I had been trying to gain the trust of the women so that they would listen to me, even though I was an outsider who didn’t speak their language. Over time, I had been familialised and had started gaining acceptance among the village men and the youth. My office team would tell the villagers we met that I was from Ahmedabad, where the recent plane crash had happened, just 2 kms from my house. Suddenly, they had something specific to remember about me. Anyway, now they had a lot of information to retain about who I was.
After multiple Gram Sabha meetings and visits by villagers to our office, the women had started getting to know me. We spoke about issues in their village, what crops they were sowing, whether they had Aadhaar and health cards. Eventually, I started asking if they had heard about self help groups and whether they were or had ever been part of one. Some of them had heard of it, most had never been a part of it, and very few were currently involved.
Doing this alongside the Gram Sabha and FRA process meant that women were present in these spaces too. I spoke about the benefits of collectivisation, bypassing the middleman, earning respect, increasing income, using that money to improve their lives and villages, and also not needing to go out for work. Most women across most villages agreed when these ideas were discussed.
There were also moments that stayed with me. They would laugh when I spoke about Mahua as something to eat and would innocently call it “Mahoo,” something they associated traditionally with liquor. We spoke about other forest products too, but they were not very interested in putting in extra effort to increase sale prices. They seemed content with what they had.
In Padnar, I began to understand this a little more. The village had had a bad previous experience, someone had stolen money. Since then, there was no trust or willingness to engage in something collective again. We met them during a CFRMC training in their village, where we stayed for two days, which is probably when I got malaria. Even in these longer interactions, women rarely spoke and Gram Sabha discussions continued to be dominated by men.
I tried explaining why a women’s collective is required, but it didn’t land immediately. So I showed them the “Kyu Samooh” videos by Ajeevika on YouTube, and that seemed to have a more direct impact. It made things more real.
Now, they have agreed to try value addition of imli by deseeding, which fetches almost double the market rate. It is a small step, but it is something.
I am hoping to contribute, in whatever way possible, to help build pathways where they can move towards more sustainable livelihoods and dignity, but at a pace and in a way that they are comfortable with.
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