A Field Worker’s Diary – Part 70
“They replied that both the children used to go to government school earlier but after participating in the livelihood program, they have managed to join him in a private school from the additional income they started getting. They simply can’t afford to send two children to private schools.”
Three years back, in the month of December, I had landed in Bhubaneswar and started for the Kamalanga area where I was supposed to go on a taxi. Kamalanga area was in the Dhenkanal district, which is one among the 115 aspirational districts selected by Government think-tank Niti Aayog. It was a 4-hour car ride from Bhubaneswar. My driver told me that we would reach the place by 8 pm. But, due to an accident on the highway there, vehicles came to stand still for kilometres. For almost 2 hours, we got stuck in the traffic jam. In the end, my driver had told me that if we were to go through the nearby forest, we could escape this traffic and finally reach Kamalanga, albeit with a delay.
However, it was a thick and dense forest with movement of elephants. “I will take you through the way only if you agree,” the driver left to me. There was no other way but to say yes. The driver didn’t know any other language except Odiya. While I didn’t know either Odiya or Hindi. Don’t ask me how I had such a long conversation with him. During desperate times, we start understanding all the languages!
Finally, we had managed to reach Kamalanga at 11 p.m. through the forest. Located on the banks of Brahmani River, the Kamalanga village got its name from a boat-shaped temple dedicated to Lord Kamleshwar that is situated there. Just like the Kopai River I had visited in West Bengal, this Brahmani River flowed quite hushedly. It was also the main water resource for this area.
I had to stay there for 3 days to understand the livelihoods program that our organisation was implementing there. Our organisation had helped approximately more than 500 households in the area for various activities such as milch cattle, livestock, small enterprises, agriculture, etc.
To understand how they benefited from our activities and what more help they want in future, I went to meet some members of the beneficiary families.
While I was talking to some families in Manpur village, a neighbouring village of Kamalanga, I saw a small boy all dressed up and going to school in front of a house. After taking his permission, I was taking a photo of him when a girl came running out of his house. When I manage to catch up with the running girl and started chatting with her, I got to know from her that the boy was her little brother. I asked her why she wasn’t going to school. The girl was studying in a government school. Whenever the teacher comes, there is school. Otherwise, it’s a holiday. On the other hand, her brother was going to a small private school nearby. He goes to school everyday, she said.
I asked her parents why they are not sending both of them to the same school. They replied that both the children used to go to government school earlier but after participating in the livelihood program, they have managed to join him in a private school from the additional income they started getting. They simply can’t afford to send two children to private schools.
There are 9 villages in total in our project. With water facilities, forest wealth all around, numerous industries nearby, but still there was not even a bit of development in these villages. I could see that many youngsters were roaming around without any work in the village due to lack of education and reluctance to go to other places in search of work. But, the villagers stated that they have been giving importance to education nowadays and sending all the children to schools.
In this fashion, I spoke to around hundred families in all the nine villages about how our livelihoods program had impacted them, and prepared a report. For covering 9 villages and talking to so many families, I had to be constantly on the move. Even though the sun there made you sweat even in winter, I spent the evenings on the river bank quite pleasantly with cool breezes.
By the time I finished my work and reached Bhubaneswar, I got to know that my flight was delayed by 2 hours. So, I thought of eating something in the Dakota Hotel (don’t think that dakota meant some shady hotel; the hotel’s name was actually Dakota) at the airport. Whenever I remember those three days, all I can think about is the brother-sister duo that I met at Manpur.
Does the gender gap increase with increase in income? How much should the income increase so as to decrease the gender gap and provide equal opportunities to all children? When a family has improved income and has the choice to provide education to a child, why is it always that a boy gets the golden chance? When will this system change? What level of income would bring about gender balancing? So many unanswered questions came back with me from that trip.
Bharathi Kode