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My visit to Oxom

I came back from Assam about two weeks back with a lot of sweet
memories and am still musing on them. Apart from visiting my own
relatives and seeing places, I had in mind to meet activists of some
NGOs who have been doing good work. I fulfilled my objectives.
Below is a short write-up of my brief meeting with them.

I had a prearrange meeting with the State Resource Center, Assam
(Address: SRC, Phone: (0361) 2517230, Email:
srcassam@hotmail.com) and the Society for Promotion of
Appropriate Development Efforts (Address: SPADE, Phone: (0361)
2666169, 2482515, 2551345, 2638675, e-mail
indranee15@hotmail.com), both are based in Guwahati.

The SRC is helping other NGOs who are working with the rural people
to uplift their standard of living. They work at the grass root level and
to bring self-confident to each and every people is their main objective.
They try to achieve this through adult education and Gramin Bank
concept and are very successful at that. They have developed so much
confidence in their ability that they don't wait for the Government to
do some developmental work in the village. SRC is trying to be self-
sufficient in all aspects.

The SPADE , a voluntary organization of NE, was formed in 1994 &
registered under the Society Registration Act XXI of 1860.The SPADE
is run by few concerned citizens of Guwahati with voluntary zeal.
They are from different professions. Their aim was to promote and
support sustainable people's development initiatives in backward rural
areas of Assam. Up till now they took part in Community
Development Program, Program for Empowerment of Rural Women,
Adult Literacy Program for Women, Construction of a Community
cum Resource Center, "Mahila Vikash Kendra", Flood Relief Program,
Support for Income Generation Activity, Rural Sanitation Program,
Tree Plantation Program and Capacity and Skill Development
Program. At present they have taken up a Project on Residential Center
for Development of Women " SARATHI " in Guwahati where all
distressed women will have opportunity to develop their potential skill
and enable them to earn living in a dignified manner.

Their target is the development of "woman in distress" groups like
domestic attendants, construction workers, and cleaners etc. who have
no chance to acquire knowledge or to develop themselves. With little
or no education; poor economic condition and family pressure pushes
them to literally live on the streets. Most of these become domestic
attendants, helpers and in many cases adopt prostitutions by force out a
living.

"The project proposes to conduct long-term residential programs for
the target group in a phase by phase manner. Creating in-house facility
is necessary to impart training and much needed sustainability of the
program. The project will also assist the target group in getting
employment or to consider self-employment. It will also provide a
continuous support base with hostel facilities and necessary guidance.
The successful trainees will be provided hostel facilities for one or one
and a half years. This will help them acclimatize to the new urban
environment. The development of a skilled and organized labor force
with continuous upgrading skill will enable to live with dignity and
self-confidence. "  Without any external help this project can never be
materialized.

Xankardev Xishu Niketan, Morowa, 1995

I also visited Xankar Dev Xishu Niketan, a primary school in Morowa
village about 5 miles from Nalbari. This school is built solely on public
donations and at present instructs at the primary level. Apart from
academic curricula, the kids are taught music, dance, discipline and
cleanliness. Discipline and cleanliness are two most important qualities
of progressive society. I was amazed to see how these rural people
have understood the importance of these and started teaching in the
grass root level.  We really have lot to learn from them.

Workshop at Bagta Village

Lastly I went to visit the workshop that has been developed by my
friend Dr. Benoy Das in a village called Bagta about 15 miles from
Guwahati.  He and his wife, Aradhana had to sacrifice lot of their
urban comfort to do this project. Dr. Das was in Vietnam for 4 years
working with UNICEF on improvement of sanitation in rural areas and
especially in schools. He was tied with UNICEF in India too with a
same kind of project. During that period he developed low cost
latrines, urinals and bathrooms using only harvested rainwater. A
number of schools in rural areas had constructed these facilities and
they are happy with the outcome.

What I noticed in his workshop and the compound was nothing but the
simplest form of sanitary latrine components having a RCC slab, fitted
with mosaic pan and trap, and a PVC pipe to run to a covered earthen
pit (functioning as a septic tank). There are three models with costs
ranging Rs.800.00 (earthen pit) to Rs.1, 200 (RCC round septic tank)
and Rs.1, 800 (RCC round septic tank and water reservoir). After
educating the villagers around, he plans to distribute these among
them. Before distribution he also plans to give a demonstration on how
to build those by the villagers themselves. We wish them all success
for this great project. I will write on this project later. I have a Project
Report prepared by him and if anybody wants to do something for his
or her village school, I will be glad to give a copy of the Project
Report.

- Contributed by Mahesh Baishya, NJ, USA