Our week in Thakurgaon

Hello Everyone,

We have now completed our first week out in the field, with exposure to a vast array of projects RDRS is involved in. We were situated in the Thakurgaon district, which is one of the northwestern districts on the border of West Bengal, India. Our days ranged from visits with different groups and organizations, to physically seeing the projects first hand such as the Singra Forest Reserve, The Lime Project and the Upazila Health Complex. All these projects had a major theme of empowering the poor and enriching their lives.

After dropping our bags off at the RDRS guest house in Thakurgaon we headed to visit a youth federation from of one of the local communities. I quickly discovered these federations to be quite common and necessary in order to voice the concerns of the people to their local government. Along with youth federations, whose members range from age 15-21 there are many other groups such as farmers, women, etc. all with there own duties and goals. The reception was something else. Some 70 plus members greeted us upon arrival by a ceremonial “sprinkling” of flower pedals as we were directed into their facility. Inside we were told of their accomplishments, such as targeting under-aged marriages or collecting blankets for the poor. These federations are proud of their accomplishments and really bring unity among the community.

The Singra Forest is located on land once inhabited and used by a group of Adivasi tribal people, who foraged from the land, but threatened the forest at the same time. RDRS became involved to help facilitate a transition out of the forest and onto adjacent land to form a more conventional farming community. What was quite interesting was a fund set aside, which the adivasi people could draw loans from to either expand their businesses or help to develop their property. The funds are available for Adivasi women, which not only helps to provide low interest micro-credit to the community, but also empowers the women at the same time. After talking to these women, it was clear they were happy with the project and now were more concerned with more opportunities for IGA (income generating activities).

Much of the agricultural land within Thakurgaon is acidic, either naturally or through the overuse of fertilizers, which can greatly stunt the growth of crops. Luckily the simple application of lime from limestone to the soil can reverse this acidification. The problem is convincing local communities of the true benefit. RDRS has come in to help demonstrate the benefit through experimental application of the lime to different plots of land. The comparison was striking with in some cases the crops either being twice the size or even making the difference between flowering or not. We finished the day with a promotional ceremony trying to convince all the farmers in the community to begin the use of lime on their crops.

Over the past week RDRS has already demonstrated some of the beneficial projects they have coordinated through the district of Thakurgaon. What I like about these projects is that nothing is being “forced” upon the communities and rather the resources and education are being offered for the peoples choice to benefit from. The communities we visited all expressed gratitude towards RDRS and want to continue to strive in improving the lives in their areas.