41st
Story
The Story of Ownership..
As we come around to celebrating Goonj’s 17th anniversary later this month, it is perhaps the
right time to take a step back and take a look at what we are doing. Annually, more than 1,500
small and big works are done under Goonj’s flagship initiative Cloth for Work (CFW) across the
most far flung parts of India. Be it Sunderbans (West Bengal), Banihal (J&K) or Keonjhar
(Odisha) etc. our effort is to reach out to the farthest parts of our country.
So what is it that we want to achieve with CFW? It’s great that a lot of people get much needed
basic needs material and development works are done which positively affect the quality of life
for thousands of people. For us the more important aspect is when people take collective
ownership for their own solutions. It’s when they feel empowered to address their own
problems..
We have a small team but the spirit of the communities we work with, is massive.. They can
move mountains if they make up their mind.. This story is a salute to these communities; giving
you a glimpse into their resilience and their sense of ownership for all that they do.. We all have
a lot to learn from them.
Assi Ganga flows about 14 kms away
from the main town of Uttarkashi in the
Sangamchatti belt of Uttarakhand. In
2012 monsoon rainfall the bridge on
this river was severely damaged. In the
absence of an alternate path people
would still risk their lives walking on a
swinging bridge. In 2013 after the
horrific cloudburst which grabbed the
national headlines, the damaged bridge
was also swept away, leaving the
people of Seku village on other side
completely cut off from the rest of the
world. People did panic in the first 6-7 days, fearing that nobody would be able to reach them
and they would be stuck for the rest of their lives. As a result some people tried the dangerous
route of the 2 km long dark tunnel while others tried to cross the ravaged river, but returned
unsuccessfully. When all else failed some people threw two logs of fallen trees across the stream
to re-establish contact with the outer world.. At this time Goonj was one of the few agencies
reaching out relief to many such difficult locations in Uttarakhand. When we reached this area,
more than 300 people got together to build themselves a temporary bridge (good enough for non
monsoon months only with local resources) as a part of Goonj’s ‘Cloth for Work’ initiative.
In 2014, when the heavy flow of water damaged the Seku Bridge in the monsoon, the Sarpanch,
MMD and other ward members reached out to Goonj’s Uttarkashi office . Lack of connectivity
was badly affecting the livelihood of the people apart from causing huge problems during
medical emergencies and a bigger problem was for the kids to go to the school.
BUT this time all they wanted
from Goonj, was some
kilograms of nails and an Iron
mesh for the base. With just a
little support the bridge was up
again on the same spot with the
hard labor of the villagers. It
was made with the same
enthusiasm as the last time,
even stronger and sturdier but
not under ‘Cloth for Work’.
This is the part that gives us
immense
pleasure;
when
people find sustainable ways to
do things for themselves rather
than wait for any outside
agency. That’s the ownership
that we at Goonj feel proud of,
in the village communities of
our country.
Although despite efforts and
demands by the locals the
Govt. work on permanent
bridge has not taken a shape but in 2015 when the temporary bridge collapsed in monsoon, the
village representatives reached the DM’s office and shared their problem and how they had been
tackling it for years. The DM assured that the villagers could start making the bridge again like
every year while all the expenses would be borne by his office.
Bihar: In 2008 when Bihar faced one of the worst floods in its history, after the relief operations
Goonj decided to spread out to farthest communities with CFW to help them address their
problems.
People’s fields and streams and canals were still brimming with flood water, distancing them
from their own land and property. One such isolated village was Kala Govindpur, in Supaul
district, Bihar. Their fields and other facilities remained on the other side of the river which had
come up while the monsoons that followed made their struggle even more difficult.This was the
time we had recently helped build the first ever bamboo bridge (made under Cloth for Work) in
the neighboring village of Sukhasan. Inspired by this, 110 people from this village also
mobilized their local resources (bamboo) together and made a 150x4 ft long sturdy bamboo
bridge in just one day.
The story doesn’t end here. This bridge served its purpose for two years after which it needed
some repair as some parts had started to wear off. This time though the village community knew
what to do, on their own. Everything happened exactly the way it did two years ago, except this
time they took the ownership of finding a solution to their own problem. Chaturanan Karpat, a
villager who has witnessed the transition says “Goonj showed us the way and that made our life
easier”. (“गँज
ू ने लोगो को एक राह �दखाई िजससे हमलोग� का जीवन आसान हुआ ”-चतुरानन
कारपत).
Kaladhar Mandal, another
resident of this village says,
“In the beginning it was
difficult for us, even to go to
our fields but when we made
the bridge with the help of
Goonj, it opened up our
vision. This is why, when the
bridge broke again, we made
it usable without any outside
help.” (प्रारम्भ म� हमलो
को अपने खेत� पर जाना
मुिश्कल था ले�कन गूँज के
सहयोग से जो पुल बनाया
गया था उससे हमार� आंखे
खल
ु गई,यह� कारण था �क पूल के दब
ु ारा टूटने के बाद हमलोग� ने �बना �कसीबाहर� सहयोग से
पुन: चलने लायक बनाया ” I). Words don’t do justice to the joy we feel when we come across
such dramatic yet silent stories of change.. We do hope that reading this story also changes your
perspective about the village people. They don’t need our pity or sympathy, just a friendly
nudge, exactly like everyone of us.
#100storiesofchangebyGoonj #thebetterindia #goonj#clothforwork