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Young World
GOOD EARTH
Hero of the woods
MASHQURA FAREEDI
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Ramaa and the village of Gundiribari get together to save a forest.
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Photo: K. R. Deepak
Green miracle : Ramaa’s fight to protect the forests.
In an age where heroes are rare to come by, I was fortunate to meet Ramaa. She lives in Gundiribari village, in Ranpur block in Nayagarh district of Orissa. Ramaa is a 50-year-old tribal woman. Like everyone else in her village, her life is intricately connected to her surroundings: the soil from where her food grows, which paints her hut, the palm leaves that make her roof and the mats that she dries the grain on, the medicines that heal her family and even the gods that she worships. This is why these forests are so important!
Step in to save
I couldn’t help think that they were so fortunate when compared to us whose essential goods, like toothpaste, milk, bread, electricity and even water come from so far away, and in the process, we waste so much of the Earth’s resources, whereas this community was self sufficient. Forests, that are the basis of survival of so many communities in the country, are in great danger, because of the “needs” of so many like us. And when these very forests of Gundiribari were threatened, Ramaa was the one who brought together all the women in her community to save them. It was a time of crisis, she said. Initially, the men of the village had taken the responsibility of saving the forests, but they ran into trouble with the neighbouring villages because they too wanted to use the forests for themselves. Then the women took over, and thankfully were more successful.
The forests of Gundiribari are a target for the timber and other commercially viable produce, most of which are targeted for urban dwellers. The fight to save the forests is unfortunately a struggle between Ramaa’s need and our greed.
In her village, when young people, who are enchanted by the lifestyle of a city, refuse to join the Forest Protection Committee, it worries people like Ramaa. When another villager wants to cut a tree down for a wooden table or to sell it to get himself something more “attractive”, the fight gets tougher for Ramaa.
But she is undeterred and it is because of people like her that many of our villagers still have the will to fight for what is rightly theirs. These are our real heroes!
In collaboration with Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group
What can I do?
As you read this, I would also like you to meet Ramaa and hear how she managed to bring together all the women, out of their hearths, together to save the forests that they survive on. So I took her photograph and her autograph. Hopefully, you will be able to meet her or someone like her, and learn much more, directly.
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