Happy to be alive!
(before, during, and especially after hiking the Aravali foothills)
“Where is the path? This is no path! There is no path!” Uday repeated.
We were all laughing because it was true. We returned to
Karech today, this time to trek with the women as they gathered wood from the
managed forests. This was my second wood trek, but boy oh boy was this a much more
treacherous hike than the time before. Like Uday said, there really was no path
to walk on as we followed the women to collect wood. We were literally
traversing the side of a mountain. Rocks gave way around my feet. I watched as
one tumbled down the cliff until I could no longer see it skipping down the
wall. At that same moment, one of the guys asked about the Ironman keychain on my
backpack.
“Yep, I’ve done a few half-Ironman races, but this, what we
are doing right now, this is crazy!”
I could tell our group was slowing down the women. I felt
bad for holding them up, but my legs were quite shivery. Slow and steady was
the only way to complete this race. Fortunately, we all made it safely to the
wood collection area. The women then used axes they brought with to cut up this
preselected dead tree. They tied up the wood into bundles and placed one atop
each of their heads for the entire trek back.
Each bundle weighed about 50 pounds. A single bundle
provides about a day’s worth of cooking and heating energy for one home. As a
result, wood is collected nearly every day of the year, except during the
monsoon season (June-Sept.). Mothers often had their kids come with so they
could help gather additional wood to be stockpiled for the rainy season.
Sitting and chatting in the kitchen with several ladies as
one woman boils maize over her wood-burning fire.
I asked, “If you had a stove that could cook food whenever
you wanted without wood, would you still collect wood?” Her answer was no.
I was shocked! Excited! And full of questions. I learned
that wood is no longer traded for buttermilk as before. Families now own their own livestock
because there is enough fodder in the forest to support domestic animals. It was interesting to hear that the reason families
in Karech didn’t have cattle prior was not because they couldn’t afford the
cows, but rather they didn’t have any means of feeding the cows. It was
neat to see how restoration efforts led by FES have developed the lands and as
a result, have provided income for rural families from their
buttermilk-producing cattle.
The family had more great news to share. The
two sons in the family were benefitting from NREGA, the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (which guarantees 100 days of work each year upon
request to the government, or compensation if there is no work available within
15 days of the request). Both men were able to land profitable jobs in the city
doing construction work. They were earning about Rs 300 per day (about $5). They
each owned a Honda motorcycle and a cellphone. For this family, and many others
in Karech, wood was no longer much of a bartering tool after all.
What did I learn from this? Villages are not static islands
separate from the world!! Just like towns and cities everywhere, village
systems change rapidly. I am amazed by how much has changed in Karech since my
first visit in 2011. I am inspired by the human and governmental efforts that
have combined to make a difference in the lives of these rural families.
So where does this leave us? In a busy state of reactionary
processing! We are all gearing up to recalibrate our methods, adjust our
designs, and reschedule our research plan based on the current state of the
system. What happens next is to be continued…
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