Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Kimsar Villages


What I have been up to…

I spent another week or so in the village of Mala Banas. I spent my time between Mala Banas and Kimsar which is nearby where I am doing my first survey work. This time no one was in the NGO office, so I really got to know the village people who work for the NGO. For example, I stayed two nights with Yashoda Devi and her husband in Kimsar. She took me to all three water sources in Kimsar, helped me carry grass on my head, and took me to fetch water. Her family, although they don’t have much money, is pretty well off because they have great land. Her farm is just outside her front door, and she has sufficient land. This means that she does not have to go to the jungle to cut wood or grass. It saves a lot of time and freed her up to take me around to do more interviews in Kimsar.

In Kimsar, I visited all three schools, the hospital, homes, and with the local government. It allowed me to start my village level and household level survey. The schools in Kimsar are unique in that they go up to grade 12. In all the surrounding villages, the schools only go up to grade 5. The students therefore walk from surrounding villages everyday to go to class. In the intercollege (junior/high school), there are about 350 students and only 5 teachers. It seems that the teachers at the school are actually pretty good, highly educated, and care about their teaching. However, there just aren’t enough of them. This school receives some government funding but doesn’t have enough to hire more teachers. However, all the girls at this school attend for free, and grades 6-8 receive free lunch meals daily. The primary school, although the teacher was a very nice man who explained that teaching was his passion, is considered a time pass in the village. Basically, the kids just go there to run around and play. There are about 30-40 students and two teachers. When I visited, there was only one teacher there, and the kids were just running around outside. Interestingly, none of the schools have drinking water. At the primary school, the meal mothers collect water for drinking, making food, and washing dishes. At the intercollege, the water is brought by the ninth graders every day. It takes them about an hour to do this activity.

Many of the households I met with in Kimsar gave me the same story. They were not satisfied with the student-teacher ratio in the schools, they spend too much time collecting water, and the walk to the water source is very steep. When I first began, I was thinking that everyone just needs to have water tapped to their houses. However, after going to fetch water a few times, I am not so sure how this should work. Don’t get me wrong, fetching water from the source is very inconvenient, and going multiple times daily takes a lot of time. However, I think that there is this strong sense of community that results from going and meeting your neighbors at the water source. While you are waiting your turn (because there is only one spout through which the water comes), you chat with your neighbors. You find out what is going on in their lives. I used to think that sharing your room with all your family was a lack of privacy that I could not get over. However, I think that in these villages, everything is your house. The whole community is either related or knows each other, so you can eat almost anywhere. You can walk around, drink chai, chat, sit down, go get water, collect fodder from the jungle, etc. You may not have a front yard, but you have a field, and a lot of open space. This is not the case at all in the cities. There you are living on top of each other. There may be a park in your neighborhood, but you don’t have any freedom to walk around or have that sense of community that is so vibrant in the villages.

I really enjoyed staying with Yashoda and her husband. They were so sweet to me, and Yashoda talks a lot. Therefore, I quickly became comfortable with her. I was able to ask her questions that I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking just anyone. She also got to understand my survey better and was able to rephrase questions when my interviewees did not understand what I was asking. Here is a summary of some of the things we talked about which I found especially interesting:
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      Not surprisingly, there is a strong prejudice against Muslims in this community. There are no Muslims living here, so I think that is the main reason.
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      The caste system is alive and well here. Yashoda explained that because she is of Brahmin caste (the highest) she cannot eat at all her neighbors’ houses. She explained why I was able to eat and drink at certain houses but not at others. Apparently, the heavy labor and farm work was formerly done by these low castes, so it isn’t proper to eat at their houses. Now, these families have no land and are getting by on government rations and employment schemes. Unfortunately, they have not learned how to save their money and use it well, so hunger can be a problem among these families.
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      Yashoda explained how all the work falls on the women here, and that men don’t do much of anything. She is lucky because her husband will actually collect some water and firewood. In addition, he does some of the farm work as well. However, many of the men sit around playing cards and wasting time. They even find it hard to pick up a pot and make chai. (Some do move out of the village to work and on occasion send money home to their families.) The women, on the other hand, are busy from morning to night with household chores. Yashoda had three boys and no girls, so she had to do all the work – washing clothes, making food, cleaning, farming, collecting water, fodder, and wood. This makes at least one girl valuable in the family, but for some reason, boys are still prized. (Many people are surprised when I tell them that there are two girls in my family and no boys.)
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      We had a lot of conversation about the quality of the food in this area. People are eating wholesome meals of vegetables, lentils, beans, rice, roti, and chai. The roti is incredible! It’s made of this black millet called manwa. Almost all of the food comes from the farms – including the milk for the chai. Even the oil is made from mustard seed from the farms. The only things that have to be bought from the market are chai and sugar. Extra spices may be bought from the market to supplement or for special occasions. However, they grow ginger, cumin, turmeric, chili, etc. Everything that is needed comes from the organic farms made from their own hands.

I think that’s a sufficient summary of my work in the villages. I came to visit the farm at Navdanya on Saturday to be with Emily. It’s been really nice to see my friends from the Navdanya staff! I love speaking Hindi with them and actually find it a bit hard to speak so much English. I really enjoy speaking Hindi and have been using it as my only language because Garhwali is still too hard for me.

Best wishes to everyone at home!

Love,

Margaret

P.S. This is impressive. I got 4 pictures to upload!!

Check out the leaves! They are not light!

 The HIMCON team hard at work in Darkot. It was freezing cold and rainy this day. There was even some hail. Thank goodness for my rain pants and rain coat!


We had much better weather in Kimsar. Here I am with Yashoda Devi on her porch over looking her farm.

 Here I am interviewing and having fun in Kimsar!

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