The village of Kusadgaon is about 10 kilometers from the CRHP compound. It has a population of 1650. Of the 274 families living here, 75 have toilets. There were 30 births in 2009 and no deaths. The village health worker states that all deliveries were safe deliveries and most babies were delivered in the village. Only 32 villagers needed to be hospitalized in 2009. One villager was cured of TB and one is having treatment. In this village, 92% of the children go to school, with 154 girls and 159 boys currently attending classes. The village council puts chlorine in the drinking water daily. These statistics are displayed on a large blackboard and updated regularly.
There is a farmer's club and a women's group in this village. They work together to meet their identified health and village development goals. The mobile health team used to visit the village once a week but village health has improved so much, they now only visit once a month. A woman sings loudly and proudly in Marathi, 'Have a cup of tea instead of children,' a family planning message she has learned.
Children are fairly well behaved here. They are clean and so are their clothes. Their hair is black and shiny. Their skin is soft and their tummies are filled with nutritious foods. The roads are cleared of garbage and are lined with waste-water channels. Alleys behind homes have soak pits so water does not pool in the streets. There are few mosquitoes and no cases of malaria in this village. Cement homes provide adequate shelter from heat and rain. Both men and women are earning income and contributing to the development of their village. The village of Kusadgaon is a Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP) village.
On the contrary, the settlement of Indiranagar is directly across the street from CRHP. In this nomadic community, the population varies as people come and go. Tired looking elders with small children at their sides sit outside tents made of tarps and cloth, which provide little protection from the heat and rain. Some live in metal shacks. There are few cement homes. Waste-water covers the roads and alleyways, providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes, and increasing the risk of malaria. Garbage is strewn about and is mixed with pig and dog excrement.
Thin, dusty children, some with the reddish dry hair typical of vitamin deficiency, play in the dirt in their tattered hand-me-down clothes. Many have runny noses and dry coughs. A fourteen-year old girl begs for help. Her father is working away from the settlement for several months, her mother committed suicide, leaving her the impossible task of caring for her five younger siblings. They live under a blue tarp. Many people in this settlement struggle day after day to survive, living well below the poverty line of 15,000 Rupees per year (approx. $342 CAN).
So why has Kusadgaon progressed while Indiranagar has not?
CRHP never forces itself on a community. The community must invite CRHP to work with them and the people must be willing to make group decisions on what health and development issues they tackle. They must work together and take an active role in improving health and living conditions.
Indiranagar is not a typical rural village with families that have lived in the village for generations. It is more like a transient camp. Families that know each other and care about each other's well being can more easily engage in community action.
There is a local saying that one branch is weak; several branches bound together are strong. Indiranagar has not yet formed a cohesive, strong community. It is a community made up of many marginalized families with no firm roots, families that feel powerless, families that are separated and oppressed by cast discrimination, religious beliefs, and their nomadic lifestyle. There is no glue binding them together. Indiranagar is not an organized community. It lacks consistent leadership. There is no men's group or women's group, no common goals to work towards.
Although CRHP has not yet been invited by the community to bring the Jamkhed Model to Indiranagar, CRHP is helping individual families who have come to them asking for help. Through private donations, CRHP is building homes for several needy families, including one for the young girl and her siblings living under a tarp. The girl's only request was to please have the house built before the next rainy season. How many rainy seasons had these children endured under that tarp? It's heartbreaking.
The yellow CRHP school bus arrives in Indiranagar six days a week to transport children across the busy road to the preschool within the CRHP compound. These children are treated with love and kindness. They sing and dance with each other, oblivious of caste and religious differences. They are responding to gentle discipline and a structured daily routine. They learn about, and practice personal hygiene and receive a plateful of nutritious food with as many refills as their little tummies can handle. The children are growing, they are energetic and they are happy to be in school. Hopefully, over time, these preschoolers will become the branches that will bind together to build a strong Indiranagar.
Until change takes place, too many of India's children will never have the opportunity to go to school. Not only will these children be unable to realize dreams of a better future, India will be denied the creativity, resourcefulness and intelligence that these children have to offer.
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