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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