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Project Saphale |
Saphale
is a small town approximately 120 kms from Mumbai located
on Western Railway. Saphale is surrounded by tribal
villages where basic amenities like education, healthcare,
potable water etc. are still non-existent.
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| In
the year 2002, Bridge Trust started its activities
in 3 tribal villages near Saphale after taking
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over the management of three Balwadis (-primary
schools) from Society for Human Environment
and Development (SHED). SHED, an NGO, which
was unable to run the schools due to financial
constraints. These Balwadis are located
in the interior, in tribal villages/padas
(hamlets). The names of the villages are
Bori-Cha-Pada, Karvale and Donger Pada.
Compared to Kasara, the
operations of Bridge Trust in these villages
are much less but attempt is being made
to introduce formal education to the tribal
children and make the women self-sufficient
through Self Help Groups (SHGs). |
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| Pre-primary
school at Dongarpada |
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| • Pre-primary
& Primary Education |
Currently
Bridge Trust is running one pre-primary school &
3 classes for drop-puts at village Dongar Pada. Besides
being introduced to formal education the children are
provided with mid-day meals, clothes, books and health
care. |
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•
Empowerment of tribal women through SHGs |
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In tribal area economic opportunities
for women are scarce while hardships are plentiful.
Women often see little hope for themselves or their
children to improve their future.
Bridge Trust has been able to create
awareness regarding women’s empowerment among
tribal women (majority of them are below poverty line)
of Karvale, Bori-Cha-Pada, Dongarpada and Uchavali.
Our focus is on better quality of life through economic
independence. So far eight SHGs have been formed by
100 women who have shown strong desire to overcome poverty
through an income generating activity. Bridge Trust
distributes vegetable seeds and encourages these women
to grow vegetables. Income generated by selling the
vegetables in the local market is deposited in the respective
bank account by each of the SHGs. |
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| Awareness
camp for women at Dongarpada |
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Bridge
Trust has installed 3 sewing machines at village Dongarpada.
Rotary Club of Tarapur recently donated 2 sewing machines
taking the total to five. First batch of 15 tribal women
have already completed the training for a period of
six months and the second batch of 20 women is currently
undergoing the training. |
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•
Awareness camps |
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Bridge Trust
organizes from time to time awareness camps jointly
with NSS volunteers of K. C. College, Mumbai, to create
awareness among the tribal women regarding the following
issues.
Economic independence through SHGs, women’s participation
in decision making, age of marriage, issues related
to women’s health, children’s education
and health, nutrition, gender discrimination, illiteracy,
modern methods of cultivation. |
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Health-care |
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Medical camps
are also being organized on a regular basis for the
tribal communities living in the three villages mentioned
above. Partners like Rotary Club of Tarapur and NSS
volunteers of K. C. College have contributed by way
of free medicines. |
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Medical Aid |
.jpg) |
Jayesh &
Laxmi are tribal children from villages near Saphale.
Both were born with cleft lip and cleft palate.
Their parents believed that both the children
would have to live with this deformity for rest
of their lives until our social worker told them
about the possibility of reconstructive surgery.
Bridge Trust sponsored for multidisciplinary,
long-term treatment, including reconstructive
surgery followed by rehabilitation and speech
therapy for Jayesh and Laxmi. Today both of them
have been enrolled in the pre-primary school like
other normal children. |
.jpg) |
| Jayesh
(Before) |
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Jayesh
(After) |
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Piped water supply at Bori-Cha-Pada |
Bori-Cha-Pada is a tribal
village 14 kms from Saphale station. It is situated
on hilltop and gets its water supply from a solitary
well, which is situated in a valley about a quarter
kilometer away. Until March 2005, women of Bori-Cha-Pada
had to traverse the difficult terrain carrying
pots filled with water on their heads. It was
a time consuming as well as a strenuous task.
In March 2005 Bridge Trust completed the task
of laying the pipeline from the well to the village
and brought the water to their doorsteps. Women
of Bori-Cha-Pada are quite happy now that the
water is available so close to their homes. The
villagers have contributed by way of ’shramdan’
for laying the pipeline and also contribute for
the electricity charges and maintenance of the
pump. |
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| Piped
water supply at Bori-Cha-Pada |
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