Assorted livestock and clubs for elderly, farmers and young men...

January 9^th

 

A full schedule today so we were at RUHSA office early to meet with Jeffers – a training officer, who also takes responsibility for the stall-fed goat project. He turns out to be a very enthusiastic and informative chap who communicates well in English. He showed us the goats, a group of about twenty, housed in a hut which is raised up from the ground and protected all round (previously two goats found a way to escape and got bitten by dogs and one of them subsequently died) They were busy devouring leaves from branches of bushes grown specially for this purpose by the Self Help Group (SHG) women who have the care of the goats. Jeffers explained about the mixed diet they are fed. Two nanny goats and their two kids were being kept in a separate stall – until the kids are big enough to survive the rough and tumble of the group. It is not the wide open countryside, but we felt that nonetheless they do have room to move about and their conditions are very healthy. 20% of the profit from this project, which is supported by FOV UK, goes towards paying for the centres for the elderly also supported by this group. 

Curry dinner for the pigs

Jeffers then took us to see three very pretty Jersey-cross dark brown cows which the SHG have bought and are rearing as their own initiative. They have also recently started with two pigs, and they have a large batch of small chicks being reared. The pigs were deeply unattractive, I have to say, as they were desperate for food and squealing loudly because they could smell it on its way. Intriguing to see that their meal was scraps left over from our delicious rice and curry meal eaten yesterday in the canteen! Would the pork taste of curry we wondered…

Time then to mount our trusty old bikes (saddles not getting any softer with each passing day) and wobble sweatily over the railway level crossing to Kavanur. Here there is a centre for the elderly which is funded by FOV Sweden, opened in 2014. It has twenty members, of whom seventeen were present that day, sixteen women and one chap. We were met there by several RUHSA staff including Dr Beshwari, Dr Rita’s deputy, because it was the day for giving out the Christmas gift of saris/ dotis, from the CMC staff charity fund ( see above re our Pachaikili centre gifts) They seemed like a very lively bunch we thought, full of chat and smiles for the camera.

 Ellamma

We were introduced to Ellamma, who for fifteen years was the ayah to Daleep’s children (Daleep was the first Director and the inspiration behind RUHSA) With his family she travelled to Nagpoor then to Delhi and Geneva, as he changed jobs. I have heard Daleep and his wife Azra talk in glowing terms about her and his children loved her of course. She has had an extraordinary life (like a novel, I think). She was married at 9 to a man of 50 and had her first child at 13. The marriage lasted thirty years. Then after rearing her children she became ayah to Daleep’s family. In her old age Daleep was anxious to provide for her (she had four children one of whom took his own life) so he bought a house for her in Kavanur, her old home. However, she lived there with her son and his wife and the wife disliked her very much, so wanted to get rid of her. In order to do this she threatened suicide many times; so that in the end Ellamma left the house and now lives alone in a small rented place. Daleep still sends money for her each month, and Matthew at RUHSA ensures that she is given it. 

The brand new balwadi building

There is a government nursery (balwadi) next to this centre, and we are wondering if they might be able to begin to interact, maybe just for a fixed time each day. When we suggested it to the elderly they were immediately all smiles. We then walked over to see the new balwadi (the Tamil Nadu government has recently provided a new building here as part of a programme to improve all balwadi provision in the state). It looks lovely and bright and airy and there were some playthings in evidence. The new teacher is young and keen and has been given 25 days of training by the state. I began to see great opportunities for this teacher and others in the area coming to see the work of our Pachaikili teachers and learning from them; and maybe the development of better toys and materials. We had this dream years ago but it never came to anything. However the time may now be ripe for this. We mentioned the possibility of mixing with the elderly and again the response was very positive. Go on Sally, said the RUHSA man, Matthew, you must speak to Dr Rita, get her permission and then we must speak to the district collector to get their go- ahead too. Mmmn, I thought, well we’ll see how that goes…Turns out some people from FOV Sweden are also due at RUHSA next week, so we can chat them up about this too. Matthew suggested that we could think about providing snacks for the children and elderly to share. Andy started doing big rupee money sums…Incidentally when I mentioned to Dr Bishwara that they seemed a happy and engaged group of elders, he said that he had been present when the group was inaugurated and this was far from the case at that time. They have observed, at RUHSA, that in all the groups there is a real improvement in well- being that membership of the group and being able to interact every day with others brings. 

 Grateful for sari gifts. Don't you just LOVE this lady's face!

Next stop on our progress this hot and busy day was Kavasamanpet, about a kilometre further on from Seetaramanpet where Pachaikili is, for a centre for the elderly which caters for 25. This one is funded by FOV UK. We arrived just in time to delay their lunch, poor things, but they were very welcoming nonetheless. Again there were only four men in the group. Matthew suggests that the preponderance of women in the groups is because the women bear the brunt of the emotional burden in the family, so are the most grateful to get away from the family for a time to be with peers. (So that’s the same the world over, I guess) Also statistically of course women live longer than men. Here the group grow some vegetables at the back of the building- we saw a large pumpkin patch; but green beans have been less successful because the monkeys have stolen them! They showed us some of the traditional games they play. When asked about activities they said they began with a prayer, then did some exercises, then played games and sang songs/ interacted/ had arguments!

 A traditional game

One of the men who was very lively told us that there is a problem with water supply and therefore with toilets. There is a pipe and a tap to the building but the water from the village supply does not reach them. This is because other families have attached motors to their pipes, further up the line. So they will have to have a motor too. We need to flag this up to RUHSA/ FOV. After they had eaten, and we had said no no we would not be taking their rations, thank you (again the imperative to give us hospitality), one of the men started to sing and drum and do a dance. He used to be an actor/ performer. He was still very full of beans and very enthusiastic. Then another chap started to sing and bang the tambourine and the other chap danced whilst all the women joined in singing and clapping. A very jolly farewell to a jolly visit! We were at last able to cycle off, because the puncture which had afflicted Andy’s bike en route had been repaired by a helpful man in the village.

On the way out of Kavasamanpet Sekar stopped us to show us where a group of men were feeding sugar cane into a machine before putting the crushed pulp into a hot vat, to make the sugary jagaree sweet. I am always terrified of the boiling sugar, but we were given a taste of jagaree fresh cooled out of the pan. We kid ourselves we need the sugar for energy in the heat, but plainly this is nonsense!

Cooled Jagaree rolled into balls. It is sold by the growers for sweet- production in the nearby town.

 

After too little time horizontal on our beds resting, it was 5 o clock and time to set off for a village called Nagel, to meet with a farmers’ club and a boys’ youth club. At least it was too far for the bikes so comfy RUHSA transport was arranged. When we arrived the group of farmers were waiting for us and had brought their cows to meet us too! This is another FOV UK funded scheme and so far has had some excellent results. Farmers have to form the group first of all- all of them must be depending on agriculture and have only a small amount of land, so that they are the most needy. They have to prove over several weeks that they do meet regularly and keep good accounts and only then is the loan for the first five cows given. Originally they were given Rs 20,000 each, but then they had to borrow a further Rs 10,000 from elsewhere as a good 3 year old cow costs around Rs30, 000 (approx. £300); so now the loan is Rs 30,000 per farmer. Within a fairly short while, with the regular income from milk, they are able to repay the loan which is then handed on to the next farmer in the club. They are also then likely to have a calf (which hopefully will be a female!) The government provides a service for insemination and it is only Rs10 per insemination. Again, as with the goat project at RUHSA, 20% goes back to FOV to help fund projects for the elderly. Since this project started in 2012, there are six Farmers’ clubs and 55 men have had loans for cows. The women may, incidentally, do a lot of the looking after of the cow, but there are no Farmers’ clubs for women as yet. Culturally it would never be acceptable to have women and men together in a club, of course. 

Us with the Farmers' club in Nagel

After lots of posing for  photos of beautiful cows with their proud owners, we were introduced to the Boys’ Youth club, also based in Nagel. The group leader turns out to be the son of the leader of the Farmers’ club. It is called the Abdul Kallam club, after a former president of India. The idea behind the project is to gather groups of young men who are in their mid-teens and to offer them a club where they can play the sports which they really love (cricket, volley ball and the traditional Tamil game of Kabbadi). Then when they are gathered and the club becomes a real group with some cohesion the leader introduces discussions and speakers, who are trying to motivate the boys to continue in education, to see the value of planning for their futures rather than just taking any job to earn money but which won’t give them a secure future or any kind of satisfaction. We had a lively conversation with these young men and Serendar, the RUHSA coordinator for the group, asked us to say something to them to give them some inspiration, so we did our level best! Two of them are keen drummers and they gave us a very loud and energetic performance. Time at last, after some ghastly ‘selfies’ with the handsome lads, to say thanks and farewell and climb back into the vehicle for the ride home. All in all, an eventful and very inspiring day. 

After many years of drought locally the recent torrential rains have made it possible for the farmers to plant paddy again. Everywhere we see women toiling, bent from the waist, transplanting seedlings in the muddy water.