Charity Admin, Author at Operation Sahay Foundation

Just in Time

March 18, 2021 Charity Admin Social

In one of OSF’s intervention villages at Koraput in Odisha, a family was preparing for marriage of their son. The boy was aged below 18 years and illiterate. His to-be life partner was from an adjoining village; her age was around 16 years and she was illiterate as well. Almost 70% arrangements were completed for the marriage.

But the decision taken by the village leaders who attended a gender program organized by OSF played a major role in thwarting this child marriage. They conveyed that it was unlawful to proceed with wedding. The boy and his family understood and the marriage was indefinitely postponed. It was decided that, the wedding could be solemnized after they reach the marriageable age. The decision was communicated to the bride’s house and the program was cancelled on mutual understanding.

When we involve in community work, such avoidable social issues come to our attention. The tribal communities face a lot of problems, like poor health conditions, dropouts from school and low socio-economic status due to child marriages. Many don’t aspire to get to higer studies and they are unable to intellectually contribute to the community development.

OSF started this intervention in March 2021 with a workshop for the village leaders to discuss the issue of early marriage. This was the first program for the area and for the communities. In the workshop there was a free and fair exchange on the topic and we conveyed the government guidelines for marriage age and the negative social impact for their communities. The leaders sensed the gravity of the issue and promised to align to the age guidelines

Further, the particpant leaders conducted meetings on this topic in their respective villages. They advised the families to follow Govt directions and not to encourage marriage proposal involving under-aged children.

Learn off-line

June 22, 2021 Charity Admin Education

Muni Wadeka lives in Patamanda Village in Koraput Dist of Odisha. She is the daughter of Nistu and Tare Wadeka. They are small farmers in the hilly uplands in Narayanpatna area. Her mother tongue is Kuvi, which does not have a native script. Muni last attended school in February 2020 when she was in the 6^th Standard. The school is situated 2km from her home and she walks to school. It was a long break as the schools remained closed and there was no provision for online classes. They do not have smartphones, tab or laptops.

By the 7^th month since the school closure, Operation Sahay Foundation started a learning program for the children of her village. She started attending that regularly and says “It was so good, that I could continue my learning at my village itself. My parents are so happy that I have this opportunity. We do reading, writing, practice mathematical tables, learn addition, division, multiplication, subtraction and also learn puzzles”! The learning centre works from 5PM to 7PM.

She is excited there are books now in the reading centre which runs as part of the learning program. Odiya, English and Hindi books are available for children on various subjects. She likes the Story books and it’s the first time she has come across books with nice pictures. Muni has not seen story books earlier and never knew that such resources existed.

Now her daily routine is to do homework given at the learning center in the morning. Then goes out to help in the farm and does some house work. In the evening before the classes, she spends time with her friends and goes to the reading centre. Her family is glad that despite the difficulty and restrictions due to Covid, Muni is able to participate and be benefitted through the centre established by OSF.

WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO HELP YOUNG FRIENDS LIKE MUNI HAVE A GREAT FUTURE THOUGH SHE LIVES IN A VERY REMOTE AREA – PLEASE WRITE TO US HOW YOU COULD HELP.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE FOR THE RUNNING OF THESE CENTRES, USE OUR ONLINE DONATION OPTION www.osfindia/donate-donor

Slash Not, Burn Not

June 18, 2021 Charity Admin Agriculture

When we tried to creat awareness about the demerits of slash and burn cultivation (podu), we encouraged a farmer Mr.Sankar Hobika from the village Jogipalur in Odisha’s Koraput dist., to co-operate for a new way of farming as a demo project. The practice of abandoning cultivable land after 3 years of use and developing a new forest strip for cultivation is a traditional practice. Valuable green cover is thus lost in the hills. The farmers shift to a new strip because of lowering yield. In the tribal upland belt, there is very little use of manure as we observed and consequently no or little of nutrient infusion.

The new farming practice is thus – the field is covered in mulch and they have to till at planting stations alone. With OSF’s financial support he cultivated corn in a piece of land on a test basis. He sourced straw for mulching from another village. That land was a regular yielding land, but by using this new system of farming he received comparatively more yield with less work. He understood the productive use of mulching in farming for the first time.

He had paddy cultivation in another land. So, when he recognized the value of mulching, he used the residue from the paddy by preserving the straw instead of burning them. Also, he has done a compost tank at his field; instead of burning the residue or dumping it he utilizes it to make manure.

Corn was thus raised as summer crop with the new method and he is very much happy.

Fellow farmers from nearby village are coming to see the new system of agriculture at Sankar Hobika’s field.

Generous Heart

November 11, 2020 Charity Admin Education

Jayanti Mandingi, of Patamanda in Narayanpatna Block in Odisha, is a Class 12 student in Arts. She has a creditable achievement as the only girl of her village to have successfully completed Class 10. Her parents, Godru and Kone Mandingi are small farmers and daily wage labourers in the mountains. Their earnings are insufficient to meet the needs of 6 members in their family. Jayanti is second daughter among the 4 children. Education gets a lower priority in this area where Kuvi, a language with no script is the mother tongue. It’s a challenge for children to study in Odiya medium from their lower classes.

After returning from her school, she rushes to her role as the Teacher-cum-Facilitator of the Mind-to-Read Centre of Operation Sahay Foundation in their village. This is one of the 12 village-centric learning centres established by OSF. The centre has a library and regular brush-up classes are conducted for children to retain their reading, foundational math and concepts. The schools are shut owing to Covid-19 for many months. A Feb 2021 report by Azim Premji Foundation observes the detrimental impact – School closure due to COVID-19 pandemic has led to complete disconnect from education for the vast majority of children or inadequate alternatives like community-based classes or poor alternatives in the form of online education, including mobile phone-based learning. Equally alarming is the widespread phenomenon of ‘forgetting’ by students of learning from the previous class – this is regression in their curricular learning

Jayanti is clear why she took up this challenge of teaching even when she is a student – “my brothers and sisters were without any guidance, nobody were there to take care of their academics and schools remain closed. This compelled me to help them. By the same time OSF has given a scope for it, so I wanted to use the opportunity for the betterment of our children.” She adds “In the beginning I was scared of this work, but now I am comfortable. This is also an avenue to develop myself. Before teaching I have to prepare and I get to read many books now. Through this work my knowledge and outlook is getting developed.”

The honorarium she is getting from OSF is a great support for her own education as well.

Learning unlocked

January 22, 2021 Charity Admin Education

Dablu Bingadika, a 7^th Std student, hails from Denganapayu village, which is a beautiful hilly area situated 1300m above MSL. The village got connected to the road network only a few months back. Dablu is a student of TRW Govt Residential School, 45km away from the village at Burja, Laxmipur. Their village school is non-functional and hence his parents Utra and Harso Bingadika has put him in the far away hostel school.

OSF’s Reading and Learning program is functional in the village since September 2020. This has made the family relieved that the children in the village are able to spend some useful time learning, even during the Covid days. Earlier Dablu and his friends were just whiling away their time and moving around the area. Daily, classes are held from 8AM to 10AM in their village except during the lockdown days. Only students from their village attends the classes. Sirma, is the teacher who is a 10^th Class passout. Reaching 10^th class is a great milestone in their area. Dablu has access to the story books stocked in the OSF learning unit as well and he is a regular user.

Parents of Dablu are illeterate and never attended school, but they desire a great future for Dablu and his elder sister. They want their children to make the best opportunity of the facility which they feel is God given.

WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO HELP SUCH YOUNG ONES GET UNINTERRUPTED OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN IN REMOTE AREAS? PLEASE WRITE TO US HOW YOU COULD HELP.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE TOWARDS THE RUNNING EXPENSES OF THESE CENTRES, USE OUR ONLINE DONATION OPTION www.osfindia/donate-donor

Hope in sight

July 14, 2021 Charity Admin Education

Natpurwa in Uttar Pradesh is known for the unexpected survival option practiced for many generations. There are welcome changes off-late led by those coming out of the trade. The village Pradhan reflects the will and wish of a large majority who desires a different, bright and healthy future for their children. On request from the village, OSF is assisting with the provision of education resources for children. A regular contact program is also on to encourage them to learn. Other learning resources are also being provided on a regular basis.

Location – Natpurwa in Uttar Pradesh
Reach – 200 children