VSSM enables the families from Vadia, now relocated to Palanapur acquire new Voter ID cards….
Since past few years VSSM has been educating and sensitising the families living in Vadia to give up their traditional profession and choose a different life. Heeding to the recommendation, a couple of years ago, 40 families from Vadia walked out of the village to escape its prevailing conditions. Not only did they walk out of the village, they walked away from the life they lived, they walked away from the attached stigma, they walked away from their identity… These families came and settled in Palanpur, a city near Vadia and did not wish to be know as natives of Vadia hence had applied for new identity proofs.
VSSM Enables the Families from Vadia
Almost a year ago these 40 families who had settled in and around Palanpur had made application to shift their Voter ID cards from Vadia to their current address. The applications for the same were filed with the Mamlatdar’s office. 62 adult members from these 40 families have received their Voter ID cards today. We are thankful to the Additional Collector Shri. Jagdishbhai Desai and Mamlatdar Shri. Geetaben Desai for their support, “it is because of your compassion towards these families that their names have been transferred to Palanpur voter list.”
In the picture- Saraniyaa Families with their Voter ID cards..
વાડિયા છોડી પાલનપુરમાં આવીને રહેલા પરિવારોને vssmની મદદથી મતદારકાર્ડ મળ્યા
બનાસકાંઠાના વાડિયાગામમાં રહેતાં સરાણીયા પરિવારોમાંથી ૪૦ પરિવારો વાડિયાગામ છોડીને છેલ્લા કેટલાંય વખતથી પાલનપુરમાં આવીને રહ્યા છે. આ પરિવારો વાડિયાના ભૂતકાળમાંથી બહાર નીકળી પોતાની વાડિયાના વતની હોવાની છાપ જ ભુંસવા માંગે છે એમને વાડિયાનો કોઈ આધાર ખપતો નથી પોતાની દીકરીઓને વાડિયાગામની દીકરીને જે પરંપરાગત વ્યવસાયમાં ધકેલવામાં આવતી એ વ્યવસાયમાં ધકેલવી નથી.
પાલનપુર કે એની આસપાસના વિસ્તારમાં સ્થાઈ થવા ઇચ્છતા ૪૦ સરાણીયા પરિવારોના વાડિયાગામની મતદાર યાદીમાંથી નામ કાઢીને પાલનપુરમાં તબદીલ કરાવવા માટે ૧ વર્ષ પહેલાં મામલતદાર કચેરી પાલનપુરમાં અરજી કરી હતી. આજે ૪૦ પરિવારોના કુલ ૬૨ પુખ્તવયના લોકોને મતદારકાર્ડ મળ્યાં. જે માટે પ્રાંત કલેકટર શ્રી જગદીશભાઈ દેસાઈ અને મામલતદાર શ્રી ગીતાબેન દેસાઈના અમે આભારી છીએ. એમની આ પરિવારો માટેની સંવેદનાના કારણે જ આ પરિવારોના નામ પાલનપુરમાં તબદીલ થઈ શક્યા.
ફોટોમાં મતદારકાર્ડ સાથે સરાણીયા પરિવારો
The construction of sanitation units at Vadia sends cheer amongst the students from this village…
Guess who is the happiest of all, with the construction of the sanitation units coming up in Vadia?? The children from Vadia who are studying in various hostels run by VSSM are the most delighted lot with the construction of sanitation blocks in their homes.
A large number of Vadia children are acquiring education through various education initiatives of VSSM. These children are staying with the VSSM run hostels. One of these days Chadra, a boy from Vadia and studying in Ahmedabad visited VSSM’s office in Ahmedabad. “The work VSSM does in Vadia is remarkable but this is the best thing to have happened!!! Every time we returned for our vacations it was a challenge to stay without toilets, many a times we did not like coming home because of absence of toilets. A big Thank you for thinking about us …” his words were music to our ears!!! Isn’t this what education is all about and the change it is supposed to bring.
We are extremely grateful to Deepakbhai Choudhary for taking up the task and working under the extremely challenging circumstances Vadia offers. He has ensured that work progresses as scheduled and maintains the quality that is required. Deepakbhai and his team have succeeded in the task they had taken up… A big thank you from all of us at VSSM.
vssmની મદદથી વાડીયામાં બંધાઈ રહેલાં સેનિટેશન યુનિટથી vssmની મદદથી હોસ્ટેલમાં રહીને ભણતા વિદ્યાર્થી સૌથી વધારે ખુશ
વાડીયામાં સેનિટેશન યુનિટ બનાવવાનું કામ હાલમાં ચાલી રહ્યું છે. ગામનાં લોકો તો એનાથી ખુશ છે પણ સૌથી વધારે ખુશ આ ગામના અને vssm ની મદદથી વિવિધ હોસ્ટેલમાં ભણતા વિદ્યાર્થીઓ છે. તા.૧૮ જાન્યુઆરીના રોજ ઓફિસમાં આ ગામનો અને અમદાવાદમાં ભણતો ચંદ્ર મળવા આવ્યો. એણે કહ્યું, ‘વાડીયામાં ઘણા સારા કામ vssm દ્વારા થયા છે પણ આ કામ અમારા માટે ઉત્તમ થયું. ગામમાં વેકેશનમાં કે પ્રસંગોપાત જવાનું થાય ત્યારે સેનિટેશન યુનિટ ના હોવાના કારણે ખુબ તકલીફ પડતી ક્યારેક તો ગામમાં જવાનું મન જ ના થાય એમ પણ થાય. તમે ચિંતા કરી એ માટે THANKS’ કેવી સરસ લાગણી.
આ કામમાં મદદરૂપ થનાર સૌનો આભાર ખાસ કરીને દીપકભાઈ ચૌધરીનો કે જેમણે બાંધકામની જવાબદારી સ્વીકારી અને ઉત્તમ ગુણવત્તા વાળું કામ થાય એણી તકેદારી રાખી. ગામના લોકોના અંદર અંદરના પુષ્કળ વિખવાદો. કાચા પોચા માણસો તો કામ મુકીને ભાગી જ જાય પણ દીપકભાઈ અને એમણે મોકલેલી ટીમે આ સ્વીકાર્યું અને પાર પાડ્યું. એમનો ખુબ ખુબ આભાર…
Vadia and its residents have always been an enigma for the society. For many decades the women of Vadia have practiced prostitution as a means to earn their living and fend their families. While the society held their prejudice and believed that it was a profession these women choose voluntarily, the fact was totally contradictory to it. As a result of such mindset across sections of society no government agencies, voluntary organisations or individuals succeeded with their efforts in Vadia.
In 2005-06, we reached Vadia with an objective to make basic infrastrucutre facilities available to its residents. There was no pucca road connecting Vadia to the nearest village nor were the facilities of power, water, housing or sanitation available to them. When we brought these issues to the notice of the authorities they always argued “that there was no need to work in this village and with this community!!” Even the school never functioned as the teacher hardly showed up, as they considered Vadia to be their punishment posting. Such preconceived behaviour hindered the community’s chances of accessing even the basic human rights….
Work begins in Vadia for the construction of Sanitation Unit -01
As mentioned Vadia has been mysterious, more so because of the facade it wears, the need of it is because of its extreme vulnerability. To guard their vulnerability the community here maintains a very uptight appearance. They do not allow people to get close to them and neither they share their pain and sorrows with others. The initial years remained extremely challenging for us, we had to prove to this community that our presence in the village was to support them and not take advantage of their vulnerability. The stand VSSM took was to be a friend of these families instead of preaching them to shun away the profession they practiced. How can we even do that when we had no alternate livelihood available!! And why even bother of what others are doing or saying, we had the intention to remain patient, understanding and calm……..This preparedness helped us find a footing in a village where people never liked to visit again. The community members began approaching VSSM for their issues, shared their pain and joy with us, opened their hearts to us, made us part of their lives; basically they put faith in us.. They shared numerous stories with us, tales enough to write a novel…Our patience paid because we had no malice in mind our intent was to be helpful to them as much as possible…….
Work begins in Vadia for the construction of Sanitation Unit -02
Our presence in the village and the never-say-die attitude helped us bridge the gap with the Vadia community. To an extent this also sensitised the authorities who mellowed a bit and changed their stance towards Vadia. A pucca road and decent pucca houses in the village became a reality, the water issue eased a bit. VSSM began a school in the village… and many more such encouraging outcomes were witnessed. The community needed sanitation units and has been requesting for the same for quite some time now. The government aid only comes after the sanitation unit is built, a photo clicked and sent to the concerned department, who laters reimburses the amount spent on building the unit. It is impossible for the community here to save so much of cash on hand (around Rs. 12,000 to 15,000) to construct a toilet block!! The other pre-condition to access government support was the unit had to be in the village whereas there are numerous families who stay in farms and could not access government aid. Hence, VSSM requested its well-wishers to contribute towards construction of sanitation units in Vadia. In the first stage we have decided to construct 60 units from the support we have received so far.
Work begins in Vadia for the construction of Sanitation Unit -03
The Block Development Officer (BDO) has inspected the ongoing construction,as this point, we aren’t sure how many families will receive the government support but the community has agreed to give the amount they receive to the families staying in the farms who aren’t entitled to any such government support. Such gesture might seem normal but considering the image Vadia had, its pure magic!!!
The math behind sanitation unit :
Government support APL families is Rs. 8000 whereas to the BPL families is 12,000. The cost of constructing one sanitation unit is Rs. 15,000. The remaining amount will be provided by VSSM, whereas VSSM will cover the complete cost for the families who aren’t entitled to government support.
We are extremely grateful to all our supporters for responding to our call and extending generous support.
We are also thankful to Shri Deepakbhai Chaudhry for taking charge of the construction of sanitations units in Vadia. It would have been challenging task for VSSM to ensure completion of the project considering the internal dynamics prevalent in Vadia.
In pic – construction of sanitation unit underway…
વાડિયામાં સેનિટેશન યુનિટનું કામ શરુ થયું.
બનાસકાંઠાના વાડિયાગામમાં ૨૦૦૫-૦૬ ના વર્ષમાં વારંવાર જવાનું થયું. મૂળ તો આ ગામમાં તમામ પ્રાથમિક સુવિધાઓ ઉપબ્ધ થાય એ કરવું હતું. એ વખતે તો વડગામડાથી વાડિયાને જોડતો પાકો રોડ, પાણી, લાઈટ, ઘર જેવી કોઈ સુવિધા આ ગામના લોકોને મળી નહોતી. આ સંદર્ભે કચેરીમાં રજૂઆત માટે જવાનું થાય એટલે સૌને આ ગામમાં કોઈ કામ કરવાની જરૂર નથી એમ જ લાગતું.
વાડીયામાં રહેતાં સરાણિયા પરિવારોની બહેનો દેહવ્યાપાર કરીને પરિવારનો ગુજારો કરતી જે સામાન્ય સમાજ માટે સરળતાથી સ્વીકારી શકાય એમ નહોતું, વાત ખરી, પણ અન્ય વિકલ્પ માટે કે એમને આવી દોઝખભરી જિંદગી કેમ અપનાવવી પડી એના મૂળમાં જઈ આ સમસ્યાને સમજવા કોઈ તૈયાર નહોતું. ગામમાં જવાનું કહેવામાં આવે એટલે સૌના નાકના ટેરવાં ચડી જાય. જે શિક્ષકની આ ગામમાં બદલી થાય એને સજા મળ્યા જેવું લાગે.
શરૂઆતના એ દિવસો ખુબ સંઘર્ષમય રહ્યાં. પણ ધીરજથી કામ કરવાનું હતું એ અમે જાણતા હતાં. વળી એક અભિગમ એ પણ હતો કે, કોઈ શું કરે છે? એની પળોજણમાં પડ્યા વગર આપણાથી શું થઇ શકે એ વિચારીએ અને એ દિશામાં કામ કરીએ તો વધારે સારું થઇ શકે. બસ આ અભિગમે ગામમાં ધીમે ધીમે બદલાવની શરૂઆત કરી. આ ગામના કેટલાય રહસ્યો જે કયારેય કોઈ જાણી ના શકે એ રહસ્યો સરણીયા પરિવારોએ સામેથી કહ્યા. આ બધું એમના પરિવારના સભ્ય કે સ્વજન બન્યા વગર સંભવ નહોતું. પણ ભાવ શુદ્ધ હતો એટલે ધીમે ધીમે લોકો ભરોષો મુકતા થયા અને મુક્ત મને પોતાની આપવીતી કહેતા થયા. એક નહિ પણ અનેક નવલકથા રચાય એવી આ ગામમાં રહેતાં દરેક પરિવારની વિટંબણા હતી.
સતત લાગ્યાં રહેવાનાં કારણે વહીવટીતંત્રનો અભિગમ પણ ધીમે ધીમે બદલાયો. રોડ અને પાકા ઘરો બન્યાં. પાણીની સમસ્યા પણ કંઇક અંશે હળવી થઈ. ગામમાં શૌચાલય બને એ માટે ગામલોકો ઘણા સમયથી રજૂઆત કરતાં હતાં. પણ ગામડાંમાં શૌચાલય માટે સરકારી સહાય શૌચાલય બનાવ્યા પછી એનો ફોટો પાડી કચેરીમાં આપ્યાં પછી મળે એમ અધિકારી વારંવાર કહે. જયારે બીજી બાજુ વાડિયામાં રહેતાં એવાં કેટલાંય પરિવારો પાસે રૂ.૧૨,૦૦૦ થી રૂ.૧૫૦૦૦ની એવી કોઈ જમા પુંજી નહોતી કે જેમાંથી એ સેનિટેશન યુનિટ બનાવી શકે. વળી ગામમાં જેમની પાસે સનદ હતી એમને સેનિટેશન યુનિટ બન્યા પછી સરકારી સહાય મળે પણ ખરા પણ જેમના ઘરો ખેતરમાં હતાં એમને આ સહાય મળવાનું સંભવ નહોતું.
આખરે vssmએ વિચરતી જાતિના કામોમાં મદદરૂપ થતાં સૌ સ્વજનો સામે અપીલ મૂકી અને આ નિમિતના પૈસા મળ્યાં. અમે ૬૦ પરિવારના સેનિટેશન યુનિટ પ્રથમ બનાવવાનું નક્કી કર્યું અને એનું કામ શરુ થયું.
તાલુકા વિકાસ અધિકારીને ગામમાં સેનિટેશન યુનીટનું બાંધકામ શરુ થયાનો ખ્યાલ આવ્યો એટલે એ આવીને બાંધકામ જોઈ ગયાં. એ કેટલાં પરિવારોને સહાયની રકમ આપે છે એનો ખ્યાલ નથી પણ જેમને મળશે એ તમામ પરિવારો એ રકમ જેમને સરકારી ગ્રાન્ટ ખેતરમાં ઘર હોવાના કારણે નહિ મળી શકે એમને આપવાનો નિર્ધાર કર્યો છે. આમ તો આવો વિચાર પણ આ ગામના ભૂતકાળના અનુભવો યાદ કરું તો આશ્ચર્ય થાય એમ છે. પણ ચમત્કાર થાય છે એ અમે માનીએ છીએ અને અમને એ વડિયામાં દેખાય છે.
સરકાર BPL લાભાર્થીને રૂ.૧૨૦૦૦ અને APL પરિવારોને રૂ.૮,૦૦૦ મદદ કરે છે જયારે એક સેનિટેશન યુનિટની કોસ્ટ રૂ. ૧૫,૫૦૦ જેટલી થાય આમ બાકીની રકમ vssmમાંથી આપવામાં આવશે. અને જેમને સરકારી સહાય નહિ મળે એમનો તો તમામ ખર્ચ vssm આપશે. આ કામ vssm સાથે સંકળાયેલા સૌ દાતાઓની મદદથી સંભવિત બન્યું જે માટે અમે સૌના આભારી છીએ.
સેનિટેશન યુનિટનું બાંધકામ વાડિયામાં કરવાનું હોઈ લોકલ માણસોનું કામ માટે મળવાનું થોડું મુશ્કેલ બનત. વળી આ દિશામાં સંસ્થાગત રીતે અમારો કોઈ અનુભવ પણ નહિ ત્યારે આ ક્ષેત્રમાં ઘણું કામ કરતાં શ્રી દીપકભાઈ ચૌધરીએ આ સંદર્ભનો તમામ ભાર ઉપાડી લીધો જે માટે અમે સૌ એમનાં આભારી છીએ.
Rupabhai and his family a sarania family reside in Vadia. The family has been allocated 3 acres of land, a portion from the government allotted land to the Vadia Women Cooperative society. Vadia being a dry and arid region government also made irrigation facility available for the residents of Vadia willing to take up farming. However one bore well isn’t enough to supply water to all the farmers. Hence Rupabhai takes water from the farmers who have bore wells on their farms. 3 acres as such is very small piece of land and returns on farming parent enough to sustain the family. Rupabhai felt that compared to agriculture cattle farming is a more viable option. He requested VSSM for an interest free loan of Rs. 50,000 to buy buffaloes. VSSM stationed his loan and Rupabhai has bought a buffalo from the money. Rupabhai now grows fodder on his land and sells the milk from his buffalo in Vadia. He also remains regular in paying back the instalments to VSSM.
VSSM For Saraniya Family of Vadia
“Be extremely careful, do not carry any extra money or wear any jewellery when you go to Vadia, people there will loot you!” is how everyone had warned me when I planned my first visit to Vadia in the year 2005. When I witness such honesty from the community in Vadia it really makes me wonder why and how such perceptions are formed to stigmatise a particular community. Rupabhai and many like him are honestly doing their jobs and returning back the money borrowed from VSSM. No on is bad, its the circumstances that make shape their behaviour. The community in Vadia need warmth and care and change automatically comes through. Its this miracle we are witnessing right now in Vadia.
The journey of restoring the dignity of families of Vadia has been extremely difficult and emotional we are thankful to Shri. Rameshbhai Kcholiya, Shri. Nimesh Sumti, Shri. Pradipbhai Shah, Shri. Rashminbhai Sanghvi and friends of VSSM for standing by us and providing us the support to keep going.
રૂપાભાઇ વાડિયાગામમાં રહે. ગામની બહેનોને મળેલી સામુહિક ખેતીની મંડળીની જમીનમાંથી ૩ એકર જમીન રૂપાભાઇના પરિવારને મળેલી એટલે એ જમીન ખેડે. ગામમાં સિંચાઈનો એક બોરવેલ છે પણ એનાથી આખા ગામની ખેતીની જમીન પિયત થતી નથી. બાજુના ગામના ખેડૂતોની જમીનમાં બોરવેલ છે. તેમની પાસેથી પાણી માંગીને રૂપાભાઇ ખેતી કરે. ખેતીની જમીન ખુબ ઓછી છે. જો ખેતી સાથે પશુપાલન કરે તો ઘણો ફાયદો થાય એવી રૂપાભાઇની લાગણી. વાડિયાગામમાં રહેતાં અને પોતાનો સ્વતંત્ર વ્યવસાય કરવા ઇચ્છતા પરિવારોને vssm વગર વ્યાજે લોન આપે છે. રૂપાભાઇએ ભેંસ ખરીદવા રૂ.૫૦,૦૦૦ની લોન આપવા વિનંતી કરી. રૂ.૫૦,૦૦૦ની લોન મળતાં એ ભેંસ લઇ આવ્યાં. હવે ખેતરમાં તે ભેંસ માટેનો ચારો પણ કરે છે અને દૂધ વાડિયા ગામમાં રહેતાં લોકોને વેચાતું આપે છે. vssmમાંથી લીધેલી લોનના હપ્તા પણ નિયમિત ભરે છે.
૨૦૦૫માં આ ગામમાં પહેલીવાર જઈ રહી હતી ત્યારે એ વિસ્તારના લોકોએ કહ્યું હતું, ‘ પૈસા કે દાગીના કંઈ લઈને કે પહેરીને ના જતા આ લોકો લુંટી લેશે.’ આ વિધાનને સાવ ખોટું પાડી રહ્યા છે લીધેલી લોનના પૈસા ઈમાનદારીથી પરત ભરી રહ્યા છે. કહે છે ને કે, કોઈ માણસ ક્યારેય ખરાબ હોતું નથી સંજોગો ખરાબ હોય છે વાડીયામાં પણ કંઇક આવું જ હતું પણ પ્રેમ અને હુંફથી બધું જ બદલાઈ શકે છે. ચમત્કાર થાય છે અમે વાડીયામાં દરરોજ એ અનુભવીએ છીએ…
વાડીયાના પરિવારોને બેઠા કરવા સ્વમાનભેર જીવતાં કરવામાં જેમણે પ્રેમપૂર્વક મદદ કરી એવા શ્રી રમેશ કચોલીયા, શ્રી નિમેશ સુમતિ, શ્રી પ્રદીપભાઈ શાહ, શ્રી રશ્મીન સંઘવી અને ફ્રેન્ડ્સ ઓડ vssm સૌનો ખુબ ખુબ આભાર..
વાડીયામાં તળાવ ઊંડું કરવાનું કામ શરુ થયું..
બનાસકાંઠાના વાડીયાના લોકોને ખેતીલાયક ૨૦૮ એકર જમીન સરકારે ૧૯૬૩માં આપી. (પણ સરકારે આપેલી બધી જમીન પર સરાણીયા પરિવારોનો કબજો નથી. કેટલીક જમીન પર શરૂઆતથી જ દબાણ છે) આ પરિવારો જમીન પર ખેતી કરી શકે એ માટે સિંચાઈની સુવિધા સરકારે વખતો વખત કરી પણ સુકો પ્રદેશ અને વરસાદ પણ પ્રમાણમાં ઠીક ઠીક અને બોરવેલની માવજત બહુ આવડી નહી એટલે બધું નકામુ થઇ પડ્યું. ક્યાંક કુદરતે પણ ભૂકંપ રૂપે નુકશાન કર્યું. ૨૦૦૮માં એક બોરવેલ સરકાર અને vssmની મદદથી શરુ થયો પણ જમીનને પાણીની જરૂરિયાત પૂરી પાડવા માટે બોરવેલ સક્ષમ નહિ. બીજા બોરવેલની આપણે માંગણી કરી છે. આશા છે એ કનેક્શન મળે પણ ત્યાં સુધી હાથ પર હાથ ધરીને બેસી રહેવા કરતા ગામમાં તળાવ નથી પણ મોટો ખાડો છે એને ઊંડો કરીને આખા ગામનું ચોમાસાનું પાણી એ ખાડામાં ભરાય એનું આયોજન કરાય તો ખાડામાં ભરાનાર પાણી ખેતીમાં ઉપયોગી થાય. આ માટે મુંબઈથી શ્રી રશ્મિનભાઈ સંઘવીએ ટેકનીક મદદ કરી આમ તો આ આખો વિચાર એમણે જ સુઝાડ્યો એમ કહીએ તો ચાલે. શ્રી રમેશભાઈ કચોલીયાએ ખાડો ઊંડો કરવા આર્થિક મદદ કરી અને ખાડો થોડો પહોળો અને ઊંડો કરવાનું શરુ કર્યું.
ગામમાંથી લોકોનો ફોન આવ્યો એમણે કહ્યું, ‘બેન હવે આ ખાડો નથી લાગતો તળાવ જ લાગે છે.. વરસાદ સારો થાય તો એક પાક લેવાય એટલું પાણી તો સમાઈ જશે.’
ફોટોમાં તળાવને ઊંડું કરવાનું કામ ચાલતું જોઈ શકાય છે.
Pothole Turned Lake at Vadia because of VSSM’s EffortPothole Turned Lake at Vadia because of VSSM’s Effort
Vadia now has a “pothole turned lake” to conserve rain water …..
Pothole Turned Lake at Vadia because of VSSM’s Effort
In the year 1963, as a measure to rehabilitate and provide alternate livelihood opportunities, the government allotted 208 acres of land to the families of Vadia (Not all land is owned by the families. Some land has been encroached from the beginning). As Vadia is a drought prone and arid region the government had also created irrigation facilities by installing two bore-wells. But the neglect in maintaining the bore-well damaged it badly and the second bore-well had became dysfunctional as a result of land slide during the 2001 earthquake. In 2008 Vicharta Samuday Samarthan Manch -VSSM and government together repaired it but a single bore-well proved insufficient to meet each farm’s irrigation need. We have requested the government for approving installation of another bore-well but that is going to take time.
In the mean time we decided to reduce the community’s dependence on ground water and start harvesting the rain water. Although the region receives very little rain, saving whatever water falls from the sky is wiser choice. The village does not have any lake or other traditional water conservation bodies but it does have a large pot-hole in which during monsoons the water gets accumulated. After receiving the necessary technical guidance from Shri. Rashminbhai Sanghvi, who also sowed the idea of rainwater harvesting in Vadia, we decided to go ahead and deepen the pot-hole, allow the water to get collected in it and later use the conserved water for agriculture. The work to widen and deepen the pothole has commenced. The required financial support for the works is been aided by Shri. Rameshbhai Kacholiya.
A few days back I received a phone call from the villagers saying, “Ben, the pothole looks more like a lake now, if the monsoon is good we will be able to conserve water enough to take one crop.” Such delightful news are always music to our ears…….
Pothole Turned Lake at Vadia because of VSSM’s Effort
In the picture.. work of deepening the pothole in progress.
CHANDRA – though his name means Moon, he shines through like a Sun, spreading rays of hope in his Saraniya community…. A Success Story of Right To Education for Saraniya Community boy Chandra with VSSM at VAdiya.
Saraniya Community boy Harsh from Vadia
The harsh realities and vagaries of life makes children of Vadia way more mature than their age. In the year we began working in Vadia life was absolutely in shatters for these community. The community here had zero access to any of the infrastructural facilities. The village school remained close most of the times. The teachers considered their transfer in Vadia as punishment posting hence hardly reported on duty. The parents were least bothered for the education of their kids. We felt that it was important to bring children out of the environment they were growing up in therefore in 2007-08 we enrolled 40 children in various residential institutes and ashram shalas across Gujarat. But most of the kids came back within few months of enrolment. The children faced discrimination at these institutes. There were some organisations who refused to enrol these children cause they feared that Vadia kids will spoil the hostel environment.
A boy named Chandra somehow managed to stay put and continued with his elementary schooling in Yoganjali Ashram at Siddhpur while completed his higher secondary school at Swaminarayan Gurukul in Siddhpur. Later he went on to acquire admission in B.B.A course. After the completion of graduation he plans to pursue his PG from some reputed college. He looks forward to completing MBA and has already began preparations for the same.
Chandra has been instrumental in bringing numerous children from his village to school. The movement that began with him is expected to fetch out numerous children from Vadia. He has ignited the hunger amongst the Vadia children to study and do better in life. The children today are studying with various hostels. Chandra will be the first child from Vadia to complete graduation and we are sure he isn’t going to be the last cause there are many following him…
We are thankful to our constant supporter Shri. Ujamshibhai Khandla of Monarch Builders for supporting Chandra’s education.
VSSM’s early journy into vadiya and there after — Some Milestone Episodes —-
Here we are with our talk on our Early Journey Into Vadia – 2
• Nobody, not a single person, was ready to come and work in the vadia village!!
Water Boarwell at Vadia
Vadia is a bad place and its people are notorious, no decent man should enter the village, there are all possibilities that one shall be looted if he enters the village – was the image people have had about this village. There was a stigma associated with this place and its dwellers. Hence no individuals or agencies were prepared to come and work in this village. The small hill needed to be levelled ignored to begin construction but no one was ready to lend their JCB for the purpose, no one was ready to listen to us. Atlast an individual fro Siddhpur, who we knew as well managed for the JCB but we had to pay double the market cost. No tractors would come, no masons were prepared all the work done was after lot of cajoling and double the cost and that too only when Vicharta Samuday Samarthan Manch – VSSM’s Shardaben remained present in the village. Building 89 homes proved to be a herculean task for us.
• What is the need to construct the road to Vadia , the government authorities would argue!!
New Road at Vadia
Our quest of how to make Vadia a better place and give its residents what they deserve as citizens of this country required continuous efforts and inputs. Every month the district Collector Shri. Hareet Shukla called and chaired meetings of various departments to find solutions to the pressing socio-economic issues of Vadia. Majority of the officers would attend these meetings with a preconditioned mindset: nothing can be done and nothing should be done in this village was their approach. When we proposed construction of road to the village they said, “what is the need? if you’ll make road it would give an easy access to people to to reach Vadia, the situation will go bad to worse!!” We argued, “if a road comes up the villagers will go out, will interact with other people, will get to know the world beyond Vadia. They’ll understand what it is to have a normal life. They shall have access to public transport and reprieve from the monopolised fares that private transport providers demand. Low fares means they’ll prefer going out more. Presently, the community members do not go out unless necessary, bad road becomes a hazard during some medical emergency especially for pregnant women. They are forced to pay extremely high prices for this commute. Because the women of this village are into flesh trade does not mean they should be denied access to some of the most basic amenities. We are a democratic nation and every citizen has a right to live with dignity.”
Vadia was treated as some gangrened society, and as it with the gangrenous body part authorities and society looked forward to chopping it out from the system. Efforts for their inclusion in the society were none so far.
During one of the meeting the collector inquired, “will these families be interested in doing some alternate occupation?”
“Yes, definitely.”
New Road opp. school at Vadia
He directed the District Rural Development Agency to sanction loans to these families to help them start their own business. “Saheb, these families do not feature in BPL list, so they aren’t eligible for any assistance,” replied an official.
“The women here sell themselves to survive, what more do you want from them to feature in a BPL list?”
Later te collector inquired on the type of ration cards these families have – APL was the reply. He asked the officials of the civil supplies to begin the process of issuing Antoday ration cards to them whereas the Rural Development Agency was asked to begin the process of including the names of these families in the BPL list and process vocational loans for them.
Antyoday Ration cards were issued, road form Vadgaum to Vadia was constructed, a bore well to facilitate agriculture was installed because without irrigation facility cultivating the land given by government was impossible as the region is arid and drought prone. Government had installed two bore wells but since power bills weren’t paid the supply to one was discontinued while the other was rendered non-functional because of a land slide after the earthquake. We arranged for the pending bill to be paid and restart the bore well. The situation has eased a bit, the need for second bore-well hasn’t reduced though.
All these efforts ranged from 2006 to 2011. VSSM received support from many of its well-wishers and donors, notable being respected Shri. Chandrakantbhai Gogri. VSSM’s founder member, trustee and our very dear friend Shri. Liladhar Gada has supported towards installation of bore-well ( as such does by government but purchase of quality pipes, motor etc.) and construction of homes in Vadia. The long pending power bill was paid by Gujarat Sarvoday Mandal.
Thus heralding a gradual but consistent change in the ground realities of Vadia with all the efforts started from 2006 to 2011 at Vadia by VSSM.
VSSM’s early journy into vadiya and there after — Some Milestone Episodes —-
Let’s have part 1 of our early journy into Vadiya.
saraniya families at vadiya
It all began with one woman who got into the flesh trade that to under desperation – the need to fill empty bellies of her family. Later few other women followed her and gradually the more and more families began involving their sisters and daughters into this trade until it became a common practice for women of that particular area and particular community. What could be the option to this occupation??? Initially the government provided land to these families both for farming and building homes (actually they were moved to one specific region as a step to rehabilitate them). The land was allotted but wasn’t marked hence most of the families made their shades on a hill top (cause the land got flooded during rains). The living conditions were pathetic. One tap to provide water to entire settlement/village. Very few families had ration cards. That too APL ration cards through which they could only buy kerosene at subsidised price.
Vicharta Samuday Samarthan Manch – VSSM initiated working with the Saraniyaa families of Vadia by filing for allotment of residential plots to these families. Once the land was marked the families were allotted plots. Moving on it came to construction of houses on the allotted plots. The bureaucratic mindsets, rigidity and completing the formalities of accessing various welfare schemes by the government were nerve wrecking.
Saraniya Community House at Vadiya
Some of the requirements were:
• Need money to build a home – photograph of husband and wife is mandatory!!
So from where will a women who has been pushed into sex trade, who is a sex worker, has never been married but has children and needs a building to house her family bring husband in the photograph need to file application for a government housing scheme!! And the officials as if deriving some sadist pleasure would keep poking by asking questions like where is your husband?? Why don’t you have a picture with him?? We need a picture!! (all these even after knowing the facts and we having briefed them about the status of these women). With an motive of upholding the dignity of these women we had made a conscious decision to never asked certain questions that would put them in uncomfortable situations. The entire exercise of filing the applications was mentally exhaustive for us. Ultimately with the help of then District Collector Shri. Harit Shukla and Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment Shri. R. M. Patel’s intervention helped in resolving the issue. The government assistance towards construction was sanctioned following which we initiated the process of constructing homes. Hence emerged another issue…
• Nobody, not a single person, was ready to come and work in the village!!
vssm at vadiya 