Anandam 2016
Anandam 2016, our annual get together of Swadhina was held from
13th to 15th August, 2016. Every year our Swadhina workers from all over the
country eagerly await for this event. This is an opportunity to meet many
Swadhina activists from the five states in which we work namely Bengal, Bihar,
Odisha, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.
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| Decorating for the Festivity |
The programme was held at the spacious Nitika Don Bosco centre
located at the eastern part of Kolkata, which has scenic beauty with a good number of large trees and green lawns. Some enthusiastic participants, like
Saswati and the Ghatsila (Jharkhand) team, Sugandhi and Gnanadhas of Kanya
Kumari (Tamilnadu) reached Kolkata the previous day. They got busy
arranging for the files, pens, posters and all related conference materials.
13 August, 2016 (Saturday)
The event started at 10 a.m. with participants registering their
names. This was held at the auditorium of the Nitika centre. Participants from
different parts of the country started arriving at the venue.
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| Friendship Knot |
The programme was inaugurated in a very unique and participatory
way. All the participants were given small candles and each one was asked to
bind a friendship band on the hand of the person sitting next. Thereafter, together we all sang Poet Tagore famous song “Aguner Parash moni Chhoaon
Praney” – meaning 'Oh almighty touch our hearts,
as the flame shines around, bless our lives'. It was indeed a very touchy
moment as many friends meeting each other after many years, especially the ones who could not
come for the event during the recent years !
Ms. Supta Mukerji, founder Treasurer, welcomed the gathering and
said “this is a great opportunity when we meet each other. I specially welcome
our friends from Bihar Ms. Rambhabala. She has come with her son, Dipak. Her
son was a much younger when she
brought him along in one of the earlier Anandam. I
am also glad to meet Gnanadhas from distant Kanyakumari – located just at the
end of our country. He recently met with a bike accident – I could see he is
still limping. This shows how much love they have for Swadhina.” She also
explained the story about the birth of Swadhina about thirty years ago. It is
indeed a saga of togetherness for a long period of time. “From a humble
beginning, by the grace of God, we could travel so much of our journey and
could make our presence in five states of our country” she added.
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| Tamil Nadu Team |
It was then time for some music, and, participants were asked to
present songs in their own languages. We had melodious Tamil, Hindi, Bengali,
Odia, Santhali songs which was indeed a mood setter for the event.
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| Bihar Team |
Thereafter we had an interesting session on “Our Festivals”.
Partiacipants were divided into groups according the region they represent and
each group was asked to draw out a list of various festivals observed in their area. Then from each group there was a presentation in which the group
explained the details of the festival observed in their region. It was indeed a
show-case of a varied cultural diversity of our country.
Thereafter a session was held on the campaign of Swadhina. Each
language goup was given copies of various campaign materials brought out by Swadhina i.e. Cartoon Booklets on Land Rights, Booklets on Social Awareness and
so on. The groups were asked to discuss the effective way to use these at the
grass roots level for our forthcoming campaigns.
There was video show on the Anandam held 13 years ago, which was
indeed a nostalgic journey into the past. Many of the participants were
over-whelmed seeing their young-self.
Rijul, our student intern who was operating the LCD projector was seen in
the video
as a little kid !!
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| Jharkhand Team |
14 August 2016 (Sunday)
After the breakfast the morning session started with the Swadhina theme
song “Manush to ek din jagbei”(meaning
people are going to awake, some day. Things would change only if we work
together, and, in a unified manner, for
change.) After this there were songs presented in different language.
Here after the most vital session on Presentation of Activity Reports was held. To begin with Ms. Saswati Roy, Secretary and Chief
Functionary of Swadhina presented an overall progress report of the
Organisation. She narrated about different thematic orientation of Swadhina
programmes for the past
year. She also narrated about the women’s land and
property rights issues in which Swadhina is collaborating with International
Land Coalition. She narrated about the interaction she had at the South Africa
Meet of ILC . She also narrated about the Global Land Forum meet held at Senegal, Africa
attended by Smriti Sarkar and Subhadip Mukerji for Swadhina.
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| Odisha Team |
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| Founder Supta presents Special Prizes |
Karmi Kisku presented a short report about the activities being
carried out in her area by Swadhina. In her area, she explained, Swadhina
projects are based around Ghatsila in East Singbhum district of
Jharkhand. Kitchen Garden made by
village women are established in 21 plots in Kadamdih, Amainagar and Benasole
village, mostly in Santhal tribal families. It has started giving steady supply of nutritional
food for families, i.e. vegetable and required green leaves. An English pre-primary school under the Good Hope
School programme of Swadhina has been established in Kadamdih village. Besides
opening of bank accounts by women and women unorganised labourers insurance programme
is going on successfully. A good number of
women have come forward for marriage
registration programme which is helpful for assuring women’s property rights.
Besides, a good number of women have been trained in Swadhina social training
programme like animal care and community health.
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| Special Prize to Gnanadhas of Tamil Nadu |
Monoranjan Bairagi presented a work report on the activities being
carried out in rural Purulia district in West Bengal villages : Sosandih,
Hatnadih, Taladih, Bongorah, and Charrhi - in Borabazar Block. Here regular training on education
for parents, health care, animal care
are being held. Health check up camps for children and women are being
conducted regularly by Dr. Sahebram Gope, a voluntary doctor. Three Good Hope School programmes are
being held for the children of pre-primary age.
Rambhabala from Bihar region said that much could not be done
during the past years,
but, assured that soon the centres will be re-organised
and programmes conducted. However, she said “conducting awareness interaction for
women is the need of the hour.”
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| Games for Children ! |
Laduram Mahado narrated the details of the Children Education
Support centre being run at the Bondih area. He explained that about 50
children belonging to Class II, Class III, and Class IV come regularly during
the afternoon coaching clasess, being conducted by an experienced teacher Banka
Bihari Mahato. This is being held at Bondih Swadhina centre in East Singbhum,
Jharkhand State.
Ms. Nirmala Sahu pesented the report for the Odisha programmes. She explained that here the programme has two dimension. One, environment related activities involving children and two, income generation training for village women. These programmes are going on smoothly.
There after a short cultural programme was held, conducted by
Srichandra.
15 August, 2015
Today is the Independence Day of India. After the breakfast all
the participants gathered at the ground of Nitika for flag hoisting. Father- in- charge of the Nitika Don Bosco centre hoisted the flag and a large gathering of
Nitika staff and well wishers and local congregation members were present. In
his short speech he said "we all must always do good things for the
society, that is the only way this society will become a good society". At the
end of the meet, our Odisha convener Nirmala Sahu raised the traditional
slogans “Vande Mataram” – long live mother india.
Thereafter we all again assembled at the auditorium - Anandam venue.
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| Secretary Saswati' Reporting Progress |
In the following session, Ms. Smriti Sarkar explained the programmes conducted by the head
office during the past year. Several
important audio-visual tools were brought out last year, including coloured posters
on women’s rights, nutrition flash cards, flex banners and so on. The house
journal Swadhina had several issues brought out, which were
shared among NGOs and social activists active in village situations. She also
narrated various training programmes conducted during the past year.
There were various creative interactions including short drama on
social issues. One short drama each in Odia, Bengali and Hindi language were
prepared by the participants which were the main attraction of the final day. In the afternoon the dramas were performed and the participants enjoyed the show.
There was a short session on future perspective conducted by
Diptendu Mukerji, an experienced planning expert. He narrated the various
future perspectives of Swadhina in a
Logframe narrative, and, stressed that in future Swadhina would be engaged in :
-
Women’s
economic empowerment, including bank savings, insurance
-
Women’s
Land and Property Rights
-
Children’s
Education and Environment Awareness
-
World
Peace and Harmony
In the concluding session Srichandra placed a short concluding remark and proposed the vote
of thanks.
The event Anandam – which literary means “Joy”
ended in a befitting manner with a group dance on a tribal song.
Prepared by: Diptendu Mukerji
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