(Report from Natpurwa, September, 2005. Translated by Anjali)
Respected Melli Didi,
Hansa Didi, Harish Bhai, Pingali Didi, Sirish Bhai namaskar.
Being well and fine, I hope you are doing well also. I am sending you this report from the Natpurwa Project.
In this period, the Natpurwa school has seen an increase in the number of children. Every day 80-85 children attend school, of which all the classes run separately, side-by-side. At this time two new teachers have joined us, their names are as follows:
1) Narendraji
2) Bikkuji
Narendra, Bikku and Mamta together teach the children in the school. The teachers together with the children initiated a tree-planting scheme. The children have been taught that just as the trees grow so shall they and their understanding grow.
A definite positive development in the Natpurwa school has been that the children have learned to read. It may be slow still, however, it has supported their self-confidence. For next year we are thinking of starting the classes 6-8. Narendra, one of the new teachers, lives in Natpurwa itself. His mother had once lived in a brothel, she sent him to high school. Because of monetary constraints he could not study further. Bikki has studied up to M.com. Bikki’s mother made a lot of effort to have Bikki educated. Bikki’s mother worked in a neighbouring village called Barahi. There she worked as a washerwoman and low-ly laboror to educate him. She still does the same work today. We hope here that Bikki will be successful, I praise him regularly. Bikki is teaching in the Natpurwa as of now. I hope that in this year the Natpurwa school will prosper because it now has three teachers putting in a lot of effort.
This school is located at 3 km from Natpurwa. Durgeshji is
teacher at this school. The number of students is between
20-25. This school runs from morning
This school was started this year in July (2005). On the request of the villagers a teaching center has been started here. The student number here lies between 25-30. The teacher in this school is Ram Babu. This village lies a little farther from Neerakhera. The majority of the students in this school are girls. A local labour association/union is being formed in this village.
Shri Niwasji teaches at this school. He has been sent to teach at this school for the reason that the children attending this school shall benefit to the fullest of the government help/aid. It was in this school that earlier the issue of deducting Rs.50.00 per child from their total grant had arisen. Now this is not of the issue anymore.
S.H.G. Group Natpurwa
It will be almost one year since this group was formed. Now the idea is formed to assist each woman to find work in her specific field of talents/capabilities. This group meets each month, discusses and revies the issues of the village and decides/deliberates on specific village related disputes.
It was the women’s group that decided on the marriage of Kanchan.
The Panchayat at Sikarori
This year quite a bit went on in the Panchayat elections. We attempted vigorously and consistently to remove the man from the Panchayat who had appointed his servant to run the in the panchayat elections fom him as the Pradhan. This year when the elections came we supported a man from our village who ran in the elections. His name is Pinku. Most of the people in my village are of the Nat-jati and the surrounding villagers consider the Nat-jati people to be beneath them. Everyone was represented at the elections. The Nat representative will not be allowed to become Pradhan, though. From the Panchayat of Sikarori four people had stood to be elected as Pradhan: Hari Karan, Hari, Atal and Pinku. Hari Karan, Hari and Atal agreed amongst themselves that a Nat would not be chosen as the Pradhan. These three worked together and Pinku had to fight the elections on his own, which unfortunately caused him to lose the elections. I don’t know when the people of this Taluk will stop thinking of those beneath them.
6th August (Shanti Diwas)
The 6th of August Shanti Diwas was celebrated
together with all the children from each class. The members of the village
Taluk, along with children from
Raksha Bandhan Festival
This year’s Raksha Bandhan festival at Natpurwa was quite momentous. Women and girls from this village have not been well regarded and therefore were not in demand to have a Rakhi tied by them. This year on Raksha Bandhan the women tied rakhi on Sandeep Bhai and Sandeep Bhai accepted all the women and girls as his sisters. They in turn acknowledged him and several of his co-workers as their brothers. None of the women and girls asked for anything other than that they be respected and acknowledged. All the village children and elders enjoyed this event very much. Every villager attended this ceremony.
Assorted Assistance
Along with these programs we give assorted aid/assistance to
the people of the village. Whether they are from our village or not, even if
they call by phone for help we go there and help/do whatever we can. Recently
in
North Section Organized Protest
In this village panchayat there are about 500 men who are
willing to do any given job at any time. If the government office does not
agree with our request or listen to our request, then these men are ready to
protest at once in order to help us achieve notice. On
Your younger brother, Neelkamal