WUNRN
Women's Feature Service
India - New Delhi
"India - Another SEARCH intervention has been in improving the hygiene of the traditional Gond 'korma' - the rather dark and dirty hut in which women are isolated during menstruation. While it has been difficult to convince the community to do away with this practice of isolation, SEARCH health workers have managed to at least improve the 'korma', turning it into a clean, comfortable place, with perhaps a bed and a tiled roof. The 'korma' has, in fact, been transformed into a 'women's room', where women meet during their difficult days, rest and share experiences."
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Dr Rani Bang has successfully introduced modern medicine and practices of hygiene into tribal lifestyle. (Credit: Shekhar Soni\WFS)
By Shoma Sen
Gadchiroli (Women's Feature Service) -
Deep in the forests of Gadchiroli, a tribal area of eastern Maharashtra, live
the Gond 'adivasis' (tribals), some of the poorest and most neglected people of
the state. The region is considered dangerous because large parts of it have
come under the sway of Maoist rebels, also known as Naxalites, who have taken
up the challenge of organising the Gonds to fight for a society they claim is
based on justice and equality. The ensuing conflict between the rebels and the
state has turned the region into a "police state", where
anti-insurgency security forces are constantly on the vigil, storming Maoist
hide-outs and eliminating suspects. The word 'encounter' - a euphemism for such
extra-judicial killings - has become a part of local vocabulary.
The forest is usually not a place where
one would expect to find qualified doctors, especially ones who have studied at
the world renowned
Rani Bang (nee Chari), daughter of a
doctor and the granddaughter of a prominent Congress Party Member of Parliament
(MP) from Chandrapur, met Abhay, the son of the famous Gandhian, Thakurdas Bang
of Wardha, at Nagpur's Government Medical College. Abhay was involved in the
Sampoorna Kranti (Complete Revolution) movement initiated by political leader
Jayaprakash Narayan. On returning from Johns Hopkins, where the couple had gone
to pursue higher studies after their marriage, Rani and Abhay resolved to put
their powers of healing, as gynaecologist and physician respectively, in the
service of government Primary Health Centres (PHCs) for the benefit of ordinary
people.
In 1985, the couple set up SEARCH, a
multifarious village within a village. Located in Shodhgram, about 15
kilometres from the district headquarters of Gadchiroli on the Dhanora road,
SEARCH is a hospital, a de-addiction centre, a voluntary organisation that runs
various projects on tribal welfare, health, adolescent sex education and so on.
It is also a research institute that has brought out many publications.
Reminiscent of a tribal village, it is equipped with all the modern amenities necessary
to meet its objectives. Mud houses amidst trees built around a common
courtyard, hutments for in-house patients to live in with their families, a
temple dedicated to Danteswari Devi, worshipped by the Gonds, and other symbols
of tribal culture, are around to make patients feel at home. "We asked the
people what kind of a hospital they would like and then designed this
facility," says Dr Rani Bang. Of course, the funds to do all the good work
come from various government schemes and donors like the Ford Foundation.
The greatest achievements of the SEARCH
project have been to bring about a fall in the maternal mortality rate (MMR) of
the area through improved neo-natal childcare. This has been done by
introducing modern medicine and practices of hygiene into the tribal lifestyle,
through camps, visits to villages, training of birth attendants and health
workers from among the community and by encouraging city-trained doctors to
work in the area.
According to Sunanda, Women's Health
Coordinator, SEARCH, maternal mortality has been high in this region because
childbirth is carried out at home in the most primitive way. "Women arrive
at the hospital only in cases of an emergency, due to factors such as lack of
transport, finances and, initially, a lack of faith in modern medicine. But
this is gradually changing." This positive behavioural change - including a growing preference for
institutional deliveries - is largely because workers of SEARCH take the pains to
explain the danger signs to pregnant women so that they understand when they
must go to a hospital. "We explain about the anatomy, nutritious food and
convince the mothers-in-law to feed the pregnant women well," elaborates
Sunanda, who has been with the project for 15 years. Sunanda is originally from
Local customs are the reason for infant
deaths, too. Traditionally, Gond mothers starve themselves for an easier birth,
don't nurse for three days after their babies are born, and don't clothe the
newborn for five weeks. As a result, pneumonia kills a large number of infants.
In an attempt to address this concern, SEARCH has been encouraging mothers to
check the weight of their newborns, among other measures. SEARCH has also
trained birth attendants (TBAs), who can be any committed person who has
attended to around four child births in the village.
Another SEARCH intervention has been in
improving the hygiene of the traditional Gond 'korma' - the rather dark and
dirty hut in which women are isolated during menstruation. While it has been
difficult to convince the community to do away with this practice of isolation,
SEARCH health workers have managed to at least improve the 'korma', turning it
into a clean, comfortable place, with perhaps a bed and a tiled roof. The
'korma' has, in fact, been transformed into a 'women's room', where women meet
during their difficult days, rest and share experiences.
Elucidating the SEARCH approach to
improving the well-being of the Gonds, Sunanda speaks of the need to understand
the essentials of Gond culture and build on their tribal heritage. "We
don't laugh at the tribals, their beliefs or superstitions," she says.
"Their medicine is mainly herbal medicine and black magic practised by
traditional healers. We tell the people that they should also take our modern
medicine. We encourage them to bring their healer along and try to train him in
modern medicine. Now the traditional healers trained by us carry malaria slides
and give tablets."
At the other end of the spectrum, Rani
Bang has been working on the Gond tribal medicine, conducting scientific
experiments to ascertain their veracity. She feels that the use of asafoetida
(hing) to treat fungal infections of the skin; garlic for vaginal infections;
and boiled guava leaves for anal fissures probably have a sound scientific
basis.
Her book 'Goin', a Gondi word for
'friend', has a study of the flora of the area as seen through the eyes of Gond
women and traditional healers. Her research has introduced her to a wealth of
tribal knowledge and anecdotes. Yet, despite her wide exposure to tribal
customs, there are times when she is left startled. Once she was taken aback when
a woman casually pointed to a plant which she claimed was useful to "kill
a husband"!
But how can people work so selflessly
in an area of conflict? Don't Rani Bang and her colleagues sometimes feel
intimidated by their difficult circumstances? Says Rani, the recipient of the
National Award for Women's Development Through Application of Science and
Technology, 2008, as well as many national and international awards, "What
is there to fear? After all, everybody has to die some day?"
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