Eye Witness: Tsunami update personal perspective
Sabrina Aaronovitch reports from Southern India
First Posted 25/1/2006
It is now over a year since the devastating Tsunami hit the shores of Southern India taking thousands of lives and livelihoods with it. Following the disaster, Action Village India received accounts of the scale of the suffering from its partner organisations in India. In response, AVI supporters gave generously to the Boxing Day Appeal, raising £40,000 over the year.
I was one of twenty AVI supporters who visited the worst affected coastal villages in October 2005. We saw for ourselves the progress being made to rebuild lives and establish sustainable economies within shattered communities. Having never before stepped beyond the limitations of a package holiday when visiting a country outside Europe, this was a unique opportunity for me to spend time with women who live very different lives.
It was an eye-opening experience for me. I had chosen to support Action Village India for a number of years because I liked the way the way they worked. AVI’s ‘partners’ are indigenous organisations who work with the poorest rural communities, supporting economic development, health and education programmes through community action. But no amount of reading and discussion in this country could prepare me for what I learned through direct contact. I came home determined to redouble my efforts in supporting their programmes.
The Indian partners use long-term approaches to community development at the village level. Over several years they support local communities to build their economic base. The approach varies, according to the organisation and the circumstances, but each organisation uses local information and knowledge as the basis for their work. They discuss with local communities the best steps to improve their lives. The community then acquires the skills, knowledge and legal framework to independently sustain the project.
It was Assefa’s work that we saw most of; their support workers accompanied and translated for us. All their programmes start by establishing women’s self-help groups. Over three years Assefa will bring about 3,000 women into these self-help groups. We met a number of these groups, usually in the villages’ meeting places, the small but beautifully ornamented temples. There we were able to ask detailed questions, and found in every case a degree of enthusiasm, optimism and organisation that amazed us.
All of the groups we met operate credit unions; the typical savings for each individual being around £1.50 a month. There is collective agreement on loans to members of the group, and each group also determine the interest rates. As the groups’ financial positions improve, they are able to get matching loans from other sources and their projects become more ambitious. One group was taking a course in veterinary skills; other women were training to give front-line first aid and health care; and yet another group were starting to grow a new cash crop, cashew nuts, from reclaimed land.
We saw how the training, small amounts of financial aid and other support from Assefa turned their ambitions into reality. For example, Assefa organised milk collection from many villages; coolers at collection points and a dairy for testing, packaging and selling milk. Without this infrastructure, families who keep just one or two cows would have no commercial outlet for their milk.
In the huge country that is India, the work of these Gandhian organisations must be a small David pushing against the Goliath of ‘progress’ –the intensification of large scale agriculture; the drift of villagers to the cities, and the growing influence of the multinational corporations. Meeting the village women of Tamil Nadu made me feel that this is not inevitable. If you would like to know more about Action Village India and the organisations it supports, visit their website www.actionvillageindia.co.uk.
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