Chapter 1 : Morning in Latur. ( 17/12/07)
We reached latur early morning 5 AM , As instruction was given by Mr Nakeeran we have made our way to the office of Sath Network . Very apprehensively we called up Ms Zia Sayed of Sath and informed that we are downstairs , her response was very positive she made our stay arrangement in the office itself for few hours. Around 7 AM ( The electricity was cut down due to load shedding) we have interacted more with Ms Sayed and like any other social worker her passion was very much evident since the beginning of the conversation. Zia look like any other Maharastrian homely girl except the fact that she has done her masters in social work from Kolhapur and she speaks English with correct very accurate pronunciation that is without any mother tongue influence.
Ms Sayed started talking about the work which she is involved with UNICEF , she mentioned some of her very recent interaction with youngsters where the challenge was to give a direction to the enormous energy of the youngsters and make sure that not only they utilize their potential but they also earn their living and become a catalyst of change in current social scenario.She mentioned that recently in near by village a self help group was able to produce large amount of wheat , bajara and corn from a small 33X33 plot so she directed these youngsters to go to that village and look out for the best practice followed by these self help group and try to replicate it in their own villages .For now the plan of action might have been decided but it will be another challenge to sustain it in future.
Zia also mentioned one of the key goal of the UNICEF for which Sath spreads awareness in rural areas , hygiene and better sanitation facilities. It is very difficult to convince villagers about creating a toilet at their home , They have been habitual of answering natures call in open and they don’t see any need to spend couple of thousand rupees for creating a toilet .So what do these NGO’s do? Zia told us that they used all kind of tactics , Proper awareness was created by using nukkad natak and speeches in different forums and gatherings . reputed people from villages were requested to convince locals. Labours were warned that they would not get their wages till the time they construct toilets at home , influencers like housewives and children were taken into confidence and asked to pressurize decision makers at home to do the needful. At times the activity went so intense that UNICAFE volunteers started raiding open grounds during morning and evening hours with search light.
While speaking all this Zia’s eyes had shining of doing something meaningful. She mentioned that not only end result but also the process is so beautiful . This was enough for me to understand what motivation drives these social workers , It is their involvement in a project where they fall deeply in love with the process of making people aware and bringing change , They visualize the end result and keep themselves motivated by the beauty and impact of these end results. Till the time we finished Tea Zia also talked about role of college students like us , as of now she did not sound too happy with recent interns from one of the college “ They kept playing on computers , what can you do without going to field and without knowing ground realties” I felt that now our responsibility has doubled , we would have to prove that our presence is not merely an educational formality but we also care!!.
After finishing our tea we roamed a bit in near by areas , when we came back Mr Nakeeran who is a consultant in UNICEF Latur and our mentor in Latur was ready with his sumo and waiting for us , we confirmed that even we would like to come to the field . Nakeeran discussed with us that even he is not sure where exactly we can contribute , we mutually decided to go on filed and meet some people in government offices and then find out what can we contribute . My worry was to do something worthy for UNICEF and SATH in this tenure of one month.
Myself , Avdhut , Zia , Shyna , Nakeeran and Girish started for todays convention at Udgeer
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