(THRIVE, an organization with a mission to help rural Indian villages emerge is organizing a grand fundraising event at Milan Restaurnt in Shrewsbury, MA on Friday, November 7 2003. The event features Bhangara, Garba and DJ dancing. Click here for more information.

Amaresh Mahapatra from MA visited the Thrive projects in India.)

THRIVE has established a small school in Saduapalli village, Nayagadh district, Orissa. I and my daughter, Surabhi, visited the village in March, 2003. Surabhi, who is a senior in college, was a THRIVE intern in fall, 2003. These are some facts I learned on this trip.

The School has three lady teachers and about 50 students. There are four grades – shishu (KG), 1, 2, and 3 grades. Lessons are in Oriya and include the alphabet, math and reading. Classes run from 10 AM to 1:30 PM classes. Then the kids are given a lunch which has been cooked outdoors on an open pit fire. After lunch the kids walk home - some children walk 4-5 km to get to school. The school caters to 18 adivasi villages – each with about 20 huts I estimate. A second school was started recently and is run by a single male teacher with weaving experience. The kids were all given one set of school uniforms at the beginning of the year (for a total cost of $200). Prior to this some of the children had no clothes. The children range in age up to 12 or 13 years old and smile and giggle a lot, particularly when there are visitors, pretty much like kids the world over. For most of the adivasi families this is the first generation going to school.

The village itself has many interesting features. One of the THRIVE teachers, Binodini didi, has helped set up twelve Self Help Groups (SHGs, a government created concept) with ten women in each. Each group has collected about Rs.4,500 over 18 months – the Government provides matching funds of equal amount to an officially created SHG. The SHG money is put in a local bank with THRIVE’s help. For most of these women this was there first bank account and first experience of saving money for the future. I cannot describe the pride in the women’s faces when they talked about their SHG. One lady’s son became seriously ill – she borrowed Rs. 2,000 from her SHG to take her son to Nayagadh (about 20 km) for medical treatment. She would not say it but the other women said this essentially saved her son’s life. She paid back the loan in 3 months. The SHG charges a monthly interest 3% to members but the interest goes back into the common kitty. The lady paid back the loan in 3 months – how did she do it? Probably by selling a family owned goat or other possession. But she did not have to do it under duress and therefore got a better price.

The people use an Adivasi language - Koi bhasa. There is only one paddy crop per year in the monsoon. The men drink todi rest of year; family cares and worries fall on the women. They go to surrounding hills, collect “sala patra” for “khalli. A bus from Badamunda in Bhubaneshwar takes 3 hrs. to Saduapalli.

To learn more about THRIVE, please visit their website at www.wethrive.org

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