It is all happening because of you

We joined a group of relief providers and set off for an unknown destination deep within the Sunderbans in end June, over a month after Aila struck the area and paralysed life for numerous villages and communities in the Sunderbans. We contributed some money towards the cause, and wanted to be caring enough to ensure that the foodstuff reaches the people that need it. But we were then thinking of a one-time support.

It all changed when we reached the destination where these villagers lived. We saw the condition of Chargheri & other southern villages of Satjelia. Each of the then-unformed PAKT group showed vocal / silent support to continuing the effort to supply basic food assistance to these severely affected people. To give them something to fill their bellies after their livelihood was put on hold for 2 years, and ALSO to show them a ray of hope, "to reassure them that not everyone beyond that floating horizon of the tidal waters has forgotten about them" (as we put it in our first blogpost).

We went to you with an extended plan to support these people for next few months with food relief. The basic plan was to pick up a social unit of people and supply them with bare minimal nutrition for the next months, at least till Sep'09. All of us subsequently speculated on the specific locations to lend our services to, and agreed that the devastated families of Chargheri & other four villlages (Santigachhi, Bidhan Colony, Lahiripur, Porosmoni) were as much deserving of assistance as people of other Aila-devastated areas in the Sunderbans. Then we discussed the number of people we had to support as a social unit and the quantity of rice per head that we could supply on an extended basis (was it too less to have any meaning?). We formed PAKT and re-visited the original speculative head count and rice quantity against the funds that we practically expected from within the group (PAKT) and their well-wishers - all of you - based on personal commitments and responses.

When we found that the funds were falling short of the target, we re-appealed to all of you and you responded by further replenishing PAKT funds so that commitment to supply food till Sep '09 could be met. We also asked you to join us and help us serve these people, and again got positive responses from you.

We needed to make our distribution system robust and organised, eliminating chances of deserving candidates losing out to strongmen who nudge the weaker folk out of the queue to grab more relief. Purbasha, a local eco-tourism group, offered some manpower assitance during our visits and also helped us collect local information. Thanks to Kaustuv's planning (and insistence) we implemented an extremely successful, uniquely numbered card based system for the families we identified as being 'covered' by PAKT.

Subsequently when we found that these people were going to have to fend for themselves after September, we went to them and asked them what they felt is the way forward. We did not think continuing with relief or extending it beyond September '09 as the right way forward. Fortunately, that was also the feedback we got from a lot of the locals. They wanted to start doing something for themselves.

We tried to build on that good spirit and willingness shown by the local people towards rehabilitating themselves. We found support from two NGO's, PRISM and Swanirvar, in arranging for the most effective self-rehabilitation that we think is possible for a multitude of farmers struggling with salined lands. After some preliminary background work, PAKT have arranged to train the local farmers in a manner so that they can grow their own vegetables come this winter. That will help these farming families to sustain themselves as well as to certainly reduce their expenses on expensive vegetables bought from market. The farmers will also have to take additional responsibilities and share their newly gained alternative crop related knowledge with other farmers in their villages who could not be accomodated in the external training.

We have also placed 4 needy local people at some hotels around West Bengal for jobs. More jobs are possible if more locals show their willlingness to move out.

The people of Chargheri and the other 4 villages still need to be supported before we can stand back and say that "they are rehabilitating themselves". The crop training (3rd phase) for another 25 odd farmers begins tomorrow. We then plan to distribute relevant seeds to ALL farmers (farmers with formal training as also farmers getting "second hand" training from formally trained farmers) before mid October so that the vegetable crop can be sown at the right time.

We are trying to look for more self employment options for these people in the field of cottage industry products. Exploring training of locals (especialy women) in those directions is certainly not far from our minds but choosing the right local skill is of paramount importance for making the products saleable in the market.

We plan to distribute blankets for these families ahead of the winter.

Tomorrow (19th Sep '09) is going to be our 8th trip to the location where PAKT have been distributing rice at Sunderbans since end of June '09. This is planned to be the last visit where PAKT provide food materials to the local people. We have been declaring this intended closure of relief on 19-Sep-09 over the past 3 visits to the recipients so that it does not come as a shock to them. We have also seen enough enthusiasm amongst locals with the alternative crop training program to believe that they (the local farmer community) see a lifeline in it, that they are willing to cultivate their new techniques on whatever land they can find untouched by stagnated brackish water. The relief had to come to an end, and they are accepting it as a reality at the right time.

While PAKT will continue visiting the area for other rehabilitation efforts mentioned above, the food relief part of Help Suderbans Initiative ends tomorrow. When we distribute rice for the last time at Chargheri in about 13-14 hours from now, we hope to get a further confirmation that the people in general are taking this closure without bitterness, and that they are already looking beyond waiting at queues with cards in hand to witness sacks of rice being stacked under a PAKT banner every fortnight. This sustenance of hope at the end of relief phase is what these people will desperately need to keep themselves afloat in their coming 12-15 months of struggle. Relief will now have to be replaced by self-belief, for which PAKT has been trying to arm them with knowledge to tackle their present state.

We needed a lot of funds to pull off the food relief phase. All of this has happened because of YOU. No words are apt enough to express our gratitude...or its magnitude, nor do we feel any pressing need of that being qualified or quantified. It is festival season here in West Bengal, and may your support / blessings / assistance / prayers / words of encouragement / love be as much with us as with the people we are all committed to continue supporting on their path to rehabilitating themselves.

PS: We may still come back to you for some more help for support of the rehabilitation process. We expect to have proved worthy of your trust so far, and hence we will not hesitate to ask for your (further) help if and when it is needed.

3rd visit and formation of PAKT

Kaustuv, Sandeepan and Biswajit - da (another friend of ours, introduced to us by Kaustuv, who is actively supporting this effort from the 1st visit itself) have made the 3rd team visit to our target area on Saturday the 18th of July with a shipment of 1400 kg of rice. This food material is distributed amongst approximately 2800 people in 670 odd families (expected to cover for one week). Like previous weeks, the expenses of food purchase and transport were met through individual contributions from some of the above people and a few of their friends.

Pictures here.

For ease of reference, henceforth we will refer to this initiative of ours to support the people of Sunderbans as "Help Sunderbans Initiative" or HSI.

Kaustuv, Sandeepan, Biswajit da and myself represent 3 independent non-profit organisations. Starting off more as individuals willing to help the people at Sunderbans, we have now involved these organisations in this work. It did not take us long to assess the manpower and fund involvement required to pull through this effort on a sustained basis.

Sandeepan and I are associated with Atanu Memorial Association, or ATMA, for nearly 6 years. It is a registered welfare association formed by our college mates. Pather Katha is Kaustuv's orkut travel community. Khelaghar is a youth club at Garia who are involved in social welfare activities. Biswajit da and our other new friends Susanta, Santanu & Partha are all associated with Khelaghar.

Pather Katha has joined hands with ATMA and Khelaghar to form PAKT i.e. PatherKatha-ATMA-Khelaghar Team!! In other words PAKT is an informal and temporary "JV" of these three associations, formed solely for the purpose of making Help Sunderbans Initiative (HSI) a reality.

But then PAKT is also so much more than these three organisations. It would have little chance to fulfil its purpose of formation without the many others, perhaps including you, who are putting their hands up to offer help in various forms.

[Hope this deluge of names does not distract you! Let us just say that HSI is merely the reference (or project) name for the undertaken work and PAKT is the group trying to carry it out.]

Chargheri - Trip 2

So for another week we could make it. The feeling is like playing out a mandatory over to avoid an imminent innings defeat. This Sunday, Koustav from Pather Katha went there with Avijit, four friends from Khelaghar and Goutam of Green Camp. As usual Koaustav's Picassa and the captured videos tell it all.
This time Team Pather Katha could manage 1000 kg of rice. To save the conveyance cost, it was procured from Sonakhali, before boarding the launch. Not a very easy task, but had little option to save this transportation cost from Kolkata. There were some left-over (60 kg soyabean nuggets, around 200 kg rice, and good amount of medicine) at Chargheri (obviously at our local storeroom in Dipankar’s Launch) after last week’s distribution. Kouastav also took with him 10 vials of tetanus after getting information about the local requirement.

By the way, Can anyone suggest any Kolkata based wholesaler who is ready to supply 1000 kg or more rice every week @ Rs 12 or less a kg? That will be a big help.
One main objective of this week's visit was to collect the basic information so as to streamline our future requirements and course of action. Just jotting down what we could gather by talking with people there (courtesy Koustav and our friends from Khelaghar)

How strong is the distribution mechanism
There was a very decent queue. Separate arrangements were made for food and medicine. A clear register was maintained (we got a copy). Whenever people were coming with some specific demand like mosquito net or any special medicine, it was verified that he has not already received one. If the resource is not available it is noted down. We wanted to ensure that the mechanism we are using for distribution were unbiased. Extensive interaction was done with the people in the queue and the general feeling is they are satisfied with the mechanism

What are the villages from which people are coming

On 4th July (I just remembered what a significant day, America’s independence day and Swami Vivekanada’s death anniversary), there were people not only from Chargheri but also from nearby villages Lahiripur, Santigachi, BidhanKoloni, Porosmoni. Earlier we checked out from internet that Lahiripur and Santigachhi among the worst affected one. We had a feel that people from nearby villages are also coming to Chargheri, hen the heard about the relief distribution and only get confirmed after the verification.

How many families we have covered

Last Sunday precisely there were 666 families who collected the assistance. There were not too many requirements for medicine. Good – the general health condition is not so bad. Koustav has a good flavour for data analysis and after gathering the lists for past few weeks he prepared a nice trend analysis on how many people has been served so far in Chargherir Char by Green Camp and its associates like Pather KAtha, Khelaghar, Euphonic.

• 28th May: 565 families (distribution was done on 28th, 29th May and 1st June)
• 5th June 649 families (distribution was done on 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th June)
• 14th June 895 families (distribution was done on 14th, 16th June)
• 21st June 577 families (distribution was done on 28th, 29th May and 1st June)
• 28th June 671 families
• 5th July 666 families

Clearly when a consignment reaches there on a particular day, the distribution often spills over a few days, courtesy Dipankar and the local people who are actively doing the distribution work. But it is clear we have to be ready between 600-700 families.

Is there any help from other sources
This is a major information that was needed in order to streamline our role. After talking with people we could find, so far government has given 5 kilos of rice per family since 25th May, tarpaulin and intermittently some supply of kerosene. This is what we could gather by talking with people on that day, so do not consider it as a official figure. What worries us is the lack of steady supply of relief material. That is evident. Employment opportunities are there in the form of works for embankment repair. Government is paying through the Panchayet for engaging local people in the repair work. Still not sure how many people are getting opportunities under this. But a person can earn 900 Rs for each 1000 cfm of earthwork and this can be done in 4-5 days. May be they get 50% of this as the appointment is through contractors. But this is still equivalent to more than 20 kgs of rice. Nearesr market is Satjelia bajar – not too easy to rich without a boat. But clearly if a family has at least one person getting this work opportunity, he does not have to depend on our relief much.

“Bare” Economics of sustenance revisited
Or shall I call it mathematics of hunger? The whole calculation was done considering 500 grams per head per week. But we calculated based on urban hunger. An elderly person clearly told “babu kaj kore khete gele dine 900 gram chal lage ekek janer – er kame chalti pari na”. Just no answer. How selfish we are to reduce it to half.
So revise the calculation with 4 kgs of rice per family per week and the weekly requirement for 500 families is around 2000*13 =26,000 Rs.
Still too big an amount for long run (may be a month or more). One way may be to cut down the number of families. Those who has got some work in embankment repair can possibly be leftout. The filtering is an arduous task - but let us give it a go.

Another thing - an well wisher suggested us to contact the concerned ministry of State Government to make them aware of the situation. He was kind enough to give us all the contacts - still we are undecided on this issue. Does the Government need us to tell that people needs help? Don't know .... . If anyone has a view will love to listen.