Day 5 - Tuesday 14th Nov

Submitted by Sean Coughlan on November 20, 2006 - 01:54.

Tuesday morning we woke up to a bright and sunny day. Although we have only been here a couple of days and are just starting into our journey everything over the last couple of days have been pretty full on but stimulating, challenging and enriching on many different levels. So when we had a couple hours in the morning of much appreciated free time people headed off for some more shopping, massages or just caught up on some sleep and let the first couple of days sink in. Caroline and Matthew, inspired by our visit the day before to the Centre for Appropriate Rural Technologies, headed back to learn more about the incredible village stove/charcoal maker and ended up ordering one for Caroline’s school in Ireland. We then assembled for lunch followed by Michael performing his one man show about growing up as an Irish Traveller in the70’s and 80’s. The play, both funny and moving, provided some powerful parallels with the experience of discrimination and racism experienced by Travellers in Ireland and that of the Tribal peoples and Untouchables in India.

We then went to visit a Mysore slum and see the impact that the Rural Literacy and Health Programme (RLHP) and the slum dwellers association have had. What was interesting was that unlike the visit the previous day, where there was a common bond and identity based around being members of the same village, the slums did not share this. Slums are made up of people from many different communities, backgrounds and languages (a lot of them being Dalits, members of the lowest caste) and therefore face even more challenges. But by starting to organise themselves around common issues they have made some real improvements to their lives. The statistics are frightening (25% of people living in Bangalore live in slums, 55 % of people live below the poverty line, 52% of the urban population has no sanitation, to name just three) but what struck me was that the people we met had found a voice and a shared vision of the future and were taking responsibility into their own hands for that future. From the closing down of liquor shops in the slums to the replacing of shacks with breeze block built houses, this was community-led movement in its truest sense; of the community for the community – which kind of makes you think, because I can’t think a of any communities back home that have shown the same level of unity, solidarity and willingness to take responsibility for the own future. read more | add new comment | india