Two Weeks in Rajakadd

Two weeks in Rajakadd

Well, Kim and I have settled into our new home, and the local’s curiosity has not really waned. Now that they see that we’re staying I think it’s moved to a new level. One day it took us three hours to get home on what is normally a 40 minute walk because we had gotten invited into three different homes for tea. We’re not doing that everyday though and are learning polite ways to say no, especially for people we’ve not met before.

Our evenings are usually filled with washing laundry before it gets dark and playing with the neighbor kids who have an endless fascination with us. There are a girl and boy upstairs from us and another little girl and boy across the yard. There English mostly consists of “What is your name?” And “How are you?” That’s what they have down pat anyway, we teach them patty cake games and we trade words of Malayalam and English. We’ve learned a multitude of plant names and they find it absolutely hysterical when we can’t pronounce many of the words.

Malayalam has around 54 different letters, which means that there are just a whole plethora of sounds that we are unable to make. My vocabulary is growing word by word though. Although I still have really no idea how to string together a sentence. Here are some words and phrases for you (these are obviously just phonics as the script is different:

Veelum E’tra: What is the price?
Nani: Thank You
Bashu: Cow
Pati: Dog
Pusha: Cat
Nala Kallam: See you tomorrow
Mahra: Rain (that’s not exactly right but I don’t know how to represent the hr sound)
Suekamano: How are you?
Chuda: Hot
Arg: Goat
Paneer: Cheese

On our way to and from town we get asked by children on average about 10 times “What is our name?” People come to the doors of their homes to watch us walk by. We have the ability to double the business at any shop we may have stopped in. School yards of children and teenagers will stand by the gate and stare. On one hand I’m very blessed to have the opportunity and on the other hand it’s hard not to feel slightly irritated and tired of the staring. It’s like constantly being in a spotlight. We’ve also made friends now and have different places to make some refuge. All and all I’m grateful for the opportunity though. Any other situation where I traveled to India would have put in the giant category of tourist and I would not have such blessed opportunities to get to know people and be so invited into their homes for candid conversations.

The food is excellent. Lunch consists of what is called a Meal. It’s a huge pile of rice surrounded by different piles of curries all of which have been excellent. You eat everything with your hands and am slowly getting accustomed to this. I’m getting to the point that is my mouth isn’t on fire, then something is missing and it doesn’t taste as good. I’m getting better at my cooking skills as well as Kim is a great and experienced cook and we’re cooking all our meals at night at home with market fresh vegetables. India’s also love their sweets and Kim and I have not been denying ourselves this pleasure.

In addition my laundering skills are slowly improving my trial and error. I’m sun bleached some things, learned that clothes do indeed bleed and am learning the strength and importance required in good rinsing and ringing of excess water. Plus I’m learning what a great task it is. We have running water, but on our way to work we often see women down by the stream to do this task. I understand now the practically of only having a few items and wearing them until they are way too filthy to wear anymore, unless you want to spend all of your time washing clothes.

The issues facing Rajakadd

As far of work we’ve spent the last couple of weeks learning and gathering as much information as we can about both HPWDS and the issues facing the area and these people. We’ve had the opportunity to meet with 4 different groups of women to talk about the issues they face in their lives. We’ve also traveled to Munnar to get a tour of the tea factory and the settlements they have provided the workers. We are very fortunate to get to visit the factory as this is not something that is normally open to outsiders.

The issues facing this region are overwhelming, and are the same time the same classic issues that people all over the world have dealt with: poverty, corruption and lack of opportunities for advancement.

Tea Plantation Workers: By law the tea plantation is supposed to provide housing to families, free education to 4th grade, child care to 6 years of age, and 14 sick days. Sounds like a good deal, but when you consider all the stipulation and extra rules you can see that it’s more like unforced slavery.

Permanent tea plantation workers (mostly women) are required to pick a minimum of 28kg of tea a day. They leave their houses at 7:30 in the morning and return to their houses at 6:00 at night. In the remainder of the time, they still have to take care of the family, the education of the children and the home. They are required to work 6 days a week. Sounds like women in the states, but you must remember that these women are walking to and from work putting in nine hours of hard physical labor on steep mountain sides, and have to do all the cleaning, laundry and other tasks with out the help of modern machinery.

If they pick the minimum of 28 kgs a day they receive a wage of 83 rupees (12% of which is taken out for Social Security) this means take home pay of 73 a day which equals about $1.63 a day. Anything they pick over 28 kgs a day is used as an incentive and they are entitled to bonus pay. Sounds like a good deal right? Here’s the catch, in order to receive the bonus anything they must have 100% attendance at work. They must have worked 26 days of that month. Get sick? No bonus. Family emergency? No bonus. Injured? No bonus. Too rainy and the plantation shuts down? No bonus. In addition these people have only 1 day off a week, Sunday. What does the company do on Sunday they offer the incentive of double pay on Sundays if you work? Well, obviously almost all of the people feel compelled to work. Which leaves them too exhausted and they end up often missing Monday or some other day and losing the bonus.

Well, on the plus side the workers are offered a pension from the government. Unfortunately through the course of their lives because they are so poor they often have to borrow from it. (They are allowed to borrow from it 3 times in their lives) for the death or marriage of a family member or the education of children or any other emergences. By the time the retire they have about $1,000 if they’re lucky. Plus official retirement age in India is 55. So the company checks the records every 3 months to see whose turn 55. Those people are then forced into retirement and have to vacate the premises and relinquish the housing. You might have lived there your whole life and now have to figure out to pay for housing. Just to give you a point of reference we have on of the better houses in all of Rajadakk. We have a concrete structure, real doors, 5 rooms, running water and a western toilet. We pay $65.00 a month in rent. I’m not how housing is in the rest of the area but I’ve noticed there’s not an over abundance of housing in the area. This means that many people make homes out of mud bricks and or shanty villages.

The housing only has to e provided to permanent workers, they also employ many temporary workers who are not entitled to such benefits. The housing provided is one room row houses with a kitchen. When there are more families then housing the workers are required to double up with two to three families in a home.

All in all the company gets to say see how good we are. We provide housing and are providing benefits and incentives. We’re doing our part. In the plantations that have closed the people are still living in the homes, but there is no longer any school, home maintenance or electricity. They go to the field’s everyday to pick the tea and sell it privately at the auction. In essence though they are underselling and taking any price they can get and bringing the entire price of tea and spices down.

Because of the demanding work hours these people have no time to start other income generating endeavors like a cow, garden or the like. In addition all the people who are supposed to be helping them are in cahoots together. The unions with the company managers, the managers with the politicians, the politicians with the unions. They often stage public “disagreements” for show and then break bread together. There is literally little opportunity for these people.

When we visited the factory we were able to meet with the head honcho. He was young maybe 30 if that. He was wearing Nike’s, Khaki shorts and a baseball hat. He was very very skeptical. He gave us the speal of how well the workers were treated and that we obviously had no control over wages or the like because the union set the prices. After we left he called the other factory and told them not to talk to us. Had he known we were coming earlier he would have had an opportunity to get to the labors to tell them not to talk to us. It’s been done before and that’s the reason the women said they we’re being so frank in talking to us because no had told them not too this time.

It was an odd experience, mostly because my specialty is not in rabble rousing and that is neither my intent nor my purpose here. My experience is in organizational development, which might have thrown him off a little bit, but there are also many avenues to human rights work. All equally important.

In the coming weeks we will be traveling to meet with some of the tribal organization which have entirely different issues as well.

Effects of Tourism
Munnar is the beginning the processes of development of tourism. It’s long been tourist destination, but in the last four years or so many resorts and hotels have gone up and more are continuing to be build all over the area. As western tourists we are often taught about the ecological impact our tourism and to take only photos and leave only footprints. What we often don’t consider in the social impact our presence. Everything from our clothing, to customs, such as drinking and smoking changes the local region as people see and exposed to different sets of values. In addition catering to tourists drives up the prices in the markets. As these women were saying, a kg of carrots used to be 3-4 rupees, now its 25 rupees. They have to travel quite a distance to buy affordable products. In addition national tourists get drunk during the day and come and harass them in the fields. After all it’s the tea plantations and the natural beauty of the area the draws people. It puts a new perspective on me as a tourist and what my impact is for either the good or bad.

There are many more issues those for children, those for women, those for farmers, those for tribes but for now I’ll have to stop.

May your days be good and your nights sweet. Next time you use your washing machine, be grateful. May you count the multitude of blessings in your life.

Always,
Jessica

P.S. The rains haven’t started yet. We’re still in some sort of apprehension of what it will be like as we have been unable to get a clear and consistent answer. But we’ll be grateful for as long as it holds out.

Rajakkad

Arriving Home
Monday morning we were able to hire a taxi to take us up to Munnar. Munnar is the largest city in the area and is considered a gateway to what the locals refer to as God’s Country; and oh how it is. For everything that Cochi is not, this area around Munnar is. It was a 4 hour drive up what we might more commonly refer to as a lane. It winds around the mountain side through some of the most scenery I have ever witnessed. Lush green tropics, peaks that get lost in the clouds, lazy rivers, rocky cliff sides and majestic waterfalls occupied our drive. Oh yeah, and a family of monkeys.

When we arrived in Munnar Mohonen hadn’t arrived yet so we wandered into a coffee shop. After an hour, when he still hadn’t arrived, we called him again. It seems that he had gotten into a car accident on the way and would be late. By this time the rain had started, and we were certainly reminded that we are in the monsoon season.

A couple of hours later Mohonen arrived to pick us up. We piled into the jeep and made our way back to what is our home for the next 10 weeks, Rajakkad. Smaller, more windy roads for about 23k will take you to Rajakadd, home for about 13,000 people (although its hard to tell that there’s even that many.) On the way in we saw the scene of the car accident. It had sent the other jeep rolling of the hillside, and sure enough the jeep lay upside down off the side of the road. We were informed that everybody is OK though.

We arrived in Rajukadd, tired and soaked to the core. We drove through town, which consists of what I believe to be two or three main roads lined with shops selling such wares as textiles, vegetables, food items, medicinal items, cookware and so forth. We drove through and about 1 km outside the other side of town we arrived at our home.

Our little apartment is a new construction of last year, part of a house that a land older built. For the area it is very nice. It’s made of concrete with concrete floor, has a kitchen area with a sink (we had to get a little gas stone, and of course no refrigerator. The unfortunate part is that for furnishing we only have 2 beds, 1 desk and 3 chairs. So we needed to purchase quite a few items, none of which are expensive.

Curiosities of Town
Kim and I, are without a doubt the talk and speculation of the town right now. We’re hoping that it will die down shortly. The first oddity was that we moved our beds into separate rooms, which is an odd concept for Indians. Where ever we go we everyone stops to stare, conversations are suspended and everybody literally turns around to gawk. I suppose not many foreigners make it back here, and even fewer move in. It gets a little uncomfortable at times, but Kim and I are getting used to it, and it’s getting gradually less as the days goes by.

Women are not allowed out after dark, which is about 6:30 here. Yesterday Kim and I went out to get dinner (which costs us about 25 cents for all you can eat.) Large groups of men wandering about, most often drinking and what not. It was a little uncomfortable, and I doubt we’ll be doing it frequently. Word must have traveled quickly to our host Mohonen, because within about 10 minutes of our arrival he showed up at the shop we at to make sure we were OK. It was certainly kind, and ensures some safely, but also indicates to what type of watch we are under. Kim and I are using lots and lots of humor as we make the cultural adjustments to our new home. I don’t think I’ve laughed more in that last year than I have in the last couple of days. I am very fortunate to be with Kim, who as has a perfectly complimentary personality to my own, so we are enjoying ourselves.

Obviously there is no washer and dryer, and there is also no laundry service in this area. Kim and I also decided to turn down the house maid, which basically means we are in the process of learning to wash cloths by hand, using a big rock, bucket and soap. Kim made the first attempt yesterday and this activity alone brought an audience of about 6 people who were all laughing. I got a great picture, but we obviously have a lot to learn about washing clothing. Luckily the neighbor lady across the way let me watch her do it. I think I have the general idea, but we’ll see how the rest goes.

The other issue is that it’s humid here. We haven’t hit full on Monsoon yet, and it hasn’t rained in the last two days. Still, it’s wet. I think that I have almost settled into the idea that everything will be damp until I get home. Pieces of paper become soggy and drying clothes, well, today we bought an iron as that might be our only method to get them completely dry.

Also, forget Minnesota’s mosquito. The ones here have to be 3 to 4 times as big. Yeah, that equals fun. I’m also working on learning the local language, which is difficult. I’ve gotten thank you down (Nanni), which makes everyone smile when I say it. People all speak a few words of English, some more than others. Our guide speaks somewhat adequate English which is going to make the work situation a little more difficult.

I’ve taken pictures, but it seems I forgot to pack the cord that connects my camera to my computer. I am hoping to replace it soon so that I may post pictures. There is a little internet café in town, but the connection is somewhat slow. It is my intent to go minimum once a week but hopefully twice, so please don’t be concerned if I may be slow in returning e-mails. I can call the US from town, but it’s in a little both in the store so I doubt I will call often or be able to talk for long. Please be understanding.

Work

On Tuesday Kim and I went to the office of HPWDS for the first time to meet with Mohonen about what we would be doing for the summer. The office is course small and situated like most Indian homes in the area. We sat down in the little hallway area with the employees, volunteers, wandering children, our jeep driver and an orthodox priest and the advising lawyer. A very, very different setting and environment than you would find or expect in the US, and to be honest Kim and I were a little nerve racked because we certainly weren’t prepared to be giving a small presentation like we were asked to. (HPWDS is very keen on implementing a system called Internal Learning System, that simelotaniously strengthens organizations by providing outcome and process evaluation mechanisms as well as is an empowerment tool for participants. This is what they asked us to present on.) We spend the day with them discussing these things, with a couple of translators. It’s apparently important to Indians that everyone understands well, so translations and discussions take a very long time. At the end we agreed that their priorities for us are in this order 1) Help implement ILS 2) Grant writing 3) Brochure development and 4) Website development (which reminds me I need to get my hand on Microsoft Publisher.)

Their work hours are Monday though Sunday 10-4. Kim and I will spend some time in the office, but mostly will do a lot of work from our home since we both brought computers. We really don’t have a set schedule.

Yesterday we had to opportunity to visit two of the Self Help Groups (SHG). In micro credit (which this organization does) a small loan is giving to a group of people who then divvy it up individually. The whole group is then responsible for repayment of the loan. These SHG meet weekly to discuss personal issues and community issues. We met with two groups of women with 12 and 17 members. HPWDS operates 103 groups, some of which have meeting since 1998. There are separate groups of men and women.

It was really a privilege to get meet with these groups and here directly what they felt were the large issues in the community. The big issues were lack of jobs, children’s education and economic issues facing the region. One group talked a lot about women’s rights and how to increase them. Kim and I shared about what women did in the US to gain freedoms. Its somehow a difficult position to be in though. One is that all of these people seem like they are looking directly to us for answers, that somehow we come with all the keys to solve these large problems. It can be very difficult to explain concepts like globalization and have it make sense. Plus we’re hoping not to cause to much of a stir.

In my next posting I’ll go through more of what’s affecting the workers in this region, but until then may your days be wonderful.

Always,
Jessica

Getting to Kochi

Well, in a somewhat expected play of follies both my traveling partner, Kim and I, arrived a little frazzled but alive and kicking at our destination. When things began to go wrong in Minneapolis, I decided to take a deep breath and relax as I knew that it was going to be a trying next couple of days.

Apparently the weather had gone array in Chicago and was causing a no wheel zone for a couple of hours. When I went to check in I got bumped up to an earlier flight so I would make my connecting flight to London. My new flight was leaving in 5 minutes. In addition, Kim, had arrived before I did, and they put her on a previous flight to Chicago. They told me not to worry though that we would meet up before the flight to London. I booked it through security and made the first plane, only to sit on the tarmac in Minneapolis for the next 3 hours. When we finally made it to Chicago, my flight for London was supposed to have been gone, but since they had a no wheel zone there was a tiny silver of hope that I would make my flight.

They informed us when we got off of the plane to look at the information board and if our flight was no longer listed or canceled go to customer service. I got of the plane and lo and behold, no London. I sadly grabbed my things and headed off to find customer service. I found it, and then I found the line. I walked to the end, and walked and walked and walked. About 2 – 3 city blocks later I found my place. I settled in to what looked to be a very long night. About 15 minutes later an airport gentlemen comes calling, “London, anyone traveling to London?” To which I replied, “Me!” Hurry, he informed me and started running. So I ran and in the nick of time made the London flight. I was the last person on the flight, and other passengers had already been sitting for 2 hours. Luckily, I had a window seat with no one next to me, so I was able to make my own little nest for the flight. Actually in the entire trip I was always blessed with a window seat. Luckily, Kim had also made it on the plane.

Eight hours later we arrived at Heathrow. We had about 8 more hours to killed, so Kim’s sister who lives in London met us and we did a quick tour of London. I saw Picadilly Circus, some other Square, the Thames river, Big Ben and in the distance the Royal Palace. I ate lunch in a real British Pub, and watched street performers. I thought of my friends who love England so, and wondered if these were the same streets they walked down.

After an exhausted day we made in back to the airport in just in time to make our next flight on to Mambai (Bombay). Even though I was utterly exhausted, I was not able to sleep at all on the nine hour flight. I was not as lucky this time and had someone next to me the whole time. It was cloudy as we arrived in at Mambai, but as we got close to the ground I had a rather good view of the city. The tall buildings, crowed streets and shanty towns squeezed into open areas.

Once in Mambai, our taste of India began. As we disembarked the plane we need to pick up our luggage to go through customs as it was our first port of entry into the country. I had a feeling the whole time that my luggage wasn’t going to arrive, and sure enough a nice gentleman comes up to me to inform me that my luggage had not made the connection from Chicago to London. He was helpful and that’s when I first experiences that what I’d heard before about the Indian Bureaucracy. What I’ve read before, turns out to be true. It takes at a minimum three people to answer a question. It took three people to help me fill out the paperwork, and another three to get me through customs. They informed me to leave an address of where I’d be staying with the people in Kochi and they’d deliver it to me, unfortunately we didn’t know yet where we’d be staying and were told to call when we knew.

After a little more hassle we made it to our flight to Kochi. A family that had been on the flight with us from London boarded the plane and sat across the aisle from us. Shortly before take-off he had a stroke. His body began convulsing, his wife screaming and his 4 year daughter sitting on the inside watching the whole thing. After about 10-15 minutes they we’re able to get him off the plane, and I pray that where ever he is now he is well.

We made it into Kochi, which is an extremely small, more train station like airport. Our hosts from HDPWS had offered to come in to meet us at the airport. We had declined because knowing it would be a 3 hour drive for them, coupled with our 3 days of not sleeping in traveling we would not be in the best of places to meet our new boss. We had not yet know where we were going to stay and I wandered off to find some people to talk to me about my luggage. Five people later, I was giving four more numbers to call the next day to find out if my luggage had arrived and give an address to which it could be sent.

During this time, Kim had run into our host and his three compatriots. They offered to drive us to wherever we wanted to go. Unfortunately, they do not speak English very well and are not that familiar with Kochi. Another things Indians are famous for include being extremely polite and not liking to say no. Three and half hours later after not being able to find our original destination and 2 stops at hotels that were not fit for women, we checked in for the night. Kim and I both fell right to sleep and woke up 15 hours later, sore from the trip.

Kim and I wandered around Kochi, my first real taste of India for the next two days. Kochi is not exactly a city I would like to return to again. It’s crowded and chaotic. Your senses get overloaded with colors, sounds, and smells. Unfortunately for Cochins, I don’t think that there is any such things as a sanitation department. As a result, add 5 millions people, small streets and little open space with no one to collect the garbage. What do you get? Garbage just goes everywhere and anywhere. Piled into open spaces, on what resembles sidewalks and parks. Cochin is also suffering from huge water shortages, which leaves the old historic part of the city often without water.

Three phone calls a day and still by Saturday night my luggage had still not arrived. We were supposed to be picked up Sunday morning to make our way up into the Mountains, but had to call our host to tell him to cancel the car, as I knew that once I left Cochi my chance of receiving my luggage was zill to none.

During our time in Cochi though we were able to take a tour of the back waters off the Arabain Ocean, gorgeous canals of lush tropics, visit the old historic area of Fort Cochin and take in a traditional dance performance from Kerala called Kathikali. Which involves a lot of facial expressions and hand jesters.

It’s Sunday now, and my luggage has arrived in Kochi and I’m just waiting for it to make its way to our hotel. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to make our way up to our village outside Munnar to start of placement.

Until then Love for all,
Jessica

Why I'm Here

Welcome to my blog about my summer in India. I have been awarded a grant by the Midwest Human Rights Center to spend my summer in India working with dislocated tea plantation workers through an organization called Higherange Development Planation Workers Union located in Rajadukkad, Idukki, Kerala, India. Enjoy reading and feel free to make comments.
I will try to update as much as possible but am unsure about how much internet access I'll have.

Here's the background on the area:
There were 25 tea plantations in the area that completely supported the infrastructure of the community. The tea plantations provided schools, roads, health care and were bound to abide by workers rights laws. The major tea company Tata Tea, owned 19 plantations in this area. As a result of globilization (which in my opinion is not a necessary evil, ask more if you're interested) the price fell drastically. And while Tata Tea did not pass on this fall to British comsumers, it did not pass on the benefits of its increased profits to the plantation workers. They made a boatload. Anyway in the past few years, Tata tea has completely pulled out of the region. It's closed 19 plantations and left 25,000 people in the region without any means of livelihood. Two of the plantations were sold off for tourism, and some were plotted up and sold. The problem with this is that the new small shareholders are under no obligation to abide by any workers rights. In addition, tea is currenlty sold through an auction system. Small family plot owners cannot compete with the remaining plantations and larger holders. They are often forced to undersell their project. In addition, the area is largely settled by tribal groups. The end result of all this stuff equals violance, plantations and larger groups burning triba homes and crops and starvations for the thousands who now find themselves without any livihood.So where's my place in all this? I'm going to be working with an organization called Highrange Plantations Workers Development Society (HPWDS). They are an NOG (non-governemental organization) Anyway, they were in the area before the tea plantations pulled out providing microcredit loans and other services. When the tea plantations pulled out they were placed under incrediably strain because they are the only shop in town and are a relatively young orginization. They are struggling for stable funding and organization stability. That's what I'll be doing this summer. Helping this orgnaization increase it's capacity through grantwriting, website design, writing articles in english, inplementing outcome measures and participatory evaluation processes.

This is a great opportunity for me because it utilizes a lot of my skills and provides me with valuable expereince in things that "I think" I might want to be doing. It perfectly utilizes my degree which is Public Policy with a double concetration in Community and Economic Development and Management and Leadership. It also ticks off my passions 1) Helping people and making the world a little bit more equitable 2) Travel. 3) Spirtual exploration: In addition this is also a highly spiritual region and the home of Aruvedic medcine, allowing me to explore my minor in Spirutality and Healing more. 4) I'm going to by a good camera before I go and start experementing photography (a hobby that's on my list to pick up). I'm just not sure if I should go with digital or film. 5)The only things that I'm missing is the dance aspect, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to pick something up. I'm sure the opportunity will present myself. So yeah, um...I'm excited.