To engage the people that need it most, CGNet holds
workshops all over Central India. CGNet can often be difficult to understand,
so it is important to train people who can act as ambassadors and
correspondents into the future. This series of blog posts will follow three
workshops held in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh to give you an insight into
how we work.
Morning at the lake by Gondwana Bhavan, the location of our Narayanpur workshop |
Today began, naturally, with a dance.
Charan Singh Parthe (he has the drum) leads the morning dance |
After that, everyone returned to the groups from yesterday
to practice using the CGNet Swara service. Each group had a CGNet worker who
talked everyone through the system (the kinds of community oriented problems
that CGNet is designed for, the standard way that callers identify themselves over
the phone, introduction to the automated recording server) and everybody got a
turn making their own recordings.
CGNet worker Harshit Charles photographs a working group |
At the end of the day everybody stood up and reintroduced
themselves and talked about what they had done. It was remarkable to compare
today with the introductions just two days ago: everyone’s shyness had been
almost completely replaced by smiles.
Today also gave us a brief opportunity to explore
Narayanpur. Across the town is a government institute for the preservation of
Tribal culture, and hosts adivasi artists and handicraft workers and gives them
a space so that their work can be studied and protected.
These women are Maria Gonds from Narayanpur District who
arrived at the centre five years ago after Maoist-related violence in the area
forced them from their villages.
It is impossible to ignore the sensitive security situation
in Narayanpur. From the fortified compounds of Government and Police officials
to the huge mine-proof vehicles and heavily armed (and startlingly young) civilian
militia members that idle along the main road, it is immediately obvious that this
is not a normal town.
None of this, however, prevents CGNet from reaching out to
the people who live in this district. In fact, the disruptions and chaos of
these circumstances make it even more pressing that these places – places often
hidden by the ‘warzone’ headlines in mainstream news – be given a chance to air
their own voices.
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