Always read between the lines!

I don’t really know where to begin about what has happened over the past week, days roll all too easily into the next and sense of time goes completely out the window!

Things are good thou, actually things are very good. I went to town I’d not been to before today to conduct a meeting with HRFDL (Human Rights Forum for Dalit Liberation). These guys are a big organisation who work under another organisation called NCDHR (National Commission for Dalit Human Rights http://www.dalits.org). I’ve wanted to meet or to talk to these guys since starting on the project with Terry as I saw on the internet some statistics which to me indicated that they already have been out in the field collecting information about the tsunami affected Dalit population. They’re basically an advocacy group who raise awareness and try and get the position of Dalit’s elevated.

In a place called Nagapattinam, the most affected region of Tamilnadu, an NGO coordination centre has been established. About 500 NGOs are registered with it. Terry and I visited there to see if any other organisations are working with the Dalit communities, and we found the answer to be no. It was pretty surprising that there were all these top NGO people, who knew about the situation of Dalits (that the fishermen have prevented aid from reaching them, and that government has illegal exclusion policies etc) but still there had been nothing done. We were asked to work as part of the coordination centre, coordinating all Dalit NGO’s efforts. It’s more work for us, but of course we agreed. It’s so important to be working together for a problem of this magnitude. After spending a few days there this week, we got to learn of member’s agenda’s . We’ve decided to keep our distance slightly and only tell them things about us which are necessary. Because the waters were over fished pre tsunami, and the fishermen have now been given massive trawlers and replacement boats, it is the intention of some to give fishermen the chance for an alternative livelihood. This is going to damage our project as the fishermen take away the market we had hoped to tap into. We need to keep an eye out on these pro-fishing guys.


So today Terry stayed at home today writing a report we got to get finished. We didn’t get back from the NGOCC until pretty late last night, and driving on the roads takes quite a lot of mental effort. Driving at night isn’t so fun for the driver, and last night was even worse as we got heavily rained on. In India there is a road hierarchy, where anything on 2 wheels is ranked pretty low. Driving at night, you’re blinded as all vehicles, buses, lorries cars etc drive with their main beams on. Also in many places the road is only paved enough for one large vehicle, so when you’re approached by one hurtling towards you the other way, you have to get off the road quick or face being hit. Problem is, that the distance from the tarmac to the compressed mud/sand on the other side can be pretty steep, and there’s been no nice rounding of edges in the way of a curb, the road simply jaggedly stops, and then you’re off on to undulating banks. I have decided to scrap my idea of getting a motorbike here, as it is my intention to make it home alive!

Anyway, I travelled by bus today to Maylidudarathi to meet with seniors from NCDHR and HRFDL to pitch our idea of giving micro-enterprise opportunities to Tamilnadu’s coastal Dalit population. These Dalit’s we are concerned about are in a pretty bad way as they worked either as labourers for the fisher folk or agriculture labourers. Well, at present the fishermen still aren’t fishing, although many now do have replacement boats, but for the agriculturalists things will take a lot longer to resume to normal. The land has been contaminated by salt water, killing all crops and rendering the land uncultivatable. The government, as always here is being slow, useless and totally inefficient. They are supporting plans to use a chemical called gypsum to reclaim the land. However, gypsum is expensive and can take up to 3 years for full reclamation and harvestable crops to be grown. We have been talking to agriculture NGOs who have an organic method which is 1/10 of the cost and will take 6 months for reclamation. Anyway, we’ll see what happens with that, but either way these Dalit’s are out of a job, and will be for the unforeseeable future. It really doesn’t help matters that the fishermen have been preventing aid and food parcels from reaching them. That’s just tight!
We got shouted at by an angry drunk Dalit last week. It’s pure frustration on both sides, they have nothing to do and very little money. At least in favour of the Dalit’s fewer lost their homes, so they still have a bit, but it’s running out fast or already has. But the men are a bit of a problem they are increasingly turning to incredibly cheap, strong locally produced liquor. It’s interesting to get the opinions of a drunk man thou, they’re painfully honest.

Oh, another thing to quickly mention. Don’t buy prawns from India. Prawn farming is illegal here, unless you can afford to bribe the authorities that is. Masses of land have been, and are being transformed into prawn farms. They take up a lot of land, and the chemicals used seep out killing the surrounding land. It’s good money for the owner, but is very low labour intensive. Dalit’s, as they can’t afford transport have to work local. It’s a bit hard when all nearby land is being bulldozed up to create giant prawn farms. If you’re one of the 5 employees, you’re alright, but the land and surroundings are killed, and in an area that could employ 40 agriculturalists, just 5 will get their Rs.50 (62p) daily wage.

I’ve probably explained before, but Terry and I, now to be known as Project SSED, India. SEED standing for Sustainable Enterprise and Educational Development ( we thought we’d have more credibility with a name a business card!), will be working with Dalit communities all along the affected Tamilnadu coast line, giving food for work programmes, and facilitating any feasible micro-enterprise ideas the Dalits have. But first there are fundamental issues which need to be addressed. It’s most likely that it’ll be a couple of months before the Micro-enterprises can launch, and by that time if things continue the way they are it is likely we will have no one to work as the populations succumb to starvation and heat exhaustion. HRFDL are working with 175 NGOs who have already identified all hamlets and have details on each one. We will be working with and through them to implement our projects. It was pretty cool that I got to meet the seniors on my own and plug our pitch to them. They were pretty impressed with our plan and were totally supportive. We have a meeting set up for Monday to go through all their data and then on Tuesday we’ll be meeting with about 200 villagers! Representatives from some villages self-help groups (SHGs) to get full info on what their immediate / critical needs are. We have the potential to be working in 200 villages in 14 districts. I don’t know how many people that is, but it’s quite a few tens of thousands.

I hate asking for money, but a money transference to me will be so much quicker than going through the proper channels of requesting funds. We hope to start work next work giving relief provisions, 3 months after tsunami!!! If you’re in a position to help out, please e-mail me for details. Thanks. I have ₤500 from my parent’s church and ₤275 already from friends, which is fantastic, but of course, more is always needed.

So aside from work things, not much has really happened as there’s no time. We’re working 7 days a week and for pretty much all day hours. Terry and I are still getting on well despite spending ALL our time together! We’ve only had a few hours off in the past 2 weeks, and that was due to power failure. I thought I wouldn’t be seeing rain until the start of the rainy season in October. Well for about 4 days it belted down, flooding places and filling in ditches to create new ponds. The temperature has dropped significantly, to below 30C (just) but I have been warned as soon as the skies are blue again, we should expect temperatures to hit 40C! I am still often reminded of my inappropriate clothing, in that I wear vest tops, but I will not cover up. Miss all this tanning opportunity?, I think not! It’s way too hot anyway. I don’t know how they women here fail to melt. Under a sari is a hidden wind proof underskirt and Muslim women wear saris’ then wrap something similar to a king-size bed sheet round them. There’s so much material!

Alright. Time to stop rambling, Sorry I’ve written so much without having much content. I just wanted to say that things are pretty good, for myself and Project SEED and hopefully in the not too distant future the Dalits!

Hope things are good with you all too. Apologies again for the lack of personal e-mails, but I’m only coming to an internet place weekly and don’t have so much time to spend here. But don’t stop e-mailing me thou. I’ll try and do a big catch up as soon as I can!

Missing you all
Love Ruth xxx