Mondal, a 35
year old woman was living like any other scheduled caste poor woman in her
village Mayagoalini in Rudranagar Gram Panchyat of Sagar Island (Sundarban,
West Bengal). She belonged to a very poor landless labour family. Her father
got her married to another waged labourer of their community at a very early
age. Due to the poor financial condition, she could not study after eighth standard
even though she had passion for education.
Like any other village women, she
also got settled in her new life at her in-law’s place and became mother of two
babies. Life was not better than her parental house rather the situation took a
worse turn when her husband, the only earning member in the family, was
detected with severe illness.
In Sagar Island, most
of the poor landless families take either fishing or collecting prawn seed as
their profession. Shefali was not skilled in fishing so she had to take up the
profession of tiger prawn seed collection, which is very common in this part of
coastal region. Now, she became the sole bread earning member of the family of
seven members. Her in-laws looked up to her for everyday meal.
Every morning,
Shefali used to wake up early and rush to the sea beach. She used to take her
older daughter along with her to help her in prawn seed collection. With a
mosquito net and a small container they used to spend almost the whole day
under water. They could hardly afford any food within these 8 to 10 hours of
seed collection. Apart from this, staying long time in saline water caused
severe skin diseases and gynaecological problems. These are common problems
with these women who are in this profession of prawn seed collection. Besides
causing harm to their health, these prawn seed collectors also become a threat
to their surrounding environment and ecology. While collecting prawn seed, they
destroy the small growing mangrove plants without knowing how important they
are for biodiversity. During this process of prawn seed collection, juveniles
of many other finfish species get trapped in the net. They throw away those
other species as they are not remunerative. As a result, the growth of other finfish
species gets hampered, which are very important ecologically.
Five years back, SEED
(Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development) started its
interventions in Rudrangar GP. The plight of Shefali came to the notice of the
volunteers of the organisation. When she was approached for help, Shefali
showed interest in studying further. Seeing her enthusiasm, the organisation
got her enrolled in a distance education course. Thus, she completed her
education till class X. In the meantime, a specialised doctor from the team of
SEED, Dr Kalyan Acharya treated her and her husband without any fees. Later, the
organisation thought to offer her alternative livelihood option so that she
does not go for prawn seed collation anymore. So they approached Loreto Day
School Kolkata, who offered her teachers’ training.
Now, Shefali is working as
a teacher cum animator in the non-formal school run by SEED in Mayagoalini
village. It has been 3 years of Shefali working there regularly and earning Rs.
5,500 per month, whereas she was earlier earning only Rs 20 to 40 per day after
working 8/9 hours under water. The specialist of the organisation also taught
her about the loss of biodiversity and its affects in their lives.
Now, apart
from teaching, she also visits other houses of her area to make them aware
about biodiversity issues. She has become an inspiration for other women of her
community and they also want to study like her. The Lodha community in her area
also started respecting her and listens to her. Initially, the Lodhas were
against their kids going to school but she convinced them and brought their
children to school. Along with other kids, her two children also go to school
regularly and get healthy meal everyday. Shefali also feels honoured to be
called as teacher in her community.
