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Vimukti : Pothnal
 POTHNAL
is a steadily growing village situated on the State Highway and is
located between Sindhanur (21Kms) in the South and Manvi (21kms) at
the North. The Capuchin Presence started there in 1994 with our
North Karnataka Thrust to involve ourselves in the socio-economic
development of the people, especially the Dalits, the women,
children and the other marginalised. The Clara Vihar community of
Capuchin fathers are catering to the needs of the people in and
around Pothnal. Particularly in 14 villages the fathers are involved
in faith formation of the Christians. All along these fifteen years
we have contributed in various social spheres for the development of
the Poor and the Marginalised specially the women are identified as
the marginalised among the marginalised.
The North Karnataka area, with its cultural and caste-class dynamics
is a unique area where the disparity between the haves and have-nots
is very stark. The socio-economic marginalisation for the poor is a
great matter of concern to whoever thinks of Jesus' God's Kingdom/an
egalitarian society with peace and social justice. Dalits form the
lowest rung of the society and even to this day they are treated as
untouchables with no entry into the temples. Hotels, etc. They have
meager (0.5 or 1 acre) land and most of them are agricultural
laborers, earning Rs.60 per day, that too only four months of the
year ( agricultural season), though according to the minimum wages
act, they should get the wages about 90/- per day. The brunt of all
the suffering among the poor and the marginalised fall on the women
and they have to take care of children and take care of the family.
However the need today is that of education. Any changes in the
society could be brought by educating the people.
Education Scenario
The overall literacy rate of Raichur district is 35%. The SC/ST
lit. Rate is 21.25% of which the male LR is 31.87% and the female LR
is 10.61%. Of the 65% illiterates, the Dalits form a huge chunk of
78.75%. Though there are schools of one or other type in most of the
villages, the infrastructure, human resource (teachers) is very
scarce and of lower quality. Due to the poor transport the mobility
of people and of children for the schools from one place to the
other is very slow and infrequent. Hence, as a general trend,
children (those who are enrolled and persist) stop with the
education provided in the village.
Besides, education has to be seen in the context of the
socio-cultural-economic conditions. In the prevailing agrarian
economy the rigidity of caste-class structure is very strong. The
resources (land, water, money, business, etc.) are in the hands of
the upper castes of the general or other backward category. Thus the
upper caste have sent their children to the town schools availing
the facility of transport or hostel, boarding etc. However, among
the lower caste the enrollment rate itself is low; among the
enrolled the dropout rate is high; the female enrollment is very
small and the retention rate is hardly any.
The scenario of female education in general is very dismal and is
very discouraging in the lower rungs of the caste hierarchy. Many
get absorbed as agricultural labourers by the age of 7, and are
married off by the age of 13. The scene is slowly improving in the
course of these years. However, adding fire to the fuel, the wages
of the agricultural labourers, of whom Dalits make the biggest
component, have not increased beyond Rs.50 per day female and Rs.60
per day male. The only steady source of income for these is the
agricultural labour which is available only for four months in a
year, that too subject to the conditions of rain and the weather.
The children from this section who pass out of 7th are by and large
are deprived of higher education.
With the above background we will glance through few of the
activities those took place in Vimukti Pothnal in the areas of
education, medical and social during the year past years.
The main aim of the Vimukti is the education of poor children. And
this trust is trying to cater to most of the poor children in the
villages, especially those going to Government Schools. This year 40
boys of a near by school are accommodated in the hostel. In the
evening these and other neighbouring children come for free
tuitions. Giving importance to the girl child, another 50 of them
are looked after by the Franciscan Ursuline Sisters near to this
Cell. Here their character is molded and they are given the useful
knowledge
Through Vimukti we also organize Christmas celebrations,
Independence Day, Children's Day, Ganapathi festival and Deepavali.
Our students perform street plays, folklores and other cultural
activities means as used to convey the message of peace,
brotherhood, harmony to the people.
Vimukti has taken the responsibility to treat snake bites and
scorpion bites. The record shows that during the year 300 people
were treated free of cost. A few patients were admitted in the
Assisi Hospital, Vidyanagar, Raichur and were given the necessary
treatment. A few others were directed to the near by Government
Hospital. Supplying water to the public of Pothnal locality is being
continued. The public irrespective of caste or creed considers this
charity a great help. It is really appreciated even by the
Government officials.
Every year interested girls are helped to complete their nursing
course and also GNM courses. We are happy that four girls are
already employed in this area.. Boys are helped to do diploma in
electrical and electronics. They go to Manvi and Sindhanur. From PUC
to Degree and vocational courses are helped by the society. For this
purpose this year a sum of Rupees twenty thousand was spent. Due to
the extreme breeze many poor had lost their houses and the roof.
Considering the poverty and the need of the hour during the year a
sum of Rupees eighteen thousand was spent in repairing the house in
the different villages. At the same a number of time out door
charities being done.
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Meeting with
Government Authorities:
While initiating the new Project in the area the
Organisation thought of building a rapport with the Government
Officials in those areas where we will be working. Since some
years the project was stagnant and now the new beginning should
be brought to the notice of the people in the vicinity and the
Government Officials. To actualise Project dreams we had
organised meeting with the government officials, seeking their
support and introducing ourselves. The Primary purpose was to
learn the Government Schemes and help them avail to the poor
people in our Project Area. All the Government officials were
present including the local MLA.
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Tailoring Class:
Young girls from the village have very little opportunity to
go out and make a living on their own. In most of the villages
still the culture and family does not encourage the girl child
to work outside and earn. By seeing the fate of those young
girls who work whole days in the field for a meager amount,
Vimukti thought of organising Tailoring Centre to give a fresh
lease of life to these young girls. Thus by convincing the girls
and their families Vimukti Organised tailoring units in villages
and in the project center.
Today we have completed three courses and two are in the
process. Two were organised in the center and other three are in
the villages by well trained instructors. The students are
regular to the training and very happy learn and make a living
of their own. Even the parents are happy to send their daughters
to the classes.
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Basic Computer
Education:
Illiteracy we say is the major evil in this region. However
today we see few interested family sending their children to
schools and colleges. But we are landing into another problem
called Computer Illiteracy. While the able and accessible could
afford Computer education from the nearby towns the poor are
deprived of this facility. So Vimukti thought of giving an
opportunity to the youth and the children during holidays by
organizing basic computer courses. Many aspiring boys and girls
have come forward to learn the basic computer education. At
present we are in the fourth Computer course which will last for
three months. They spend almost two to three hours with theory
and sufficient time for practical knowledge. We have divided
them in groups since to give them ample time to work and learn
on the computers. The students are very happy to know the basic
computers which will in turn help them to choose a better
future.
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Safe Drinking
Water
As Vimukti staff was in their visits to different village
for the survey they noticed people do not get sufficient
drinking water and even if they get they have walk miles to get
a pot full of drinking water. One of the causes would be the
broken and non functioning bore well pumps. To solve this
problem in the villages Vimukti carried a survey and numbered
all the bore well pumps which were not functioning well and came
forward to repair those marked bore well pumps. Totally we have
repaired 15 bore well pumps and helped the villagers to have an
easy access to the safe drinking water. The villagers are
overjoyed to see their bore well pumps working again because no
government officials headed their plea, more over it was very
time consuming for them to fetch a pot full of water. Thus on
the whole all the villagers where we have repaired the pump have
expressed their gratefulness for the good work we have done
through Vimukti.
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Income
Generating Program(Milch Animal)
In our visits to the villages we came across some of the
most vulnerable families like Devadasi, Widows, HIV families who
live in total insecurity. Either they do not have a family and
proper income or they are separated from the families with some
social taboos. By seeing the plight of these poor, uneducated
people, Vimukti came forward to brighten their future by giving
one each buffaloes to rear so that they can be self sufficient
to take care of their family. We have distributed five buffaloes
in different villages, and when we visit the families the milk
yield is satisfying and more the family is happy.
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Remedial
Teaching:
The main focus of Vimukti is Education. We visited various
schools of the village and made a survey of the number of
teachers per school. The result said that in every school there
are only one or two teachers to teach and take care of the
children, which is primary cause of low education level in the
villages.
Vimukti Trust, interacting with the Education Department came
forward to appoint remedial teachers in 14 schools where the
scarcity of the teachers is found. Today these teachers are
working hard, taking tuitions in the morning and after the
school in evening. This becomes a great help to the poor and
unfortunate children, who have desire to learn but nobody to
teach them. The parents at home are uneducated and do not bother
much about the education of the children this adds further woes
on the students. This programme is showing good results as the
students are very help to come and learn little more, so also
teachers in the school too have expressed satisfaction, because
with their limited time in the school they were not able to do
justice to their profession.
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Adolescent Camp
The Women are considered as the marginalized among the
marginalized. Everything concerning is looked down as 'not
worth'. They are cornered without anyone knowing their needs and
wants. Though the women/girls have changed, society's attitude
towards them has remained unchanged. Outside the family,
women/girls do not always get the respect. Often they are
reduced to mere sex objects. The flourishing flesh trade, the
repeated rapes, the still prevalent incidents of female
infanticide and cases of dowry deaths speak for themselves about
the exploitation to which the women/girls of our country are
subjected.
Considering the above problem, Vimukti organised a three days
awareness camp for young girls in order to help and educate them
in their responsibility and know their stages of development.
For this purpose we called an experienced resource person Asha
Kotyan, Principal of a College in Dharwad. Since these young
girls are coming from small, remote villages, who are very shy
to talk about the changes in their body to their parents and who
absolutely don't have any sex education in the school, gained a
lot from the resource person. We had around 50 young girls who
participated and gained a lot from this three days workshop. The
girls expressed that they were ignorant to many things which
they came to know in these three days. Since it was applicable
to them, they were very free to clarify doubts with regard to
their growing stages to be mature girl and later to be a
responsible woman in the society and at home.
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Personality
Development Camp for Children:
"If you want a garden of good fruit, get the tree young".
This was primary thought that was running behind us to organise
a three days camp for the children. It was organised for three
days starting from 13th November to 15th Nov. The number of
children who participated for this camp were 197 from 5th
standard to 10th standard. Different activities were held such
as personal hygiene and cleanliness, discipline, respect to the
elders, importance of prayer, preparing for the exams, bonded
labourers and its practices, child rights and yoga exercise.
These topics were dealt by experienced and qualified resources
persons. Besides these they also had many talent hunt activities
to exhibit their talents such as group singing, solo singing,
small skit and speech and painting competitions, added to this
they also enjoyed the indoor and outdoor games.
We had children from fourteen villages. It was a grand success
not because of large number of the children because they were
just sheep without a shepherd and this was great help for them
to build their childhood with good values and discipline in
life. The children expressed their satisfaction regarding this
camp, they were very happy because they gained new zeal, and
enthusiasm to take back with them to build their childhood.
Since they come from poor background, there is no one to guide
them, their parents are uneducated and whole days busy with the
work in the field, and children left all by themselves. So this
camp gave them new idea and vision for their childhood.
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Distribution of
Play materials to schools:
The Schools here do have four walls and an old roof, other
than these the children are deprived of co curricular or sports
materials. In order make the school and learning more
interesting and help the children grow physically we provided
play materials to 14 Government Schools. It was also an
opportunity for extracurricular activities and to create child
friendly environment in school. As the children are hail from
poor family good play materials is the dream for the children.
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Survey on the
issues Child Labor, Devadasi and Disability:
Project had a plan to evaluate the most vulnerable issues in
the villages so as to address them and create awareness on these
issues. As planned all the ten villages were surveyed and the
staff had discussions with the villagers. As expected the major
problems which the villagers poised are child labor, Devadasi
and Disability. Once we all agreed upon these issues the project
arranged street play, awareness songs and slogans through
cultural groups and organised awareness program in all the 10
villages. It was a successful program when all appreciated our
efforts.
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Availing
Government Schemes:
The Government has many schemes and facilities for the poor,
the scheduled caste, the widows and the old, the pregnant and
the sick. However these remain in the files in the Government
Offices and end of the year the officials manipulate and take
the amount for themselves. Vimukti took up this cause and the
animators went around the villages creating awareness on
Government Schemes and in many cases helped the people to avail
old age pension, widow pensions, Janatha houses and
scholarships. The people are happy that now they are aware of
the Government schemes and also they are easy to avail.
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Health Awareness
Programme:
Due to the Flood in October 2009, people were suffering from
various diseases in the village for which, in the selected 20
Flood affected villages of Sindhanur and Manvi taluk the
programme on health was provided by Vimukti. Along with this the
awareness on availing Government schemes were also provided. It
was a collective program of three NGOs called Jagruthi Mahila
Sanghatan, Shruthi Samskrithi and Ruvari Raichur. The program
was relevant and useful for all those affected by Floods.
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Staff Exposure
Program:
This phase of the Project was inaugurated in November 2009
with the appointment of 8 staff out of which six are new and
inexperienced. The Project felt a need for training and
exposure. Hence the entire team along with the Director visited
Vimukti at Chikkodi for the Training and Exposure Programs. It
was a great learning experience with the good will of Chikkodi
staff to introduce us the Village Development Committees and to
Self Help Groups etc. The three days at Vimukti Chikkodi was
perfect initiative into the programs for our staff.
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Exposures to
Roshni Center Hangal:
All the staff on the way back from Chikkodi visited Roshni
Social work center Hangal run by UFS sisters. Sr. Cristine was
generous enough to accommodate us and helps to know the project
and the programs specially the visits to men SHG and the
Children Eco clubs were inspiring to all of us.
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Flood Relief
Work:
Flood has been a devastating experience for the people
around Pothnal. The houses were collapsed and the poor people
did not have enough support to clear the debris of the fallen
houses. The Organisation received ready generous help from the
brothers of Kripalaya in the month of December. 28 brothers for
full eight days served in five villages clearing the debris
making the place ready to rebuild. Around 15 debris were
cleared. It was a great help to the villagers along with them
Vimukti too remains grateful to the Brothers of Kripalaya.
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Recreation to
the Shifting Village Children:
Hulgungi is a village totally destroyed and the people have
shifted to a new place. Though the place is new they are not
settled completely., The children are missing their old games
and fields. Hence Vimukti organised one full day of Games,
sports and Recreation to the children of this village. Of course
on demand the elders too joined for some program. The help of
Brothers from Kripalaya is commendable. They organised the day
and also performed cultural programs for the children.
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Training to
Remedial Teachers:
Since the Government schools do not have sufficient
teachers, Vimukti has provided Remedial Teachers to Government
schools. These 19 teachers from 14 schools , were trained for
one day regarding the teaching techniques.They were trained by
the well known Government teachers Vishvanath Shasthri and
Adeshappa. And also the Director of Vimukti talked to them
regarding their relationship with the school staff, children and
SDMC.
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Staff Capacity
Building Training:
Vimukti Charitable Trust had thought long ago to organise a
training for all the Vimukti Staff. The dream was realized in
January when a Training was organised for the new staff from
Ujire, Banakal Chikkodi and Pothnal. There were also other staff
from BDDS and JMS who were the part of the Training. The
resource person Mr. Somashekar trained 30 candidates regarding
Social work, Social workers and maintaining rapport in villages.
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Republic Day
Celebration:
In commemoration of Republic Day the Project conducted
various games and sports in the 14 government Schools to improve
the talents of the students. Indoor and out door games were
conducted by our staffs and prizes were distributed to the
winners during Republic Day.
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Cultural
Competition, Children's Club and Child Friendly Programme
Inauguration:
Though we started our Project Proper in the month of
November, we had never done it officially or formally through
any inauguration. The arrival of the Governing Board members of
Ensemble Agissons was an opportunity for us to make it an event
of inauguration. Hence on February 21st 2010 cultural
competition for 14 Government Schools were conducted in Vimukti
premises. Competitions like mono act, solo singing, group folk
dance, elocution and drawing were conducted to make the students
competitors in life and to bring up their hidden talents. Same
day Child Friendly Programme was inaugurated by Daniel Helbert
the director of Ensemble Agissons. And Children's Club of 14
villages was inaugurated by Bernadette Helbert. A formal
colorful cultural program was organised at the end by the
students of Chilipili School of child labor and Sneha Jyothi
Girls Boarding that entertained the audience.
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Awareness,
Sports and Recreation Program :
Shifting Villages are shifted with its roots. The children
and grow up feel out of place. Hence the Project organised a
day's awareness and cultural, and recreation program for the
children and people at Chintamandoddi village. On 21 March the
brothers from Clara Vihar along with Vimukti staff spent a day
in the village boosting the people and entertaining them. We had
organized competitions and given entertainment programme for the
children, men and women of the village to come out of their
stress and depression.
Conclusion:
Vimukti Charitable Trust Pothnal is enrolling with the
successful programme in these four months in the 14 villages. And
still working for the poor children to improve their education, and
to improve their talents with the help of forming children's club in
the villages. There are various future programmes for the
development of children and the community.
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