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Society
Power to the Village
October 30, 2005
 Over the past four decades, Hakkuben Theba (born 1966) has made a long
and arduous journey. From being born into a poor farmer family in a
conservative community to being a destitute widow, Hakkuben has emerged
as a strong community leader, who inspired more than 3,000 women to join
a women's collective.
To begin with, the odds were stacked against her. Hakkuben's parents
married her off when she was only 14 years old. She then gave birth to
three boys and a girl, and lost three of these children to various
ailments. In 1998, her husband died as well. It was after this that her
brother-in-law and his wife encouraged her to make an effort to be
financially independent.
 This was the turning point in Hakkuben's life. She was eager to follow
their advice, and as luck would have it, she came into contact with -
and joined - the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS), which had
been working in her village, Dador in Kutch district, since 1991-92.
Hakkuben has had no formal education. However, while working with the
KMVS team on the education of adolescent girls, she took part in
implementing the program and attended classes. This helped her learn the
basics of reading and writing. Until then, no one in her family was even
literate.
Not allowed to step out of the confines of the walls of her house, or
express her opinions even within the family, Hakkuben emerged from the
veil only because her curiosity to learn became insatiable and bold.
Village elders disapproved of her behavior and attitude, calling her
arrogant and wayward.
Hakkuben belongs to the Theba, a small, conservative Muslim community.
They marry their daughters within the community, are very proud of their
culture and heritage, and do not encourage or practice dowry. This is
one of the many reasons why there is absolutely no case of domestic
violence, another being that people from the community do not drink
alcohol. They are close-knit, usually frowning upon women and girls
working outside the home.
However, because she was staying separately with her children, there was
no one to physically restrain her. She began attending some of the
training sessions of the grassroots collectives of rural women that KMVS
had begun organizing. They have now taken the shape of a community-based
organization, the Saiyere Jo Sangathan. Gradually, her natural
intelligence and leadership skills drove her to organize her village
group, initiate natural resource management work with the village as a
whole, gain the respect of the men and the village elders, and convince
everyone that women need to be liberated. She faced the most opposition
to the awareness generation programs for rural women that she began.
Hakkuben has inspired more than 3,000 women within her geographical
domain,
and now leads an organized collective that works to ensure that the
Sangathan's resources (human, knowledge, skill, organizational,
programmatic and financial) are all employed towards making women
members' and their families' assets (craft-skills, land and cattle)
truly productive. The main areas of intervention are micro-credit and
enterprise, ecological restoration, handicraft and health.
The collective works towards developing the traditional livelihoods of
the community as viable and sustainable sources of income, and to
ensure livelihood security of the community even during times of
drought. This not only reduces the community's economic vulnerability,
but also uses the new-found strength, confidence and abilities of the
Sangathan members to regenerate their natural resources and livelihoods.
Hakkuben has formed a team of leaders, registered an independent
organization run by rural women, and has become an inspiration to a
number of young girls in the area. She set an example by being the first
woman in her community to pass her land on to both her daughter and her
son, as mark of departure from the patriarchal traditions of the village
and the community.
She has left her mark on ecological regeneration, providing leadership
specifically to communities and women in that sphere. Hakkuben has also
brought about significant empowerment to women through natural resource
management, working closely with the KMVS team to identify rural
leaders, and attending training programs organized by the KMVS to build
her capacity and skills. She has also handheld the identified leadership
by training and capacity-building on specific issues.
Hakkuben's methodology is simple: for over a decade now, she has
followed the Gandhian principle of non-violence, taking on the oppressor
first, and then creating confidence within the existing environment for
change. In one incident, when villagers were farming on common grazing
ground, she raised the issue with the villagers, and promptly earned the
ire of the village elders. She calmly explained to the villagers the
implications of using common property resources, and convinced them
against using the grazing land for farming.
In the process, Hakkuben has contributed immensely to the transformation
of the physical, mental, and environmental oppression that women have
faced in the patriarchal and perennially drought-prone area. And that
required a high degree of innovativeness. For example, the team had dug
a well in the village as a water source. Hakkuben realized that
maintaining the well would be a problem, as it was a common property
resource. Her solution: Rs 3 per family towards creating a maintenance
fund. She also employed a caretaker for the well, and regulated and
monitored the services.
"I come from a peaceful family, yet have suffered due to the fact that I
was not educated. I am now leading a satisfied and contended life but
would like to create a platform for the next generation of women, so
that they can learn from our experience and their life becomes easier,"
she says.
By arrangement with
Women's Feature Service
and Sangat
Top
| Society
The Week of October 30, 2005
The
Quake Opened a Window by Rajinder Puri
United States' "Democracy Thrust" in South Asia is Selective by
Dr. Subhash
Kapila
Lord Curzon and The Partition of Bengal by
Kumud Biswas
Third Child Trick by J. Ajithkumar
Inner City Schools, Affirmative Action and A Child
Left Behind by Gaurang Bhatt, MD
The Art of Happiness: Keep Your Pleasures Mild
by Vikram Karve
Choice of Children's Careers and Parental Aspirations
by Meera Chowdhry
Silver, Silver Shining Bright by Alipta Jena
Speaking for Her Security by Deepti Priya
Mehrotra
Victory for VAWA by Elayne Clift
A Moral Victory is Not What we Want by Gautam
Bhan
Power to the Village
Time to Take
Charge Again by Malvika Kaul
Very Rewarding Scheme by Vipin Agnihotri
Our trip to Cologne (Germany) Durga Puja 2005… by
Jayati Chowdhury
Visiting Ladakh by Anamika Banerjee
Wild Flowers of Chhialekh A Photo
Essay by Kana Talukder
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