By Neelam | Senior Nurse- Community Health Project
Hi I am Neelam the Nurse on People First community health project.
I hope you are all well.
If you were to visit the village here in Bihar you would see quite lush fields of crops although water is in short supply which is why the deep water pump provided by another fully funded GlobalGiving appeal is so important but you may wonder why can’t they grow their own food. They can to a certain extent, but the problem is they do not own the land they farm, in fact the landlord is often far away. It gets worse , often in return for loans taken from the landlord for sickness or a marriage the interest rates are so high they can never pay it back and become “bonded labour” . It’s a form of slavery and it’s not legal. These problems are not going to be solved overnight and in some cases the government have granted land to landless families.
Cases are in the courts but they can drag on for years and in the meantime children go hungry. But not in this village, thanks to you.
Here is one villagers comment concerning the nutritious meal scheme.,
I want to say how much we appreciate the hot nutritious meal we receive from People First.“We have very little land, it is difficult for us to grow enough food for our family. I have two young sons and a daughter aged six. The meals are just so tasty and full of goodness. There is no electricity in our village, and no doctor either , but the Health Team from People First have started a village health scheme here with a local volunteer health worker, and have trained the village midwives to help safe deliveries. This has helped my family and other villagers a lot. But I want to say before the meal was provided there was much hunger here, and many malnourished children Due to help of others this is no more, our children are growing well. We also want to help ourselves and People First have started a village group for loans (micro credit scheme) for village women which I have joined, and although I can afford only 25 rupees a month ( about 50 cents) I hope to get a loan to buy a couple of goats and rear them for milk. Thank you so much. Life is hard here but we know people do care about us and are helping us a lot”
Thank you All!
Neelam
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