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SUNDERBAN ADIBASHI MUNDA MOHILA SOMOBAY SOMITI Ltd.

Year: 01 SSSAAAMMMMMMSSSSSS NNNEEEWWWSSSLLLEEETTTTTTEEERRR Number: 06

Place: Jisu Nam Ashrom Date: 05-06-2014

Editorial This is the sixth news letter for our readers. This time we have the

following news:

1. Meetings with the village girls.

2. Income generating activities.

3. Results of the SSC (Secondary School Certificate) examination.

4. Proposal for meetings with new mothers .

5. Construction of a new house.

1. Meeting with village girls

Around the middle of April 2014 at 10 a.m. Bahamoni Munda arranged a meeting

at Jisu Nam Ashrom with the girls of the various villages. About 40 girls attended

the meeting. The topic of the meeting was:

আমরা অধিভাষী।

অধিভাষী থাকব, আধিম আর থাকব না: আিুধনক হব ! Amra adhibashi. Adhibashi thakbo, adim ar thakbo na: adhunik hobo!

We are t r i ba l peop l e .

We w i l l r ema in t r i ba l peop l e ,

bu t we w i l l no t be p r imi t i v e any more :

we w i l l become modern !

Comments, advice and suggestions about our Newsletter are welcome and can be sent to these e-mail addresses:

chandonamunda@gmail.com

champamunda@gmail.com

Our Newsletters are online at http://issuu.com/munda.education.centre.bd

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We have a Tribal culture different from the Bengali culture such as: own language,

own songs and dances, different kinds of food which Bengali people would never

eat, and so on. We will leave the bad and primitive things of our culture and keep

the good ones, and with them enter the modern world.

Another meeting was called by Bahamoni Munda around the middle of May 2014.

In this meeting Nilima Munda talked about income generating activities (IGA).

Every person earns his/her livelihood. There are many ways for earning our

livelihood. We have sufficient resources, but we do not utilize them properly.

We can grow many kinds of vegetables and keep domestic animals. It does not take

so much place and so much money to undertake these small IGA and we can

improve our economic situation.

Nilima is talking about IGA.

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2. Income generating activities

Most of the girls living at the Christian Mission have started small income

generating activities. All of them have a piece of land where they have started

growing many kinds of vegetables and have bought chickens and hens and ducks.

Some of the girls are quite active with these activities, and in a couple of weeks

good results should be seen, because the just started rainy season is the best one for

vegetables… and, by the way, there is again a lot of water in our pukur!

Ducks in the pukur of the Christian Mission (Jisu Nam Ashrom).

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3. Results of the SSC examination

Now we will tell you something about the students who entered for the SSC

examination the last month of February.

Results of the examination were announced on the 17th of May 2014.

Among our Munda people, 16 students appeared for this important examination:

fourteen were girls and two were boys. Only one girl failed, and all the others have

passed.

In particular, all the seven girls who stay at Jisu Nam Ashram have passed. Six of

them (the other one was taking the photo) look so happy in the following picture for

the good results they have achieved.

Students who have got their Secondary School Certificate.

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4. Proposal for meetings with new mothers

Recently one of our Munda new mothers died delivering her first child. She could

not get proper care and she had to face a premature death. Therefore we have been

thinking that meetings with pregnant women should be called as early as possible so

that the new mothers (especially those who are going to be mothers for the first

time) can be informed about what to do and where to go when time for bringing

babies into this world will come.

We think that through these meetings our co-operative will be able to render a

precious service to our sisters.

We are aware that some new mothers might be not able to take part into a meeting,

like the case of the lady in the following picture. So we should also be able to reach

them at home, when necessary.

She is pregnant: we will inform her anyway about what to do and where to go!

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5. Construction of a new house

As already announced in our Newsletter Number 05, at Jisu Nam Ashram a new

house is being constructed, because the old one was in a very bad shape and the six

girls who used to sleep there were at risk of being flooded and bitten by snakes.

So, just after Easter decision was taken to destroy the old house and build a new

one. The main structure of the house is almost complete. Within the middle of July

it should be finished completely. We are planning to move the dining room in that

new house in order to have more space. Visitors also should find a comfortable

place to stay.

Demolition of the old house (April 25th 2014).

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State of the new house on May 4th 2014.

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State of the new house on May 23rd 2014.

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State of the new house on May 30th 2014.

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Men at work on June 2nd 2014.

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Men at work on June 2nd 2014.

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Men at work on June 4th 2014, just before the casting for the roof.