Naxalites, Maoists, and Elephants! Oh my!: Jharkhand, Day 1

These past three days, my Indian counterpart and I ventured to Jharkhand to visit some of the NGOs. Jharkhand is a very remote, mountainous state that still has many tribal people. It is also thick with jungles, which serve as a haven to elephants, cobras, and Naxalites/Maoists. Yes, I was in a separatist/guerilla stronghold and came out unscathed! Exciting!

The first day of my venture to Jharkhand, Saloni and I saw one of the beautiful waterfalls for which Jharkhand is known. To get through this waterfall, we had to drive through tribal villages where the inhabitants didn't speak hindi. Some of the women were breast feeding topless, which is quite normal in Senegal, but in India! Scandal! India has opposite standards as Senegal. Here, women wear shorts, not too short, but still shorts or skirts. But you would never ever see cleavage on the street or in a movie. When you do, it is scandalous! In Senegal, boobs are flying everywhere, but if you show some leg, you're a big slut.

Anyways, the scenery was gorgeous. Photos to come.

The next day, we visited an NGO 3 hours outside of the capitol city of Ranchi. Our driver, who was not friendly in any way, got lost and promptly blamed it on us (he was mad because he actually had to work most of the day and couldn't sit on his ass while we visited the NGOs). We stopped in a town to ask for directions. We noticed that this town had a red hammer and sickle flag at every turn and the hammer and sickle painted on every wall. In the center of town, there was a bust statue of Lenin in a garden. The archway over the entrance had a red star above it. Could this be a Maoist stronghold? Is Mississipi a redneck republican stronghold? I wanted to get out and take photos but the driver wouldn't let me! DAMN!

We visited one of the NGOs, Banwasi Vikras Ashram, with which we work. They are mobilizing communities to get girls in their school. The NGO then schools the girls, in a 1 to 3 year residential course to prepare them for formal school. Unfortunately, the NGO schools are much better, more engaging and creative than the formal schools. The chance of the girls dropping out of formal schools is quite high. To remedy this, the NGO has its teachers check up on the girls who have been mainstreamed once per month.

We know that their community mobilization efforts work really well. How? We met a 13 year old girl who was just married. She told her mom that she wanted to stay in school for at least one more year before she had to move in with her husband/pedophile. Her mother said yes! That is quite a feat.

They are such a great local organization. Next up... CWD - Center for Women's Development (ran by nuns).