#Menstruation has always been one of the most disregarded issues in India. The #taboo and stigma attached to it makes it all the more frustrating to address the complexities of problems menstruators face in India. Like in the case of villages where there are a very few, extremely small, and badly constructed private spaces. Either there isn’t a roof or it’s a mud structure with no sewage pipes, or barely a structure at all.
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Padla village of Banswara district, #Rajasthan, is an agricultural area where people’s main source of income is farming. Unfortunately, water scarcity and the challenges it brings led many of the locals work as laborers as well. But due to the lockdown, they were left unemployed. Their children used to go to maabadi (a center for education, different from a school) which has been established for 5 years. All this while,
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As covid cases finally began to dwindle in Karsud village of Vikramgad, Palghar #Maharashtra, hope began to rise in this Adivasi community. Hunger was the one big issue for these daily wage earners. Nudged by our teams 26 families here came together to create a community kitchen garden in a 46mx 25m plot of land. With hardwork of over 3 days they sowed seasonal vegetables- ladyfingers, sponge gourds, and cucumbers.As a reward for their efforts people received Family Kits.
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The women of #Lasunirvadi village in #Jalgaon, Maharashtra show the world how it’s done.. Most families here are migrant farmers of Madhya Pradesh, living in tiny shanties with 10-12 members. When we asked what issue they would like to solve for themselves with ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative, the women spoke about their struggle to take a bath in the absence of private spaces. They added that in the menstruation days,
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Goonj’s menstruation work during disasters…importance of MY Pads in Rahat Kits #Menstruation has always been one of the most disregarded issues in India. The #taboo and stigma attached to it makes it all the more frustrating to address the complexities of problems menstruators face in India. Like in the case of villages where there are a very few, extremely small, and badly constructed private spaces. Either there isn’t a roof or it’s a mud structure with no sewage pipes,
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Akkolli, a remote village with little access to even bus services, is nestled in Wayanad district of Kerala, home to the tribal settlement of Churuli. It is here, on the slopes of a hilly forest, Jincy lives… in a poorly built home made out of dried mud and brick-tiles and covered with plastic sheets for the roof. Widowed recently, and with three children to take care of, she was struggling for access to drinking water as the sole pipe,
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Karamba, a remote village in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand, houses just 19 families. To reach the village, one has to cross 3 km of dense forest and a rivulet. During monsoons, the settlement gets completely cut off as the water level of the rivulet, Jhari, rises to life-threatening levels, and the absence of a pucca road adds to the locals’ woes. They have to go all the way to the nearby revenue village,
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’When our team spoke to the residents of Nibapur village in Dahanu Block of Palghar district, Maharashtra, they expressed a need for a community centre for meetings, celebrations or simply for the children to play in. Several constructive dialogues took place within the community after which a collective decision was taken to build a community centre and a garden under Goonj’s ‘Dignity For Work’ (DFW) initiative which would be useful for the entire community.Observing the enthusiasm and to partake in,
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Located in the foothills of the Aravalli, Alshigad village in Udaipur district of Rajasthan has been subjected to continuous deforestation and soil erosion for a long time. It was in the wake of this situation that the concerned villagers decided to act on it. Soon, they were joined by their brethren who had migrated to the cities but had returned to the village following the lockdown.
Motivated by Goonj and our partner organization,
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The temple of Chowdeshwari in Srinivaspur village of Kolar district in Karnataka is a century-old structure wrapped in history and beauty. Located close to it is the temple pond from where the locals had been drawing their drinking water since time immemorial. Added to that, the pond was also used by the devotees for their ritual cleansing and other related activities. However, with the passage of time, neglect and as a result of being left unused,
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Narayanjote village in Jalpaiguri recently witnessed how the collective efforts and resolve of families towards the building of a community poultry farm could bring about a bright ray of hope for a stable livelihood in spite of the trials posed by Covid. With one of the families even offering their farmland for free, along with Goonj’s initial one-month support of chicks, feed and medicines under ‘Vaapsi’ initiative, things began to take shape.
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In Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha, villagers being marginal and small-time farmers have been facing distress sale of groundnut since the beginning of the pandemic. Goonj reached out to families under its ‘Vaapsi’ initiative and procured tonnes of groundnut, to be added to its relief kits. Our teams, during the Rahat-COVID work in the area, were surprised to come across chemical-free, superior quality groundnuts being readied and sold at throwaway prices.
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In Keranipara of Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, Goonj reached out to support a group of people under ‘Vaapsi’ initiative towards the procurement of packets of tea leaves. Hailing from ethnic tribal communities, they were earlier employed by the local electricity department. However, with the advent of digital meter boards, they too were forced to look for other employment options. As the Dooars region of North Bengal is renowned for its exquisite blend of tea leaves,
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The village of Gharbhanga Jenasahi in Kendrapara district of Odisha recently saw how the joint efforts of the resident families towards community cleaning and livelihood projects could bring about a stable livelihood option to the locals. Villagers have been facing severe water-related problems and with no source of income, young boys are forced to search for livelihood elsewhere. Under Goonj’s ‘Vaapsi’ initiative, the local community decided to restart bamboo handicraft making and have also opted for other livelihood options like tailoring,
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Even today the word ‘menstruation’ is surrounded by stigma and talked about with hesitation. People of Apithi village in Odisha are no exception. With similar apprehensions, the village women were unable to talk about their menstrual health and hygiene till Team Goonj reached Apithi to conduct an NJPC session. Initially, the women were shy and embarrassed but soon they opened up about their issues. According to them, one of the main problems was the unavailability of bathrooms.
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Recent actions by the women of Sankarpurva village in Bundelkhand has not only transformed the village infrastructure but have also addressed many persistent problems of the community. It started with Team Goonj travelling 55 km from Banda (district headquarters) to Sankarpurva to organize an NJPC session with the village community. The meeting primarily aimed to raise awareness and foster education on the subject of menstruation, women health and hygiene.
Through constructive dialogue and drawing from the insights of Team Goonj,
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When our team visited Tanda Basti in Latur district of Maharashtra, they were surprised to see the village lanes piled up with dirt. “The roads were covered with all sorts of unhygienic materials and the surrounding gave off a stench,” a team member said. So, after a meeting with the local residents, it was decided to dig soak pits outside the houses to ensure the cleanliness of the surroundings. Motivated by our team,
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In Sandhiha village, 30 km from Hazaribagh district headquarters in Jharkhand and situated in a valley guarded by mountains, people from all communities live together in harmony. Majority of the villagers usually migrate to the city for work. However, due to COVID and the following lockdown, they are all back and stuck in their homes without any work.
“It has become very difficult for us to run our house and as of now,
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In 2018 Goonj team first reached Kerala in the midst of unprecedented floods, starting a unique journey of relief and rehabilitation work in God’s Own Country. It broke many myths about the people of Kerala, disasters and the acceptance of pre-used material, especially as a development resource. As we complete 2 years of large scale ongoing rehabilitation work in Kerala we share some highlights!
Material received with dignity by the flood-hit
Contrary to popular belief that people of Kerala didn’t need nor would accept pre-used cloth and other material,
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“During the lockdown, we were sitting idle in our homes as our regular work had stopped…now life has become boring without a job”. These were the words of Shobhana when she and six others were met by our team member to discuss the possibilities of conducting community farming at Edathuruth in Ernakulam district of Kerala.
An island in Ezhikkara region, Edathuruth is an area renowned for fish farming and pokkali (salinity resistant variant of paddy) rice cultivation.
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For the people of Sunderbans, cyclone Amphan might have wrecked their land but not their resolve. And proving it by example is a group of 20 enthusiastic women from Ramkrishnapur village who actively participated in the making of a mangrove nursery and plantation under ‘Goonj’s ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative. Having planted around 10,000 saplings, the group now looks forward to planting more by the river bank to prevent the erosion of soil.
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In this pandemic and lockdown as millions of menstruators took recourse to the humble option of cloth…for their dignity in menstruation, we too prioritized this need as a basic in our disaster response and relief material. We also urge the world to look at disasters with a much-needed gender lens, especially prioritizing menstruation as a basic human need. While the onus of taking action is on all of us, it is also incumbent on us to decentralize and co-create the solutions with people at every level of our society…
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For the residents of Pinapadu village in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh, access to freshwater sources often posed a challenge. When the periodic rainfall and the consequent slippery pathways hindered their walk to the village water bodies (two springs and a well), the locals decided to act on it. This was when 50 individuals, motivated by Goonj, came together to work under Goonj’s ‘Dignity For Work’ (DFW) initiative by laying stones for a 50m stretch on the road leading to the two springs and the well.
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A group of local women in Kurujanga, a village in Puri, Odisha, took health matters in their own hands. They teamed up to fight malnutrition and unavailability of local green vegetables, during their menstrual cycle, by making a nutrition garden of their own. Having no land themselves, the group of 25 women and a couple of men had to manage the nutrition garden (20m x 10m) in a nearby land close to the village temple.
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With these two new kitchen gardens made in Biridi Block of Jagatsinghapur district in Odisha, Goonj completed its 399th kitchen garden in the state in the last three months, under the ‘Dignity For Work’ (DFW) initiative. The 1,500+ DFW activities completed within this time span across India includes 600+ kitchen gardens, 1,17,000+ sq.m. of pond cleaned/made and 34,000+ sq.m. of canal cleaned among various other activities like road repair, bathroom building or well digging…
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For the residents of Naghsari village in Kupwara district, Kashmir, the protection wall of the bridge, damaged in the flash floods two years ago, was a matter of concern. So, when Goonj visited their village, the locals expressed their interest to take up the repair of the bridge under Goonj’s ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative. Being the only road for three villages, it was used by the villagers to traverse from the main road to the villages and from there to their homes.
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To ensure safe travel for the 50 families of the village during the monsoon, 25 residents from Katkaripada, Talwada village in Palghar district of Maharashtra, came together to work under Goonj’s ‘Dignity for Work’ initiative to build a bamboo bridge across the village creek. Goonj motivated them and rewarded their efforts with Rahat Kits. Though paddy cultivation is at its peak during the monsoon, the torrential creek water poses a threat to the farmers making it difficult for them to venture out into the fields.
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For the locals of Banka Tola Babhani in Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand, a walk to the village market or the school meant a brave stunt of crossing river Soti. During the monsoons, crossing it would be an act that not even the daring would opt for. Every time, rains raised the water level of the river, the residents had to depend on another longer route – an additional 10 km –
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Can a village pond, which was once used for daily activities – bathing, fishing, washing, irrigation – be a matter of oblivion for its community for over a decade? For the people of Pallassena in Palakkad district of Kerala, it has been.
The recurrent sightings of poisonous snakes clubbed with the contamination of water by people bathing cattle in summers forced them to forsake their village pond nearly a decade ago.
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At Pallassena village of Palakkad district, Kerala, community farming project continues to change the lives and fortunes of these ladies. Losing their job at tailoring shops and juggling between working as daily laborers at different sites, when Covid robbed them of all opportunities to earn money, they turned to a barren land. Today, they are harvesting organic vegetables like brinjal, lady’s finger, tomato, cucumber etc that have become favorites of all in the village.
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For someone who has walked under the scorching sun for miles, words cannot express the happiness of sighting a bench, or the memory of a hearty conversation on it, waiting for a bus. The locals of Palghar Block in Maharashtra too felt a need for a spot where people could just come, sit and talk devoid of any discrimination. Soon that feeling of the community became their driving force to work under Goonj’s ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative towards the setting up of willow benches near bus stops and village bylanes.
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How we all loved to walk into those classrooms with its bright-hued walls painted with our favourite cartoons. For the kids of Foksadanga village in Alipurduar district of West Bengal, their emotions towards their ICDS centre (Anganwadi) was no different. However, when they were left without a play area due to the dilapidated condition of the centre, 36 residents from their village decided to work towards its beautification under Goonj’s ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative.
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According to the locals of Chakbasto village in Kupwara district, Kashmir, the annual snowfall (of about 8 feet) and its subsequent melting often affects the stone structures in the region…one such was the boundary wall of a natural spring. It was in the wake of this situation that team Goonj motivated the locals towards the making of the boundary wall under our ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative. The melting snow not only brought down the wall,
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Located 13 km away from the Block headquarters in Rayagada district, Dalmeridi village in Odisha is home to 20 tribal families. For its residents, every year with the coming of rains, the sight of gushing rainwater from the hills making its way into the village pond has become a common sight. However, as the pond was getting buried with sediments, thereby disrupting the irrigation process, it became a matter of concern for the families.
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Today, one cannot imagine a snake charmer without intertwining it with some intriguing element of mythology. However, for anyone visiting Ramsai village in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal – home to a group of nomadic tribes – the idea of snake charmer will be an element of realism. Geographically, Ramsai is a low-lying region where every time it rains it results in severe waterlogging. So, when Goonj visited the village,
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To ensure safe travel for the 50 families of the village during the monsoon, 25 residents from Katkaripada, Talwada village in Palghar district of Maharashtra, came together to work under Goonj’s ‘Dignity for Work’ initiative to build a bamboo bridge across the village creek. Goonj motivated them and rewarded their efforts with Rahat Kits. Though paddy cultivation is at its peak during the monsoon, the torrential creek water poses a threat to the farmers making it difficult for them to venture out into the fields.
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“If there was an emergency in our village, we would have been completely stuck and given today’s circumstances, emergencies can happen anytime,” says Niketan, a resident of cyclone Nisarga-hit Bandarwadi village in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. It was this disposition of theirs and a little motivation from Goonj that encouraged 17 residents of his village to work under our ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative towards the cleaning of their 500-metre stretch of the main road that was completely covered with cyclone debris.
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There was a time when the waters of the village pond of Melaksahi in Puri district, Odisha, never ceased to ripple. However, with the invasive growth of water weeds, once a bustling hub of activity soon became a breeding ground for mosquitoes. As water-borne diseases became rampant in the area, Goonj motivated 52 locals to work towards cleaning the pond, under its ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative. According to the locals,
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When the walls of the irrigation canal at Karminga village in Ramban district of Jammu were being pulled down time and again by roaming cattle that came to quench their thirst, it often resulted in water runoff. To curb this crisis, locals of the region were motivated and mobilized to come together under Goonj’s ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative to build a boundary wall for the irrigation canal. As it was quite a task to bring sacks of cement up the hills,
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Keeping in mind the health concerns of the present day, in nine villages of Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, our team members conducted awareness sessions on sanitation and hygiene to home-bound school kids. Moreover, as the children were wearing adult-size face masks, they were gifted with kids’ masks for better protection. As on June 15, we have made 3,20,000+ face masks.
Storyteller – Rekha Rawat and Vivek Bhatt
We are there…Need you too…To know more about our work &
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To tap the rainwater of the upcoming monsoon, 14 villagers of Shahpur in Thane district, Maharashtra – under Goonj’s ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative – worked towards the making of a rainwater harvesting pit to ensure perennial availability of water for their needs.
Storyteller – Dattatray Patil (Goonj Fellow)
To know more about our work & to donate – bit.ly/RahatCOVID19
#DignityForWork #Goonj
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In Manchia village of Puri district, Odisha, keeping the monsoon in mind, 29 locals came together under Goonj’s ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative, to clean 400 sqm of the village pond to make it suitable for use.
Storyteller – Jagdish Kumar (Team Goonj)
Partner organization- Gram Vikas Sahayak Sanstha
To know more about our work & to donate – bit.ly/RahatCOVID19
#DignityForWork #Goonj
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In Sansargarh village of Rajnandgaon district, motivated by Goonj team member Prahlad Patel, 23 locals planted saplings of elephant foot yam and taro root. Under Goonj’s ‘Dignity For Work’ initiative and with the support of our partner organization Samagra Srishti Sansthan, the plantation happened on the ridge of the newly-constructed village pond. Owing to their high nutritional value, the villagers are looking to make good returns from selling the produce in the market.
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For the people of Guduvancheri, Tiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu, given the high price of paddy, the availability of freshwater in the paddy field of the region is crucial to ensure their livelihood, as well as the food security of the region. However, when the parched village pond clubbed with the presence of overgrown aquatic weeds in the irrigation canals hindered the flow of freshwater through their paddy fields, encouraged by Goonj,
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When it is common for people, including pregnant women, to walk 5 km under the scorching sun just to fetch water for daily use, something must be very wrong with society. But, for the people of Lalpada village in Banswara district of Rajasthan, this has been the reality for years. When the handpumps failed and people were forced to drink dirty water, the villagers approached Goonj’s community worker there, who motivated them to dig an open well.
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What roads are to us, canals are to the people of Kuttanad. To tackle the invasive growth of water hyacinth in the backwaters of Edathua panchayat, our team in Kerala motivated the locals towards the cleaning of a 300mx12m stretch of canal. With the water hyacinth removed, adequate water now reaches the paddy fields, apart from being available for domestic use. The clear canal has also enabled people to freely move about in their canoes.
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The residents in Harrog region of Ramban district, Jammu, received Goonj’s support for a makeover… makeover of a school. The parents were sceptical to send their wards to the unkempt premises, where classes are to resume by July. As the annual school maintenance work couldn’t be undertaken this year following the lockdown and the non-availability of labour, when approached by our Jammu team, the villagers expressed their unanimous desire to clean the school and repair the pathway leading to it.
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In Palghar district of Maharashtra, water scarcity during intense summers, combined with the receding water levels in the wells, forced the people of the region to consume mucky water. Moreover, with the fear of an impending outbreak of water-borne diseases, Goonj motivated 207 people from the 15 villages of Vikramgad, Dahanu and Palghar blocks to work towards the cleaning of 15 wells of the region. Wells as deep as 30 feet were cleaned merely using local resources.
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Three years ago, rains washed away the bamboo bridge at Foskadanga village in Alipurduar district of West Bengal. This led to the dwellers of the tribal hamlets in Kalchini block to travel an additional distance of 20 km to reach schools, health centres and local markets. Goonj, in collaboration with its partner organization NEST, motivated and mobilized 40 residents to rebuild the bridge under its ‘Dignity For Work’ (DFW) initiative,
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For the natives of South Mandabari village in Alipurduar district of West Bengal, the absence of an irrigation system made paddy the only cultivable crop in the region during monsoon. With a resolve to tackle this issue, 75 people from the village, under Goonj’s DFW (Dignity for Work) initiative, worked tirelessly for 10 days towards the digging of a pond (50ftx25ftx12ft). Under DFW, locals are mobilized, motivated and empowered to identify and solve problems at the community level,
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