food support from the government.  It's hard to find out what you are entitled to if you are unaware of your rights, can't read, can't write, can't sign your name  and can't afford the fare to get to the official offices.  Support workers will accompany them to see officials and to courts, providing advocacy and encouragement, helping them with the forms and translating for them as most only speak their tribal language.

Along with this goes the all-important moral support needed to help parents anywhere in the world to come to terms with having a child with disabilities, helping them to see the value in getting their child an appropriate education and aids to living a reasonable life.

It put a few things into perspective for me when I met these people.

A day at the office

This week has been an interesting one in Koraput.  The parab (festival) started on Monday for 3 days this week.  The parab is a celebration of culures from across India with stalls selling crafts (many produced by self-help groups), promoting the work of NGOs and singing, dancing and music going on into the night.  In fact all through the night.  Loudly.  It was held at The Stadium here in Koraput, a large playing field that is usually used for playing football and other athletic activities, seen here from my roof.  It's only about 5 minutes walk from my house so the activities were very audible at home.  My friend and fellow VSO volunteer J came to stay with me for a few days from Kolkata.  J spent 2 years working in Koraput and decided to escape the noise and bustle of Kolkata to the rural tranquility of Koraput.  She was sadly mistaken.  We did not get much sleep.

A group of Scandinavian ambassadors visited Koraput, partly to see this part of the country and the problems that are hard to appreciate when reading about them and also to visit the parab.  They joined us in our office yesterday afternoon for a presentation of SPREAD's work partly funded by one of these nations and to discuss what is being done to address the issues faced by the tribal communities to gain a better understanding.  I've never been given ambassador's calling cards before. 

The session seemed to go very well, generating some interesting questions and discussions. 

The only problem with this sort of visitor is that they come accompanied by large groups of security personnel, not often seen here in Koraput.

Relaxing after the visitors had moved on

A pictorial entry

Gopal, one of the field-workers, in his home

Rama checking in the meeting attendees

A wonderfully expressive face.  He looked really at peace

Isn't she beautiful?

 

Cha wallah - he made very very good cha

 

Rice grain being carried off the paddy fields. It looks heavy but he was almost running down the track

 

Cows, sheep & goats complete with herders

 

Papaya

 

Friends