Prevent and Fight Covid-19: Beware of Misinformation, Develop Healthy Habits

Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance - George Bernard Shaw

The World is not only engulfed by the pandemic Covid-19 now, it is also being swallowed by the constant flow of misinformation from various sources. This chain of misinformation has not only friended the elite or educated section of the society who have huge access to various source of information. The lower strata of the society are becoming the easy target of this misinformation. So, along with fighting the deadly virus, we also need to fight against such misinformation.

Safai Karmacharis and their family members at Ambedkar Colony, Alipore, Kolkata

However, this fight is not as easy as it sounds! The fake news and information spreads like wildfire and causes a huge roadblock in fighting the pandemic. Hence, to start with, we need to identify the wrong information passed to the community and then communicate the true information with easy and practical examples through right medium. 

Two weeks before Corona entered the territory of India, SEED organized an Awareness programme on Health, Sanitation, Hygiene and Cleanliness with the 700 plus families members including children of Sanitation workers of Ambedkar Colony, Alipore, Kolkata. The purpose was to motivate them to adopt Healthy and clean lifestyle in their daily lives and to keep them safe from any such diseases. Dr. Madhumita Dobe (Director & Professor, All India Institute of Hygiene & Public Health) joined us in this endeavor and conducted two interactive sessions with audio visual presentation for better understanding. 

Dr. Madhumita Dobe ineteracting with participants

The Safai Karmacharis, who play a great role in keeping the city clean and its citizens healthy, are often taken for granted. They are often exposed to multiple occupational and environmental hazards. Recurrent news items about sewer deaths, pit collapses, and illnesses are often dismissed as isolated incidents rather than part of a systemic issue. Apart from these, they also risk the health of their families as they regularly come in contact with so many dirty things. They include the toilet cleaners, caretakers in domestic, public, and institutional settings, those who empty pits and septic tanks once full and other fecal sludge handlers, those who clean sewers and manholes and those who work at sewage and fecal waste treatment and disposal sites. 

Dr. Madhumita Dobe started the session by interacting with the participants and tried to assess their daily lifestyle and habits and how they take care of health and hygiene. One senior female worker said that they heard about the missions of Central and State Governments on cleanliness but they usually forget to follow the directions when it comes to practical use. So, Dr. Dobe asked them to think of the health of their children and the consequences of not following the hygienic habits then they will never forget. She advised simple healthy habits like brushing teeth early morning, washing hands before cooking, serving and eating food, cleaning clothes daily and taking bath, covering the foods properly during and after cooking etc. 

It was followed by a brief session with the women Safai Karmacharis and other female members of their families. They were informed about basic Menstrual Hygiene practices and the taboos and myths which they should avoid for better health and social life. The women were also informed about some gynecological problems that they may suffer if they don’t take care of proper personal hygiene in everyday life and especially during menstruation. The participants also had some queries which were answered by the Doctor and other experts present.

Dr. Somenath Bhattacharya, an Eminent Environmentalist and a key speaker at the programme, informed them how dirty surrounding can lead to the spread of various diseases that are also communicable. So, he asked then to keep their surrounding environment clean to destroy the breeding ground of such organisms. One of the bad habits is to spit anywhere which is neither pleasing to the eyes nor good for a healthy environment. He advised them to get rid of this habit of spitting at public places to keep surrounding environment clean and healthy.

Dr. Soumi Mazumdar conducted an interactive awareness session with the 150 children of Safai Karmacharis on cleanliness and hygienic sanitation practices. 

Dr. Soumi Mazumdar with the children of Safai Karmacharis

She explained them basic points of personal hygiene which starts from washing hands and brushing teeth twice a day, covering their mouth when they cough, having regular baths or showers. She also discussed about the need of wearing fresh clothes every day, even if their old clothes don’t smell and cleaning underwear every day. The children enjoyed watching the animation video explaining all the hygiene needs of daily life.

Children enjoying the audio-visual session on cleanliness and personal hygiene

All the participating family members of Safai Karmacharis were given “Hygiene Kits” (containing, soaps, hand wash, toothbrush toothpaste, hair oil shampoo, Dettol antiseptic liquid etc) in Cloth Bags along with refreshments. They were asked to use these products to stay clean and share with their family members.

100 senior “Safai Karmacharis” were felicitated to motivate them and honour them for the risks they take to keep our surrounding clean and hygiene. The programme was organized with support from BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited), Kolkata.

Felicitated Safai Karmacharis at Ambedkar Colony

It was encouraging to find that the women Safai Karmacharis were more concerned about the health and sanitation issues of their family members. But the sad part was that they were not much interested or aware about their personal health issues and felt ignored. However, our aim was to motivate them to stay healthy as a family and society and for this we stressed on the motivation of women more as they take care of the overall family.

We tried to pass on correct information on healthy habits, personal hygiene and sanitation through this two days Workshop and hopefully it helped them to fight during this pandemic. As it is said “Knowledge is Power”; we believe that power will keep them aware to prevent the disease to spread in their area. 

What is more painful– Menstruation or the Taboos?

The pain for periods is less painful in many parts of Indian society than the pain caused by the taboos and myths around it. Shock, embarrassment and Shame – are three common words associated with the girls when they experience their menarche, first period. This happens mostly because of the taboos which stop their elders to talk about it beforehand.

Why can’t we erase menstrual taboos from India when the country is progressing in every aspect including the literacy rate, which is at 74.04%? We are updating our mobile phones, Television sets and even the kitchen utensils more often than our age old thoughts and most of them with no logic or science. Lots of organizations and individuals are now working around the issue of menstrual myths and taboos but the fact is that they still exist with strong roots. So, where is it going wrong or lacking?

Well, for this, we need to first find out the origin of these taboos and how they propagate. It usually starts at a girl’s home itself, when the mother or any other lady of the house first draws a line around the girl when she reaches menarche. In most of the cases, the girls are not pre-informed so when it starts, they get the first big shock of her life because of the unpreparedness. And, why it is not discussed earlier because the women in the house feel shy to talk about it to their adolescents beforehand. The series of myths and taboos start from menarche, when she is instructed not to play with her brothers or male friends. The mental block is formed at this small age and then she gets ban from entering kitchen or any religious places or participate in festivals as she is considered impure during periods. It is believed that even the smell of the menstruating girl can spoil the food. In some families, no other person even touches the girl before she gets purified!

A menstruating girl is usually given a separate place to sleep and in some cases, without any proper bedding whereas she needs best of her comfort during this time. The male members are not allowed to enter that area forget about taking care of that girl. More than 88% of our women still use shocking alternatives like rugs, unsanitised clothes, newspapers, dried leaves, husks and ashes during menstruation. It is not always because they can’t afford to buy sanitary pads but in many cases because of the taboos believed by the family. 

Some strange taboos and myths around menstruation are-

• Menstrual blood is considered to be the consequence of a punishment from a deity

• A girl can’t wash or cut hair during menstruation

• The flowers and plants will die quicker if a menstruating woman touches them

• Ban from any religious places during periods

• Shower or bathing during this time will lead to infertility

• The menstruating girls talking to a man will make him sick

• Pickle will get contaminated even if the jar is touched by a menstruating woman

• Period stops if you get into water

And the list will go on! So, the answer of any woman will be it is the age old rule and traditions of our society and we must respect them. The toughest nut to crack here is the thought process of the so called traditional thoughts that creates an invisible barrier for the women. But then again, we can’t change the society on the click of a button neither can we relax just respecting their myths and taboos. It can be started from the adolescents who are preparing to be future parents of the next generation that can be stopped to go forward with the burden of these taboos. Schools can be starting point to break this thought barrier as the parents also believe their child will never bad things from there. If these adolescent girls and boys are properly taught about the physiology of menstruation and why it should be considered as a biological process then they will not follow the age old taboos. The schools can also conduct a workshop for the parents and children together on menstrual facts so that the mental block is broken slowly and steadily. Usually, the male members of the family are never involved in the menstrual talks as if it is top secret of the females only! The boys should know the pain their sisters and mother go through during periods and while giving birth so that they grow up being more sensitive. They won’t tease a girl if she is spotted with period blood rather will try to help her out. 

The stigma around menstruation cannot be removed just by educating women as it needs equal participation of men who are equal half of the society. Even the workplaces need to be period friendly to bring gender equality or the attendance of the female staffs can have an impact. 

If a girl grows up with lots of restrictions during her menstruation then half of her productivity will go waste and the negative impact of these stigmas will badly affect her health and hygiene. Today, on the “Menstrual Hygiene Day”, we can take the pledge to no more encourage the taboos and myths and help our women to live a healthy, hygienic and free life.

SEED launches “Sashya Sphiti” project in district Nadia with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

SEED has recently launched a project titled “Sashya Sphiti” under the Corporate Social Responsibility of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Farm Sector) in district Nadia of West Bengal. The project is intended to increase the production of mustard about 10 percent through scientific farming and sustainable cultivation.

Under this two year project, 400 farmers from Dhubulia Gram Panchayat of Nadia district’s Krishnanagar Block II have been chosen. These farmers have been cultivating mustard in traditional method without any scientific input or technical support. As a result, their yield was not satisfactory while they have been paying a good sum on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. 

These farmers have been distributed the tried and tested variety of seeds “Swarnadhara” for cultivation in their land which is total 400 acres. Agriculture Experts from “Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya” and “Pulse & Research Station, Baharampur”, Agriculture Dept., Govt. of WB, will provide technical support to these farmers. 

The farmers will be given hands on training to lower the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and increase the oil percentage near to our national average 42%. Now, they are getting much lower than this oil percentage. The farmers will be trained in soil testing, PH calculation and proper preparation of the land before sowing the seeds. They will also be supported with pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer. Our team will train them in preparing bio compost and motivate the farmers using more of it instead of chemical fertilizer.

The new variety of seed is tolerant to pests and diseases and downy mildew. The plants grown from this seed is expected to have high primary and secondary branches within the maturity period of 100 to 110 days. 

The seed distribution of 1.5 kg per farmer has been done on 8th October, 2017 at Dhubulia Gram Panchayat of Krishnanagar. The training by the agriculture experts will follow soon. The trainings will be given in ToT (training of the trainers) mode. The representatives who will attend the first set of training will later provide training to other farmers of their village. Thus, they will become self-sustainable and they can work in a team. 

Climate Mobilization March with School students at Kolkata

Improper Embankment Planning and lack of Protection leads to livelihood shock in Sagar Island

Sagar Island, situated in the East coast of India, is the biggest among the 54 inhabited deltaic islands of Sundarban. Like other islands of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, this island is also characterized by mangrove swamps, waterways and small rivers. The major livelihood here is Agriculture and fishing and fishery related enterprises. 

Fishermen and prawn seed collector women of Sagar Island

As per census 2011, the population of Sagar Block is 2, 11,993 and about 37,674 families inhabit in 47 mouzas of Sagar spreading over 66,399 acres of area. In the past decade, Sagar has already lost about 30 km2 of land. At the same time, Sagar is also now home to about 20,000 climate refugees from other islands which have disappeared or fast disappearing due to climate change. Among the total population, 58,284 belong to the Scheduled Caste and 834 are Scheduled Tribe. Thus, more than 25% of the population of Sagar belong to marginalised section of population who has to bear the curse of social discrimination.

Due to premature reclamation, ground level in some parts of Sagar Island is approximately 3 meters below the eustatic sea level. These areas are protected by embankments which breach frequently due to increased tidal action and wave energy as a result of climate change. The situation has further deteriorated due to indiscriminate clearing of mangroves on the riverside of the embankments in the past decades. For lack of affordable and available land, about 8000 to 10,000 families live along riverside and are exposed to adverse climatic conditions. 

Embankment breaching in Sagar Island

The land based primary livelihood agriculture is highly impacted by the rising sea levels, coastal erosion, loss of mangrove cover and salt water intrusion. The entire area is low-lying and parts of it are regularly submerged by the tidal ebb and any change in sea level is a direct threat to life and property. The increment in salinity badly affects fishermen and farmers alike. More than 40% of the community in Sagar Island is dependent on fishing. So, the changing sea surface temperature and salinity is hugely affecting their fish catch and economy.

Unpredicted rainfall patterns also upset the farmers as most of them are dependent on rain-fed conventional cultivation of crops. Shifting of rainfall to the post-monsoon period has left them confused which crop to grow and when. The community in Sagar mostly practice monocrop and the rain usually arrives when the harvest is ready to be reaped. Thus, a large section of the standing crop get destroyed every year. If that was not enough then salt water intrusion is ready to spoil the cultivation fields due to sea level rise and embankment breaching.  

Flood victims moving towards higher areas in Sagar Island

In Sundarbans, maximum erosion occurs in the South Western part and Sagar is one of them. Every year, either moving embankments towards landward side or river swallows a good share of land in the south east centre Dhablat, the north east Kuchuberia and Beguakhali on the south coast. As per the satellite image and available information, the entire south coast of Sagar island has been eroding at least for the last 50 years. This results not only loss of property and lives but also a huge loss of cultivable land and livelihoods. 

The ever increasing tidal waves enter several parts of the island and constantly increasing the salinity of the cultivable lands. This is badly affecting the cultivation of vegetables and major crops like paddy and betel vine. The community here is well aware of the fact that without proper planning and protection of embankment, agriculture will stand still in Sagar Island. They complain about improper use of the government funds for embankment construction by the local middlemen. 

Betelvine, the second major crop of Sagar Island, is also under huge threat due to Climate Change. The plant grows best in mild temperature and high humidity. It is a high risk crop that requires frequent watering to keep it alive and healthy. It is very sensitive to saline and alkaline soils. Erratic rainfall pattern and constantly rising temperature is giving tough time to the betelvine cultivators. Most of the farmers cannot afford to bear the cost of irrigation and fail to maintain the vineyard properly. The changing climate also increases a number of fungal and bacterial pathogens and cause different diseases to the plant. The most common diseases are Anthracnose, Angary, marginal blight and leaf spot affecting both leaves and vines. Moreover, the farmers are not aware of various modern agricultural techniques and crop insurance which may help during flood or drought like disastrous situation. 

Nitai Barui, a 76 year old resident of Sagar Island says that he had seen intrusion of salt water during monsoon since his childhood days but this process has pre-poned in recent years and salt water intrusion starts even from the month of March and April. His wrinkled face turned pale when he said, “The salt water will again destroy our agricultural lands if any concrete plan is not prepared to protect the embankment.”

Spraying pesticide in the betelvine yard 

Fishing is the second most practised livelihood in Sagar and most fishermen are complaining of lower volumes of fish catch. The fishermen community blames it partially to the violation of territorial waters by deep sea trawlers and also to the increase in the salinity of the water. 

Abdar Ali Shah, Secretary of Sagar Marine Fishermen Association, says that he has been associated with the deep sea fishing for last 25 years. He quipped, “Now-a-days, the catch of fish is quite low compared to 20 years back. The changes in temperature, humidity and erosion have affected the spawning of fishes. In fact, water is much polluted these days because of pesticides and by the trawlers. Many members of our fishing community are running under debt due to decline in fish catch. All efforts to improve the situation have turned futile and fishing craft owners are almost bankrupt and committing suicide.” 

Sagar has got grid electricity in 2014 but this has left the existing PV plants unutilized which are public property. Tapas Chakrabarti, Asst. Professor, Electronics & Communication Engineering, Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata conducted a case study recently on these unutilized photovoltaic cells in Sagar Island. Sharing his study results, Mr. Chakrabarti said that 9 plants are not working at present except the plant of Koylapara. He added that these plants may be connected to the grid with minimum investment as the infrastructures of the plants are there and the produced solar photovoltaic power may be connected to the grid. The renewable energy produced from these plants can compensate the conventional power and also can minimize the environmental hazards due to the production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. This can also open up the scope of earning revenue and generate employment for the local youths.

Tapas Chakrabarti, Asst. Professor, Electronics & Communication Engineering,
Heritage Institute of Technology, checking the condition of the PV plants in Sagar

SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development) has been working in Sagar Island since last decade and trying to develop different alternate livelihood opportunities mainly for the Climate Change refugees who migrated from nearby submerged islands like Lohachera, Suparibhanga and Ghoramara. Initially, the organization formed and mobilized different SHGs (Self Help Groups) and provided capacity building trainings in alternate livelihoods like preparation of Handicraft items, value added products (pickles, papad, squash etc.), organic agriculture and aquaculture and integrated pest management.

 Capacity builidng training of women in Organic agriculture and Handicraft items by SEED

A non-formal school was also organised for the Climate affected vulnerable community children and health camps are being organized often in addition to disaster preparedness workshops. Different awareness campaigns on Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change effects on livelihood have been organized in Sagar by SEED. Fish Production Groups (FPGs) were organized and linked to RKVY plan of Govt. of West Bengal to facilitate their entrepreneurship.  

Non- Formal school run by SEED in Sagar Island

However, all these activities will turn futile if a proper embankment protection planning does not come up. Considering the pace of rise in sea levels and coastal erosion, proper planning for embankment protection is high priority for more than 2 lakh islanders in Sagar. A joint action plan with involvement of local communities, NGOs, specialized government representative might enhance community resilience and provide a sustainable solution to the vulnerable situation of Sagar Island.

Poor planning raising vulnerability risk in Mousuni Island

The whole world is abuzz with the effects of Climate Change and policy makers are busy issuing rules, regulations and promises to cut down carbon emission. Fair enough as we concentrate on the urbanized affected communities across the world. But, the moment we focus towards the grassroot victims of Climate Change, the situation takes a different turn and no policies and rules seems to work for them!

Erosion around Mousuni Island

Situation is not different for the worst effected climate victims of Mousuni Island, with population of 22,073 as per 2011 census. Covering an area of 23 sq. km., the small island has 4200 households of which 4136 (19%) belong to the Scheduled Caste and 855 (4%) are Scheduled Tribe.

Located about 100 km towards south of Kolkata, the island has 4 mouzas- Baghdanga, Kusumtala, Baliara and Mousuni under Namkhana Community Development Block, Parganas District, and West Bengal. But this small distance creates a big difference when it comes to even basic amenities like Health, Education, Sanitation and livelihood facilities. 

Mousuni first came to limelight in 2009, when the dreaded cyclone AILA hit the island sweeping away hundreds of houses leaving the coastal communities homeless and landless. Apart from loss of lives and properties, thousands of the islanders lost their livelihood. Since then, about   9 kms of embankment has been breached in western part of the island itself. Every year, a large section of the island gets submerged due to rise in sea level because of the spring equinox and embankment breaching.  The dilapidated embankments are no longer suitable with the changing river dynamics. 

The dilapidated embankment in Baliara

Mansura Bibi, Panchayat Samity member of Mousuni GP

Mansura Bibi, a Panchayat Samilty member of Mousuni GP, says, “At least 150 to 200 families living near the embankment lose their homes and lands every year. We don’t want to relocate as this is land where we were born and grew up. We just want the embankments to be repaired so that it does not get breached every year.”



The major livelihood of the communities here is agriculture and fishing. But the salt water intrusion during coastal flooding causes a huge loss to these major livelihoods. The agricultural lands turn sterile for next 3 to 4 years leaving them with no option of livelihood. Most of them specially the male members of the families end up migrating to other cities in search of odd jobs as labourers. And, the females, who are left alone to take care of the children and elderly in the families, take up  the profession of prawn seed collection, which is again hazardous to the health of the women and the surrounding ecosystem. The constant dragging of nets in salt water causes several skin diseases and gynecological problems among the women. It is reported that about 48 species of juvenile finfishes are wasted per net per day per hand, which amounts to loss of about 9.834 kg.

There is a huge crisis of safe drinking water in the island. The scarcity of potable water is mainly due to high salinity problem.  Mousuni GP has total 150 Tube Wells, which is not enough to fulfill the requirement of the population of more than 22000. During coastal flooding, these Tube wells get inundated and thus they become non-functional even when the water recedes. Pond water is also not safe to drink as they also get inundated by salt water during floods every year.

Saheba Bibi, one of the flood affected victims of Baliara village gush shared that her family had 3 bighas of agricultural land which got washed away in consecutive floods every year. Now, they live on a small shanty on the embankment, which might also get washed away in the next flooding. Her husband opted for fishing after losing the agricultural lands but the fish catch has decreased due to the climate change effects like rising aquatic temperature and the use of fishing gear such as big bull trawlers, mechanized boats, PVC-made trawl, bag nets etc. 

Saheba Bibi and Rozina Khatun

The islanders are yet to get access to grid electricity. Solar power is available to around 55% families who could afford to buy and maintain the solar plates. The rest are dependent on firewood kerosene for cooking and other domestic needs. Kerosene is also not readily available and it is very costly for the islanders. Therefore, the islanders have to perforce to gather fuel wood from the adjoining mangrove forest through illegal means for cooking purposes. Such practice increases vulnerability of the island to natural disaster. 

A large section of the community defecates in open fields due to lack of proper sanitation facilities which again lead to various communicable diseases. The Primary Health center with one visiting doctor and 3 nurses is not enough to support the total population’s healthcare. They visit the island only twice a week. Due to lack of knowledge and non-availability and affordability of the community, the children suffer from malnutrition and pregnant mothers undergo the pain of miscarriages.

Rozina Khatun, a 22 year old woman shared the pain she had to undergo while giving birth to her daughter few months back. The lady had to travel 45 minutes by a motor van though bumpy roads as there is no pucca road or other modes of communication available within the island. The only Primary Health center is situated in Baghdanga village, which doesn’t have good connectivity with the other villages. There are several cases of miscarriage due to the lack of proper healthcare facility and dilapidated road condition. 

SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development), ventured in Mousuni Island after the cyclone in July 2014. Apart from some relief works, the organization distributed salt tolerant paddy varieties to 55 farmers whose agricultural lands were inundated with salt water. This was done with support from the Rice Research Institute, Government of West Bengal. However, this is just a temporary support and cannot come to the rescue of the aggravating situation of the island. 

Sterile agricultural lands of Mousuni Island after salt water intrusion

Hence, a thorough plan with action research needs to be done to address all the issues in a sustainable manner. Starting from safe drinking water, proper energy supply, health, sanitation and alternative livelihood options need to be explored with active community participation and support of local administration. 

Several organizations ventured into the island with some temporary infrastructure support. But, due to lack of sustainable vision and maintenance, they are now in dilapidated condition. The sinking Island needs a foolproof embankment planning with modern technology and design along with infrastructure and livelihood support to protect this vulnerable climate change hot spot from further deprivation. Lack of domestic adaptation policies is also a big hindrance on the way of dealing with the changing climate in Mousuni which needs immediate attention.

Climate Change Effects: Survivors of Sundarban fight against hopeless hopes

The whole world is abuzz with the effects of Climate Change and policy makers are busy issuing rules, regulations and promises to cut down carbon emission. Fair enough as we concentrate on the urbanized affected communities across the world. But, the moment we focus towards the grassroot victims of Climate Change, the situation takes a different turn and no policies and rules seems to work for them!

Here, we are talking about the much talked about coastal Sundarbans, which is one of the worst affected areas of Global Climate Change. Among the 102 islands of Sundarban, Mousuni is one of the 54 islands, which had been inhabited by human population. The island would have never come to focus if the dreaded AILA would not have washed away huge section of it by displacing them from their homes and lands.

 

As we approach towards Mousuni Isalnd

Saheba Bibi, 31 year old women from Baliayara Village of Mousuni Island is one of those displaced communities. Her in-laws were all fishermen by profession and owned agricultural land of 3 bighas. But that demonic AILA washed away all they had. Her father-in-law passed away without getting proper treatment after AILA. The family of seven members including her husband, two children, two brother-in-laws and ailing mother-in-law, spend two and half months in a shanty over the embankment without proper food and safe drinking water. When asked about the relief from the government, the lady was in tears saying that they were not lucky enough to get any yet! 

Saheba Bibi in front of her house

 They were somehow settling with their lost livelihood and properties when cyclone hit them again in 2014 and this time she lost her mother-in-law who couldn’t survive this trauma. Her husband, who was also a fisherman, was not living with them this time as he was in Kerela, working as a labour along with his brothers in a construction house. Like him, hundreds of inhabitants of Sundarban left to Kerela and other places like Andhrapradesh and Gujarat in search of better livelihood. Without any specialized skill, they end up joining as labours in the construction houses, brick fields etc.

Back home, when everything was messed up, the men of the house were far distant place, working 12 hours risking their lives on high rise buildings. Hearing the news of flooding at their homeland, Saheba’s husband decided to return home with the money he earned in 7 months. But the destiny was cruel to him as he faced a dreaded accident while crossing the railway tracks. His legs were injured badly and he returned home empty handed and bruised legs as all money were spent in his treatment.

Saheba showing where house was before AILA

Saheba's Husband

Saheba's husband showing his injured legs

Now, he can neither go for fishing and cannot work as labour too as he has been advised not to take loads on his body. So, the responsibility of running the family has come up on Saheba, who has studied only till 2^nd standard with a mere knowledge of alphabets. When asked about her age, the lady shyly said that she has no clear idea as she was married at a very early age and became mother of two within two years of marriage. Once, owner of 3 bighas of agricultural land and good business of fishing, the family has now just a small shanty near the river which is also under the risk of being washed away if the monsoon turns hostile next year!

The couple has now started business of dry fishes, which has also very low demand in their locality. They merely earn Rs. 150-200 in a week from this business but still hoping to give a better life to their children. Their 14 year old son studies in class 8 in a nearby school and 12 year old daughter is a class 3 dropout who helps her mother in domestic work. They cannot afford to send both the children in school at a time so they choose the boy to study as they girl will be married in next few years!

Saheba, who has keen interest in embroidery (locally known as zari work) used to stitch sarees earlier a year back along with few other women of her neighbourhood. But, the earning was quite low as they used to get around Rs. 150 for a saree and that again had to be divided among 5 women. So, they stopped working that but willing to work on that if they are given better deals. As we were talking to Saheba, we were joined by Mansura Bibi, who is a local Panchyat representative. The lady in her early forties is very agile and is hopeful to have a better life for the women of her locality. She came with a proposal of starting some training sessions for these women who are interested in zari work. However, she didn’t forget to add that how all the women of the village are now living without their men as most of them have migrated to other cities in search of work. She is concerned about the safety of the women and children of her locality as there were many cases of trafficking in the Mousuni Island itself. She added that many were lured in the name of job and marriage without dowry and later they were trafficked in distant cities. However, they have become alert now and prefer to keep their daughters unmarried rather them sending them with an outsider.

Neighbours of Sahenba who also suffered like her and looking forward to a better life and livelihood

There are hundreds others like Saheba, who are struggling daily for two times meal and safe drinking water. The ponds of their locality are intruded with saline water and the water cannot be used for even cleaning the clothes as they turn dirtier after washing. The barren lands will be probably inundated with saline water again in the next monsoon. But, life has not stopped as they continue to struggle and look for good days to return.

Roads for the local Commuters

Another big concern of the women of this locality is healthcare. The only government hospital of their area is situated near Baghdanga village, which is more than 45 minutes journey by bumpy roads and the only option for conveyance is motor van or cycle van. Adding to this trauma, Mansura Bibi said that atleast 5 women of her village have suffered miscarriage as they couldn’t avail proper medical support when it was needed the most.

When we crave for the luxuries of our lives, these coastal women just want a glass of safe drinking water for their families, two times meal and a shelter that guarantees safety during coastal flooding.