“The secret of patience is to do something else in the meantime.”
Croft M. Pentz
As time moves on and the daily global numbers of new positive cases and deaths are still rising, the world is currently waiting… eagerly waiting for the Covid19 pandemic to be over.
Billions of people have been, are and will be affected by the pandemic and its aftermath and we all will need to use the secret of patience as per the quote from Croft M. Pentz.
We have been in our campus since the 25th March when the nationwide lock-down in India started. Since then, we have seen the amazing and inspiring work of those who have been and are on the front line and we witnessed the impact of social change makers. Of those who took on roles that were not part of their regular work, but that were needed to keep their communities going. They have been addressing the basic needs of millions of people who got stuck, left without jobs, no money, no food, shelter, basic health care etc. We herewith applaud all kantharis and all others who have been contributing to these ongoing endeavors.
It is time for the third quarterly newsletter of this year that certainly in many many ways has been and continues to be exceptional.
How are you? How has the pandemic affected you? Your family? Your daily life and work?
We hope that you are doing well and that you are healthy and safe. Due to the pandemic we have not been able to set a new starting date for the 12th kanthari course, but in the meantime, we have been busy with a number of activities:
– Thanks to your support, we were able to continue the emergency relief support for kantharis and/or their beneficiaries who are in existential need. Till date we have been able to support 7500+ people and seeing the current developments, we will certainly continue this. If you are in a position to help them or if you know someone who could contribute to the emergency fund, donations can be made here. Thank you so much!
– We had mentioned that we have been working on the development of a kanthari handbook. While doing so, we realized that the content is so vast that we now call it the kanthari encyclopedia for social cange. There is still a lot of work to be done and we’re on it.
– The daily lake cleaning activities has led to the development of several tools… More details can be found in the ‘and then there were tools blog post’. While we were removing the different kind of invasive plants, we got to get a good look at its shapes and characteristics. We found that the roots of the Water Hyacinth have the ability to absorb a large quantity of water. This gave us the idea to look for ways to put this quality to use. This was the birth of a research and development project of fully biodegradable disposable diapers. Interested to learn more about this? Then proceed to the Diaper Dilemma Blog post
– We have been working on maintenance activities in our campus and we recently installed a new roof on our kitchen, as well as a 10KVA solar Photo Voltaic system on the roof of the auditorium.
– Additionally, the online BACKPACK support for already selected participants and the intake process is ongoing. Anyone who carries a plan to start their own NGO or social initiative can apply at http://localhost/kanthari/admissions/ to become a kanthari participant. We surely hope that the situation worldwide will improve soon enough so we can get the 12th kanthari course going!
Activities of kantharis
Here a few updates about the work of several kantharis across the world:
Carolina Ortiz, a 2019 kanthari, is the founder of Centro Colibri, an organization in Bolivia that works on empowerment of women/girls who have faced domestic violence through integral pieces of a support system to overcome poverty and gender inequality. One in every three women in Bolivia experienced sexual abuse before the age of 18, mostly within the family. Centro Colibri offers a support system for victims of sexual violence, and it also runs Advocacy campaigns. Currently, Carolina is connected with the municipality and health centers where she implements a pilot project to train/sensitize health workers to see/guide victims of sexual violence. The focus of this workshop will be in a district of 21 neighborhoods. http://centrocolibribolivia.org/
Omona Innocent, 2018 kanthari, is the founder of Lighta, an organisation who supports HIV/AIDS orphans in Gulu, Northern Uganda. During the lock down, regular medical treatment came to a near standstill and this resulted in many children catching scabies. Omona has taken up the responsibility to arrange treatment so the already tough times the children were and are facing become a bit more bearable. http://www.lighta.org/
Sarita Lamichhane, 2014 kanthari, is the founder of Prayatna Nepal has been active empowering blind women in Nepal. Alcohol use among men had increased drastically and Reports of abuse from drunken husbands led Prayatna Nepal to conduct virtual “fight back” training for 11 women. Additionally, Sarita works on other programs around trainings in menstrual hygiene, feminist dialogue series, signature writing (“Say No To Fingerprint”), CV writing and interview techniques, mobility, sexuality and gender discussions. http://www.prayatnanepal.org/
Sanoj NT, 2014 kanthari, is the founder of Child in Rail. The railways were introduced in India by the British in 1853 and is the fourth-largest rail-network in the world. More than 400 thousand children ranging from the age of 0-18 years have made the railway stations their home. Due to the masses of people using the trains, the platforms offer a higher chance to ‘make a living’ than
elsewhere. Every day the number of children who join the others is increasing. Many become victims of exploitation and end up in an unending vicious cycle. They are physically, emotionally, socially, and economically deprived from being able to lead a well-functioning life. Sanoj NT has started Child in Rail to make a difference. Read more about is work in this article that was published on thinkitagain
Siddhesh Sakore, a 2019 kanthari, grew up as a farmer’s son; his dad however didn’t want him to be a farmer and sent him off to an engineering college. Witnessing the hardship of farmers in his native place Maharashtra, who faced effects of climate change, unsustainable use of chemicals, financial crisis and that lead to an ever-increasing amount of suicides. Therefore, he decided to start AGRO RANGERS. During the pandemic, many people have lost their jobs, a huge Locust attack has destroyed a large part of this year’s crops. So, it was time for Siddhesh to act. Despite all challenges he managed to set up a model farm in which local farmers are trained in a multi-layer organic farming model that is more sustainable and offers a wider variety of products. Learn more about his work at http://agrorangers.org/multilayer-organic-farm/
Siddhesh Sakore in his multilayer model Farm
Children who live in the Raipur Railway Station
kanthari in the media
Here a few links to coverage of kanthari and kantharis in the media:
– An article about the work of kanthari was published on ‘NotYourNewspaper‘
– You can find several articles about different kantharis and initiatives on our blogposts
– Karthikeyan started Sristi Village, read all about his farm at edexlive
– A switch developed by Satya Illa saves farmers lives: see this article
– A video about the work of Chipo Chikomo from Zimbabwe can be seen on Unicef-Zimbabwe
– Soulace Africa mitigates the impact of violence and conflict on war widows and orphans, learn more in this tribuneonline
– The outsider advantage can be read at atribeofwomen.
We all will need to remain positive and make the best of the situation we are in.
Hopefully by the time we will write the next quarterly newsletter, brighter times have come again.
Thank you for your ongoing support and for sharing this newsletter with friends and family! Please take good care, protect yourself and protect others, stay safe and stay healthy! with warmest regards from Kerala, India,
the kanthari team, sabriye and paul
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