[Reader-list] Fwd: Seeking support for non-formal school & community centre at Kasai Ki chali, Ahmedabad.

[Mir Taqi Mir]

>From: "Ajay Raina" <ajayraina at vsnl.com>
>Reply-To: "Ajay Raina" <ajayraina at vsnl.com>
>To: "munishbhardwaj" <munishbhardwaj at vsnl.com>,"moushumi" 
><moushumi.bhowmik at blueyonder.co.uk>,"moumita Tarafdar" 
><moumita72 at yahoo.co.in>, <MONISHA at ndtv.com>,<mona at istreamz.com>, "Moja 
>Roba" <mojiriba at hotmail.com>,<mohd.haris at st.com>, 
><mnstrm at nda.vsnl.net.in>,<mmpsingh at mantraonline.com>,"Mir Taqi Mir" 
><mir_taqi_mir at hotmail.com>, <minubhai at vsnl.net>
>Subject: Seeking support for non-formal school & community centre at Kasai 
>Ki chali, Ahmedabad. Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 12:55:27 +0530
>
>
>Seeking support for non-formal school & community centre at Kasai Ki chali, 
>Ahmedabad.
>The two of us - Ajay Raina and Leya Mathew  - have been in Ahmedabad for 
>about Four months now. I am a Kashmiri Pandit and a filmmaker by 
>profession. Leya Mathew is from Kerala and has just finished her Masters in 
>Media & Communication.
>
>The reason why I went to Gujarat is simple. I still cannot go back home 
>even 12 years after the forced exodus of my community because of threats, 
>killings, rape and torture of Kashmiri Pandits by the separatist Kashmiris. 
>Six months after the carnage in Gujarat, though everybody says that, 
>'situation in Gujarat is normal', the 46 families in Gasiram ki chali still 
>cannot go back home. I as a Kashmiri was a victim yesterday. Today it 
>happens to be a poor Gujarati Muslim. Tomorrow it may be the turn of 
>anybody - a poor Hindu, Christian, Dalit, Brahmin, Secularist or a 
>pseudo-Secularist....I grow more certain day by day that we must start in 
>Gujarat, what we did not do in Kashmir. I want to go back home too...but 
>first lets think about Gujarat, lets bring them home to a safe and secular 
>India.
>
>I and Leya decided to go to Gujarat to see if there was something we could 
>do to assuage the suffering of the people there. After groping around 
>frustrated for about a month and a half at the larger problems of relief, 
>rehabilitation, compensation, justice and long-term peace/reconciliation 
>efforts, we finally decided on something definite that could be done by 
>just two of us.something on a small scale, something that needed to be 
>done.We decided to adopt two small localities of about 100 odd households 
>(Kasai ki chali & Gasiram ki chali) for relief and rehabilitation.
>
>We raised money and resources (thanks to our friends) to help them rebuild 
>their homes, buy utensils, stoves, books and uniform for their school-going 
>kids. Most people here, we were then told, only had one change of clothes 
>while they were in the camp.
>
>We have so far received Rs 53,000 in cash donations from friends all over 
>India. In addition to this, we have also received relief in kind 
>(cloths/utensils/bedding items/sewing machines etc;) sent to us by friends 
>in Delhi and Mumbai. With the money; we gave monetary assistance to a few 
>people who needed a renewed start for their businesses. We bought 16 sewing 
>machines and about 15 peddler carts / lorries for people to peddle their 
>roadside ware. We spent 15,000 Rs. to manufacture 10,000 kites (with 
>messages to the countrymen printed on them, on the occasion of India's 
>Independence day). We managed to sell almost all of them to people and 
>organisation all over India and are hoping to make a profit of about Rs. 
>35,000, which would be utilized for further relief/rehabilitation/and for 
>employment schemes.
>
>In the two months we have been with the people of Kasai ki Chali, we have 
>yet only partly managed to help them rebuild their lives, to get them back 
>on their feet again and bring them to a safe home...in a city where they 
>were born, which they must not stop loving. We are living with the people 
>in Kasai ki Chali; we were with them when they were scared about the Rath 
>Yatra, on 12 July, which eventually passed off peacefully. While we see 
>some hope for a better tomorrow in the eyes of the people of Kasai ki 
>Chali, the same can not be said about the people of the other Chali...
>
>We have tried our best, but much more still needs to be done. With time, we 
>have realised that our and their problems are more complex than they seem 
>on surface.  We now strongly feel that only clothes, utensils, sewing 
>machines, lorries and fans are not enough for the Muslims of Kasai Ki Chali 
>& Gasiram ki chali. That is of course essential to get started with their 
>lives, but it is still a long road from here, especially for the people of 
>Gasi Ram ki Chali, living just across the wall from Kasai ki Chali.
>
>Kasai ki chali has a concrete wall that separates them from those who had 
>burnt their houses, which in some misplaced way can provide them with a 
>semblance of security, but Gasiram ki chali does not have even that. In 
>Gasiram ki chali, before the riots, the Hindus and Muslims used to live 
>cheek by jowl. All that is to be seen here now  are rows of about 46 Muslim 
>houses, which need to be rebuilt completely before the residents can even 
>think of shifting back. Even after they shift back, they will have to live, 
>every single day, next to the very same people who ran after them with 
>"khula talwars". There is a proud temple watching over the colony. The 
>saffron flag is flying high. The killers' and the plunderers of these homes 
>are still walking free. They have built a little illegal pan shop to block 
>the path which allowed the Muslims of their locality to walk in. The reason 
>the Muslims of this locality can not now go back and rebuild their homes is 
>this pan shop which stands in the way of their natural and fundamental 
>right to return home. We can not bring down the pan shop or the walls of 
>mistrust that has sprung up between the Hindus and Muslims of Gasi Ram ki 
>Chali, what we can certainly try to do is help them demolish the walls 
>around them on their own...in good time. We have an idea.
>
>OUR IDEA:
>
>We cannot live their lives for them, but what we can do is introduce some 
>positive and constructive energy into their lives. This, we feel will be 
>much more effective than building any walls on the boundaries. An informal 
>school for children is the idea we have come up with. It is actually 
>already in its beginning stages. The classes are on. We have a volunteer 
>teacher on our rolls. We also hope to start a similar initiative in Gasiram 
>ki chali for the Hindu children. If both these ideas work out, then in 
>time, we hope to integrate the two informal schools to start a permanent 
>community centre for the Hindus and Muslims of this locality.
>
>There had been groups of dedicated people working with the children when 
>they were in the camps. Though most people from the groups have gone back, 
>they still remember the leha didi, chuppa rustam Sardar ji, siren didi, 
>Delhi ka didi and others. The group from Bangalore has returned with SAATHI 
>friends from Bombay to continue the work. Bindu, Altaf and Raja come 
>everyday for 2 hours to play with the children in our chali also. They are 
>guiding Sulekha, the teacher in our chali. The children enjoy it immensely. 
>They sing, they shout, they play with jigsaw puzzles and they paint.and 
>they love their teacher.
>
>Sulekha, incidentally, came to us through a friend. She was named Sulekha, 
>but her Muslim friends call her Zulekha and yet others call her Julie. She 
>comes from Sardar society nearby, where the residents (both Muslim and 
>Hindu) made sure that not a single incident of violence occurred. She used 
>to work in a garment factory earlier. Her Hindu employer has laid her off 
>along with all the other Muslims who used to work in the factory. She 
>worked with the victims in Shah Alam camp for 3 months, helping out with 
>administrative work, counseling women and children, dressing up wounds as 
>part of the Red Cross team.
>
>The group from Bangalore with their SAATHI friends from Bombay will 
>continue to come in shifts for atleast two months. We hope by then we will 
>have two local teachers who can carry on their work.
>
>What we plan to do from now on is.
>
>1)       Continue with Relief/ Rehabilitation of Gasiram ki chali residents 
>as soon as they are able to return home.
>
>2)       Start a community centre for Kasai ki Chali. (which would 
>eventually lead a similar initiative in Gasiram ki chali for the Hindu & 
>Muslim Children)
>
>What we need:
>
>1)       For Relief and Rehab:
>
>                 More Materials and Money for Relief/Rehabilitation 
>(household stuff / kitchen utensils etc:) of Gasiram ki chali               
>               residents as soon as they are able to return home. A friend 
>has already pledged 46 fans for 46                                          
>        households in Gasiram ki Chali.
>
>
>
>2)       For the Community centre. (for the initial trial period of 3 
>months)
>
>
>
>Logistics:
>
>Rent payment for a room in Kasai ki Chali.
>
>           Salary for Sulekha (already in our employee) and for one other 
>teacher
>
>           Yet to employ.
>
>
>
>Material for informal classes for children:
>
>Stationary, colors, puzzles, mind games, comics in Gujarati and
>
>Hindi, video tapes of Laurel and Hardy etc.
>
>Money for spending on school fees, school bags, stationary,
>
>Textbooks
>
>
>
>Learning (English classes) / Recreation material (for children
>
>and Adults):
>
>Beginner's books for English Language learners, charts, games
>
>- ABCD blocks etc.
>
>Newspaper, Books (in Gujarati and Hindi), Paintings about
>
>Communal harmony etc;
>
>
>
>Material for Sewing Classes for women:
>
>Sewing machines (4 machines are already pledged for by Delhi
>
>friends),
>
>Plain Cloth, Scissors, Chalk, Measuring Scale
>
>Establishment and Administrative costs for 3 months;
>
>We are also documenting on Video.the ongoing process of our work in the two 
>localities. So far we have utilized our own meager resources from our 
>personal savings towards the cost of shooting the video footage and for our 
>stay in Ahmedabad. We would hope for some monetary assistance for this 
>project also. Please get in touch with us on our e-mail address.
>
>People wishing to contribute in cash can send us their Cheques and DD's in 
>the name of:
>
>"GUJARAT EDUCATION SOCIETY / PRASHANT"
>
>Addressed to:
>
>AJAY RAINA.
>
>C/O Raiz Sheikh,
>
>ELITE FLATS,
>
>OFF NARAYAN NAGAR ROAD,
>
>NEAR JETTABHAI PARK Bus Stop
>
>PALDI,
>
>AHMEDABAD 380 007.
>
>Our Tel: No in Ahmedabad is 079 - 5329018 (PP)                              
>                                                                            
>        All contributions will be exempt income tax under the relevant 
>sections of Income Tax act.
>
>This account will accept only contributions from within India. We will keep 
>you posted about the progress and about the money received and spent.
>
>Ajay Raina / Leya Mathew.
>
>ajayraina at vsnl.com
>rainaajay at hotmail.com




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