Bene Ephriam

Though I loved Sadhana Forest, it was part of an international community and never felt like ‘real India’ to me. For our second project we headed northeast to the state of Andra Pradesh and the district of Guntur. There we lived for two weeks in a Madiga village. The village was made up of the Dalit class, which is the lowest class of India, also known as the Untouchables. It was most certainly real India.Within the Madiga community we were part of the Bene Ephriam, a Jewish community. We stayed with the Yacobi family at their home/synagogue/community center. 

Local women on their way home from working in the fields all day

When I first arrived I had mix feelings about our project. Our aim was to design and implement a community survey to try to understand the community to help create a future project they want and need. This bothered me for several reasons, first off who were we to show up for a few weeks and decided what project they should do. Secondly a survey isn’t doing anything active to actually help the community while we are there, it is just getting their hopes up for something that may or may not happen in the future.  But in the end I think it was a valuable exercise and we actually learned a lot about the community, their needs and hopes for the future. Not to mention the amazing friendships that were created between two different cultures.  

LeadEarth team and Yachobi family

We were also asked by another NGO, Kulanu, to check up on previous projects they had funded in the community. They had given $1500 the support 10 families to purchase chickens. They hadn’t visited the community since the money had been sent and were interested in hearing how it went. We visited almost all the houses who bought chickens and attempted to help them determine if the project was actually cost effective. It is difficult to determine this for several reasons, first off the chickens were only purchased a few months ago so they haven’t really started producing many chicks, especially ones old enough to sell. Secondly they don’t keep track of how much they spend on food and other expenses. But mostly because every time we would ask the same question, but get different answers. One day a chicken cost 200 rupees to buy, and the same chicken the next day might be 300 rupees. But all in all we were able to gather the information Kulanu requested. It’s still difficult to determine if the project is cost effective, in our opinion it’s not the best project for long term growth and financial independence of the community. But it was a valuable experience to see what kind of projects are being funded by NGOs in attempt to help lessen inequaities in third world countries and the steps and process that is affiliated with donations. Kulanu also sponsored several buffalos for the community as well as a good amount of bicycles for students to get to school with. They also gave us a grant to install solar panels during our visit.

The solar panel grant idea was established by our facilitator before we left for India. We spent quite a few hours discussing if we wanted to go through with the idea. The synagogue/Yacobi home/community center had power already and solar panels are expensive. We thought that given the situation the money could be of more use towards another project. In the end we decided to go through with it since we already had the grant approved and use it as a tool for environmental education, teaching the whole community about solar energy and why it’s important. We also wanted to leave something with the community when we left, to feel like we made some sort of contribution in addition to the surveys. And we thought that since the Yachobi’s supply power for the community center it could help with electric costs. The lights weren’t exactly as we imagined, we were told they would easily light a 20 by 20 foot room, but they turned out to be more like emergency lights. It was quiet exciting when we were making chapattis on one of our last nights and experienced a power cut but were able to quickly switch on the solar lights and finish cooking dinner! It’s hard to tell if they will be used instead of their regular lights but will certain come in handy during any of the many power cuts.

Installing the solar panels

Teaching about solar power

As requested (and funded) by Kulanu we also helped set up internet at the home. This was in hopes that Kulano and the Yacobis could be in touch more easily via e-mail and skype to discuss the projects they are funding. Kulanu is really interested in teach them skills to tract and monitor the projects themselves and determine if they are working or not. Hopefully they will also use the internet to keep in touch with us!

The most rewarding part of our time in Andra Pradesh was the daily interaction with the Yachobi’s and community. It was an emotion goodbye after two short weeks we already were calling them Ima and Aba (mother and father) and dreaming of the next time we will be able to travel back and visit. For a community that has very little according to western standards, they gave so much. They happily hosted five strangers, feeding us (too much) delicious food. Chapatis (Indian bread) everyday, even though they would usually only cook them once a week. Ima even gave all the girls Shalware Kameez to wear one day and was offended when we wouldn’t keep them (2000 rupees worth of clothes). During our survey we asked about what people would do with extra money if they had any, almost every person responded without hesitation to give it to someone who needed it, and they meant it.

Jobi, Marianne, Maya and in our shalwar kameez

I was able to learn about Indian culture and myself and am so thankful for such a unique experience. I was sad to leave the family, but left inspired to do more to help such wonderful people who taught me so much. 

One big family

New friends