WUNRN
INDIA - WOMEN DISPLACED BY CLIMATE
CHANGE - SUSTAINABILTIY MODEL
16 June 2010
AlertNet
Correspondent
A
flood-displaced Bodo tribal woman waits for food at a makeshift relief camp in
India's Assam province. Bodo women displaced by climate change now have an
alternative to migrating to the city as low-paid maids thanks to a pioneering
weaving project. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw
By
Teresa Rehman
KOKRAJHAR,
India (AlertNet) - Swdwmsri Narzary, 19, a nimble weaver, rests her fingers on
her loom and gets a faraway look when asked to recall her last few years of
struggle dealing with the pressures of climate change.
Orphaned
at an early age, Swdwmsri lived with her elder brother and his family in Bijni,
a rural village in Assam province's Chirang district. But increasingly
unpredictable weather conditions - drought one year, incessant and untimely
rains the next - made life gradually harder as the family's crops repeatedly
failed.
With
the family on the verge of starvation, Swdwmsri had to drop out of school. Her
brother decided not to waste money sowing new crops and instead used his
remaining cash to migrate to a nearby city, Guwahati, in search of a job.
Swdwmsri
realized she had to find her own means of livelihood. But she had few options.
It was then she met a lady from her village who promised her a good job in
Guwahati.
THE PERILS OF URBAN WORK
Both
nervous and excited, she took up work as a poorly paid maid in several
households. She also worked as a baby-sitter in one home - until she was
molested by the landlord and forced to flee to a friend's home. Even the busy
city traffic made her anxious, and once she was nearly run down by a speeding
bus.
Dismayed
by what she saw as a harsh life in the city, Swdwmsri longed to go back to her
native village and her favourite activity - weaving the traditional patterns
and motifs of her tribe, the Bodos. But like many women displaced by climate
change, she found she had few resources or options to improve her situation.
Then
one day, as she was waiting to catch a bus, she met an old acquaintance.
Bimala, another migrant from Bijni, said she had been able to return home and
find work with the Roje Eshansholi (Beloved Weaving) Cooperative Society, a
weavers' collective based in Kokrajhar.
The
cooperative, set up by schoolteacher Malati Rani Narzary, seeks to create
alternative work and dignity at home for impoverished Bodo tribal women
vulnerable to climate change-related displacement, ethnic conflict, and human
trafficking.
"I
realized that Bodo women ... were some of the finest weavers in the
region," Narzary said. "I decided to hone their weaving skills to
suit the demands of the national as well as the international market."
After
initial training, weavers and spinners in the program are separated into
self-help groups that work in their native villages.
SPINNING A NEW LIFE IN MUGA SILK
From
a modest beginning of only five members and four looms in 1996, the society now
has over 1,000 women beneficiaries in Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Chirang
district, some in very remote areas. More than 500 spinners and 50 weavers work
in muga silk, the traditional golden silk of Assam.
Young
girls like Swdwmsri and Bimala are allowed to stay at a women's residence at
the project's headquarters, where they feel at home and secure.
"We
send part of our earnings to our families. But we would rather stay here and do
what we enjoy most - weaving," Bimala said.
Fashion
designers now visit the weavers to help them create new products that will sell
well. Swdwmsri remembers how a lady from the National Institute of Design in
the Indian city of Ahmedabad came to relate that their traditional handloom
material has been turned into scarves, cushion covers, curtains, table mats and
other goods.
"I
have never used a table mat in my life. But I am happy that my handmade
products adorn the homes of the rich and the famous and even plush hotels in
big cities," Bimala said.
Narzary's
aim of giving Bodo weavers a larger platform for their efforts has taken shape
in the form of the Bodoland Regional Apex Weavers and Cooperative Federation,
an umbrella organization for all the weavers in the area.
The
organization has helped weavers showcase their products in trade and textile
fairs and fashion shows.
"I
feel proud that apart from preserving our age-old weaving tradition, we are
also able to hold back our young and vulnerable girls from working as domestic
help in big cities. Moreover, they cannot be lured by the unscrupulous
middleman and end up in brothels," said Narzary, who is chairperson of the
federation.
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to:
wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.