We kicked off our third course of the semester—Environment,
Ecology & Sustainable Livelihood in Zahirabad, Andhra Pradesh. We stayed at
an NGO called Deccan Development Society (DDS). DDS is a grassroots
organization that works with poor women living in rural areas—most of them
Dalit (lowest group in the caste system). Women form into groups called
sanghams and work to become autonomous communities, especially in terms of food
sovereignty and media.
It was a very cool campus. The building was in a ring shape
with a courtyard in the middle. Unfortunately, there were a lot of monkeys. The
monkeys liked to guard the bathroom, which was a little troublesome at times. I
tried to stay as far away from them as possible, but I think they enjoyed
chasing after me.
We had four field visits during this trip—each one to a
different sangham. Our first field visit was to a sangham-run seed bank. The
group is now in its 30th year with about 50 women. They have some 30
varieties of seeds, which has enabled them to grow enough food to sustain
themselves. They practice what is called agroecological farming—organic,
biodiverse, and with the health of the community and environment in mind.
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| Seed Bank |
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| View of the field |
Later that afternoon we visited an herbal farm run by
sangham women. This land is common property and is essentially a government
wasteland that the sangham women have the right to use. It took them 15 years
to build up the herbal garden to the way it is today. The herbs are used for
Ayurveda—a system of traditional medicine that originated in India. These women
use traditional knowledge and with that are able to cure between 70-90
different kinds of ailments.
They treat about 10 people each day from the surrounding
villages. The hospital is not close to the village—traveling times and time spent
at the hospital make it an all day affair. Arranging transportation to and from
the hospital is also very expensive.
There were two more field visits the next day—one to a
social forest and the other to a community radio station. The social forest is
common property—the women don’t own the land, but they have the right to use
it. The land provides fruits and firewood for the nearby village, which has
about 250 households. The community radio station broadcasts in about a 20-mile
radius. They resist mainstream media and instead have programs that focus on
local traditions, traditional knowledge, and the local dialect. After talking
with the women for a short period of time, we went back into their studio and
sang “Lean On Me.” After deciding on this song, we learned that the last three
or four SJPD groups have also chose this song—it’s basically a tradition now.
I really all the field visits on this trip. The first two
classes have been heavily focused on injustices within our society: child
labor, domestic violence, and all sorts of other things. This course does have
that component, but most of the focus is put on what communities are doing to act
against these injustices. You could say it’s even hopeful, which has been a
nice change of pace.
Our last day in Zahirabad was reserved for touristy
activities. We visited Fort Bidar in Northern Karnataka, which was built in
1424. Here are some pictures:
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| View from outside |
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| The mosque |
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| Inside the palace |
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| Close up of details |
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| Graffiti on the fort |
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| View from the balcony |
This course is quickly coming to an end. We’ll be leaving
for our final field visit next week already. It’s a two-week field visit to New
Delhi, Varanasi, and Bhopal. The end of the semester is quickly
approaching—less than 6 weeks…
Emma
