WUNRN
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Women's Feature Service
India - New Delhi
Noting the impact of violence on children in
Gujarat, Samerth, an Ahmedabad based NGO, began devising peace modules for
school children, aimed at bringing about reconciliation. (Courtesy:
Samerth\WFS)
By Deepti Priya Mehrotra
Ahmedabad (Women's Feature Service) -
In 2002, Gujarat was the site of one of the worst communal riots in India's
history, with tensions between majority and minority communities continuing to
simmer long after the immediate violence. Complicity of the state in the
violence and systematic hate campaigns against the minority community were so
blatant that commentators often use the term 'pogrom' to describe the events of
those stormy days. What made things even worse was the fact that many of those at
the receiving end of the violence were from the poorest sections of society.
It is against this dark backdrop that
Samerth, an Ahmedabad-based NGO, has tried to make a difference. Founded in the
early nineties to promote participatory development among marginalised and
vulnerable communities, it is one of the several organisations in
Elaborates Samerth founder-trustee
Gazala Paul, a post-graduate in Coexistence and Conflict Management from
Brandeis University, Massachusetts, "In rural Kachchh, our main thrust is
on sustainable livelihood practices while in urban Ahmedabad our focus is on
conflict resolution, peace building and education. We work extensively in
'bastis' (slums), through educational interventions for children and youth, and
livelihood restoration for women."
Working towards the economic
restoration of riot-affected communities since 2003 in the Juhapura, Sarkhej,
Jivraj and Vejalpur areas of Ahmedabad - for the benefit of both Hindus and
Muslims - Samerth members find that the memory of the 2002 violence still
troubles people. Most of them are impoverished, largely because of the
inadequate compensation given to them by the government in the aftermath of the
2002 violence and because of poor civic facilities generally.
The NGO has, therefore, sensitively
developed interventions to overcome the deprivation and also the entrenched
attitudes of prejudice and hatred. Realising that Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in
the 'bastis' could provide a vital entry point to mobilise women of both
communities, activists have enabled members to set up a savings and credit
system as a means to supplement their incomes. They also make loans available
to riot-affected families.
The encouraging response from women of
both communities initiated a process of rebuilding trust between them and
greater integration. But the most important initiative Samerth has launched is
focused on children. It seeks to make an impact on young minds by coming up
with out-of-the-box approaches. It has devised peace modules to tackle the
effects of violence. Soon after the riots, the NGO ran playgroups in relief
camps. "At that point," recalls Iqbal Baig, the organisation's
Programme Support Coordinator, "Our focus was more therapeutic in nature.
After the closure of the camps, we shifted the pre-schools within the
communities. Ever since, we provide pre-school education and carry out peace
education with school children, youth and adolescents, community leaders and
the clergy."
A few thousand children - with a fair
representation from both the Hindu and Muslim communities - actively
participate in the 'peace classes' held in neighbourhood government and private
schools in Ahmedabad. The peace modules tackle the biases and bring about a
feeling of goodwill and mutual understanding. Quizzes and games, stories about
eminent national leaders, exercises such as the 'spider web' and the 'tree
exercise', all help children focus on topics of peace, non-violence, unity in
diversity and social harmony in a creative and fun way.
Fatma Chopra, a field worker with
Samerth, has been actively engaged in developing peace modules as well as
teaching and conducting classes for young children. She also works at enhancing
women's livelihood skills and is trained in teaching needlecraft. She explains,
"Through our peace modules and quiz competitions, we try to develop respect
and tolerance in the minds of children from different religious and cultural
backgrounds. By 2007, we were conducting peace modules in 37 schools. Children
get very interested in the approach and there were animated debates on
diversity and multiculturalism."
But there have been challenges. Admits
Nasrin Pathan, a peace educator, "Initially, schools were hesitant and
refused permission. But we started inviting eminent personalities as observers.
This helped create an environment of trust among the managements of these
schools. Slowly more schools agreed to cooperate with us."
Currently, Samerth runs eight
playgroups, exposing children to computers and other creative activities even
as they get to understand the meaning and importance of multiculturalism. The
NGO has also encouraged schools to form Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) as
fora to discuss issues related to harmony and peaceful co-existence.
Paul explains, "In Gujarat, we
have experienced a sequence of communal violence, which has left deep scars on
the hearts and minds of people. As a result, the minority community members are
huddling together in different settlements like Juhapura, forming ghettoes. The
lack of trust between people is so sharp that inter-community interactions had
virtually stopped. This isolation allows conservative and regressive elements
to take control and curb reforms and progress. We work in such an environment
and it is very difficult. We have reached out to other NGOs to build alliances
to counter communal prejudices, and tackle issues of injustice and negligence.
We are also making efforts to strengthen the network for wider reach and
impact."
Thus, the organisation, which now also
specialises in providing training sessions on conflict transformation and peace
building, has built alliances with bodies such as the Ahmedabad Women's Action
Group (AWAG), Sanchetana - and the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA),
which had already set up SHGs.
In order to dispel divisive myths and
stereotypes, Samerth has widely disseminated amongst children, teachers and
parents, the Gujarati translation of a study on multicultural traditions that
it had conducted in association with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences
(TISS), Mumbai. Titled 'Gujarat Unknown - A Study on Syncretic Traditions', it
traces the syncretic and multicultural traditions through shrines, anecdotes
and experiences and observes that communities in this region had coexisted for
centuries and had carried out livelihood activities together, particularly in
rural areas. These translated booklets are proving effective in building a
general appreciation of how cultures have influenced each other and how
reinforcing diversity is a precondition for human existence and an effective
democracy.
According to Paul, "It has taken
enormous energy and hard work by the Samerth staff to convince the schools,
youth and 'basti' women to allow us to dwell upon issues of communalism,
secularism and peace. But the processes of reconciliation are certainly taking
place and we are very happy when we see the children responding and
changing."
Rehana Sheikh, a peace module teacher,
shares, "If we go to the six schools of Vejalpur, Jivraj and Sarkhej
areas, the children there have become friendly and talkative. They share
stories of violence and show a genuine interest in other religions and customs.
Some of them have even become torchbearers of the movement against communal
feeling."
Samerth's members are conscious, of
course, that their outreach is quite limited considering the scale of the
problem. But they believe that trying to get children and young people today to
value secularism and diversity will make a big difference tomorrow, so that
events like the 2002 riots never come back to haunt Gujarat.
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