Jan - March 2017 Series N° 41

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Emmaus groups in Asia had been workingon various projects related with water in thelast 15 years, and ‘Right to Water’ has been oneof the priority issue.Water crisis has ledto water conflicts inthe region, takingaway the lives ofm a n y   i n n o c e n tpeople, especiallyfrom themarginalized sectionof the society. Theextreme weatherconditions, climatechange causingfloods & droughtshave severely affected the region. Man-madecalamities have made the situation more worse,leading to destruction of crops. For earningmaximum profits, farmers are left with no otherchoice but to take loans which they are laterunable to pay back due to crop failure.  Thisforces farmers to sell their lands & even commitsuicides. It has also resulted in the migrationof poor population from rural to urban areascausing other big challenges for survival.

In 2016, key focus of Emmaus groups inAsia had been in construction of rainwaterharvesting structures, raising awareness among

children & adultson waterc o n s e r v a t i o n ,raising voice foraccess to cleandrinking waterfacilities, helpingthose in need toinstall hand pumps,water tanks andrepairing /deepening thecommunity waterbodies. On 22nd

March 2017 to celebrate ‘World Water Day’,Emmaus groups in India organised groupsdiscussions, rally & awareness sessions onEnvironmental degradation, neglect ofcommunity forest, Community water bodies,depletion of water bodies, depletion of watertable resulting in consecutive drought and cropfailure, decline in involvement of youngfarmers in agriculture.

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Tindivanam - Tamilnadu, S.INDIA:Village Community Development Society(VCDS) celebrated the day in its 18 Non-Formal schools with the students and Teachers.On this occasion, the students conducted rally& awareness speeches on the need to protectcommunity water bodies. Also participantswere informed regarding the different waterharvesting techniques & water conservationmethods, and were explained the currentdrought situation in Tamil Nadu, its negativeimpact and how to prevent it in future. Studentshighlighted the need for removing & destroying‘Seemai Karuvelan’ and to plant indigenous treesaplings like Pungan, Vembu, Vagai, Panai,Poovarasan, Konnai, Arasan & Punnai topreserve the biodiversity, and to increase theground water level, since these trees suck morewater and strengthens the soil.

Cuddalore - Tamilnadu, S.INDIA:Florance Home Foundation (FHF) celebratedthe day in its centre at Pudupalayam, in whichmore than 65 women from nearby slumsparticipated. After the welcome sessions, agroup discussion had been organized.Participants shared about the problems theyface in their daily access to drinking water.They do not get sufficient & safe drinking waterfor their family, have access to only salty waterto wash their clothes, and to clean their cookingutensils. They have to walk long distance insearch of clean drinking water. Participantsalso informed that they do not have any wastewater treatment plant or water recharging unit

in their slum, and requested FHF to install onesuch unit, which would be of great help to them.FHF assured that they will try to install arecharging unit by end of this year.

Trichy - Tamilnadu, S.INDIA: From 16 to22nd March, KUDUMBAM organised an‘Environmental awareness programme’ forschool children from three government schoolsin Kundrandarkovil, in which around 170children participated. A similar awarenesssession was organized for 150 universitystudents from four colleges in Trichy. Thisprogramme was organized together with‘Moral foundation – Trichy’ on 19th March.Another training was organized for 80 ruralwomen on water harvesting and watermanagement techniques such as Trenches andbunds, basins, farm ponds, Mulching. Thisprogramme was supported by Emmaus withtechnical support from the ‘Department of bio-technology, Sastra University,Thanjavur’.

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Emphasizing the importanceof training, she mentioned that itis very important for themembers to have sufficientknowledge – both conceptual andtechnical, about the MHOconcept. The training started witha presentation about thebeginning of MHO, its relevanceand the milestones achievedsince 2011. It was interesting forthe participants as some of themjoined after the start of the MHOproject and some participantswere there since the beginning.The participants were alsoinformed about the problems faced by MHO during the initial phase and the work done toovercome these problems.

Delhi, N.INDIA: Tara ProjectsAssociation organized a trainingprogramme for the MHO Local SteeringCommittee members at its premises in themonth of January 2017. The trainingsession began with a welcome session byMs.Moon Sharma..

Moving ahead, the participants wereasked to identify the various stakeholdersinvolved in the MHO project. This activityhelped them understand the expectations ofall the stakeholders and how the commonthread of solidaritylinks them all to theconcept of MHO.The trainers alsoshared the examplesof conflict ofinterest, whichsometimes becomesobstacle in therelationship withthe stakeholders.Successful examplesof diagnostic centers were also shared withthe participants. During this session, theparticipants were introduced to the policydocument and its rationale. They wereexplained how all the details were workedout and included in the policy document

which continues to be the Guidancedocument in the operational matters of MHO.This was followed by explanation of basicconcepts like Membership definition, criteriafor identification of members, Membershipprocedure. The participantswere also informed about theimportance of focus groupdiscussion and its role inpromoting membership ofMHO.Participants were alsoprovided explanation of somemore basic concepts likecontribution, how it is fixedand its role in deciding aboutthe benefits/coverageprovided by the MHO. They were explainedthat it is very important to set theexpectations of the beneficiaries realisticallyat the outset and make people understandthat everyone has to contribute in the projectin order to make it a success. This followed

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by an explanation about the benefits provided to the members how it is decided. Finally theparticipants were told about the exclusions in the benefits and the related rules. Theimportance of policy document was reinforced at this stage with the participants. This was avery interesting session for the participants as it brought out clarity about the conceptualknowledge related to MHO’s operations and most commonly asked question by the community.Rajshahi, BANGLADESH: SinceSeptember 2016, PUP has beenimplementing a project on “Reducingharmful traditional practices such asChild Marriage, Dowry and FamilyViolence’ in Bogra district. With thesupport of Actionaid Bangladesh-BFI,PUP formed local youth group namely‘Watch Committee’ to combatharmful traditional practices from thesociety.

From January to March 2017, the ‘Watchcommittee’ members were able to prevent 6Child marriages in their working areas inAshekpur union. By the advocacy and lobbingof the committee members, one of the victimfrom the six, namely ‘Srimati Chandana Rani’obtained full free studentship opportunity inher school to continue her studies. Her fatherwanted to give her in marriage because itwas not possible for him to educate her. Alsothe local panchayat has assured to provide30 kilograms of rice per month for next 2 years under a Government program.

On 3 March 2017, the ‘Watch committee’ also protested by a human chain on a recent act of‘Child marriage protection’ which has been amended as follows: “In special cases, parents cangive child marriage with the permission of court, chairman of local government and mutualunderstanding of both families”.

Jepara, INDONESIA: Journalist Suprapto Ismudjito aged 87 passed on January 4, 2017 inIndonesia after a short acute illness. In the 1970’s, late Mr.Suprapto was active in a local church inWest Java. He founded a Christian newspaper and published it for two decades. His greatest lifeaccomplishment was the ‘Yayasan Penghibur’ - Comforter Foundation. He established thefoundation in the early 1980’s with one co-worker and his wife Anna-Liisa Jaanu-Ismudjito. YayasanPenghibur work promotes children’s opportunities, healthcare, social work and development ofenvironmental protection locally and with partners widely in Central Java.

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The UN collaborative program on ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and ForestDegradation’ (REDD) in developing countries was launched in the year 2008. This programsupports & promotes the meaningful involvement of all stakeholders including indigenouspeoples and other forest dependent communities in National and International implementationin over 64 countries including Sri Lanka.

During the meeting, issues related to climate change, green gas emissions, environmentalpollution, loss of biodiversity, rise in sea level & melting of glaziers & many more related topicshas been discussed in depth. Forest committees has been re-established, & a district workingcommittee of 12 organisations one among them was ‘Gami Seva Sevana’ has also been established.

In 1985, Yayasan Penghibur’s children’s homeopened the doors to children who had been abandonedbecause of leprosy. Together with his wife, he educatedthe local community about leprosy so that children werenot abandoned anymore because of the disease. Then thecouple started also to accept children who suffered fromextreme poverty or were war refuges or for some otherreason needed a home. The children attended school andlater either continued their studies or went to work. Theyalso have developed mentally disabled children, severalof who have stayed in the sheltered workshop inPenghibur. Altogether about 200 children have lived inYayasan Penghibur children’s home. Presently there areabout 30 children. Finnish sponsors have supported thechildren’s home from the beginning. Penghibur becamea member of Emmaus International in early 2000.

Mr.Suprapto was able to stay at home almost untilthe very last. During the preceding week, many youngones who had already moved out of the children’s homecame to visit him. He will be sorely missed by Anna-Liisa, the children, relatives, friends and the children’shome sponsors. Emmaus Asia and Emmaus International had the opportunity to share with himmany good moments during several meetings over the years. He always had a welcome andconstructive word of opinion during such meetings, and his valuable contributions to strengthenthe Emmaus principles & values has always been acknowledged.

Galaha, SRILANKA: A meeting of‘Srilanka Climate Forest Action network’ incollaboration with UN-REDD (ReducingEmissions from Deforestation and ForestDegradation) was organised at ‘Devon’s RestAuditorium in Kandy’ on the 20th January2017. The convener of the meeting wasMr.Liyanarachi from”Green Life” - a CivilSociety Organization based in Kandy.Mr.Wijeratne - Co-coordinator of the REDDprogram based in Anuradhapura was theresource person.

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Delhi, N.INDIA: At Tara premises, theprogram was attended by staff members,producer groups and the volunteers. Apresentation depicting the life of late TaraRani Sharma, one of the founders of TaraProjects, a living example of gender equalityand close to everyone was shown to theparticipants. The artisans shared theirmemories of her life journey as an empoweredwoman, strengthening fair trade andpromoting gender equality. Moon Sharmaspoke about her relationship as a daughterand a co-worker informing the participantsabout her dedication towards womenempowerment and motivating the womenbeneficiaries to become self dependent. Allacknowledged her contribution for workingtowards sustainable development.

The men were also motivated to educatetheir fellow men in the communities to worktowards respecting and accepting women asequal. Since the women are playing asignificant role in livelihood generation fortheir families and this needs to be recognized.

Presenting the statistics, the participantswere informed that only 14% of thebusinesses are led by women. Anotherimportant fact informed was that women areearning less than men at all the levels. The

participants were urged to be more awareabout the situation and work hard to changethe typical mindset prevailing in our societywhere women are not considered equal tomen and the situation needs to be changed.

At Sangam V ihar, a program wasorganized in collaboration with the ‘SocialWelfare Department, Delhi Government’where more than 150 women includingAnganwadi workers participated. Theymarched together holding placards andbanners with slogans of Gender Equality andWomen Rights. Rashida Begum the socialworker, speaking about gender equalitymentioned that men and women are bornequal. She urged the participants to treat theirchildren equally. She also recited a poem onGender Equality

At Badarpur, women beneficiariesincluding artisans/ micro credit/ skilldevelopment/ MHO beneficiariesparticipated in the program. Social workersand all present had discussion on the theme“Fair Trade Fosters Decent Work and GenderEquality at Workplace”, deciding to work inthis direction. Many women beneficiariesshared their stories of struggle and successachieved.

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Trichy - Tamilnadu, S.INDIA:Kudumbam celebrated the day at itscentres in Kolunji & Tranquebar. At Kolunji,Dr.Subha - Associate professor, Dept. ofwomen studies, Bharathidasan Universitywas invited as the chief guest for theoccasion. She spoke about the need forcelebrating women’s day. Overgeneration, women work for the wholeday doing all the household chores as wellas farm level activities. Due to the presentdrought situation, agriculture work has been drastically reduced. In this situation, men migrateto cities and women are forced to manage all the burdens. All women should be united as agroup and they should fight for their rights on equal wage, education and land rights. Morethan 100 women participated in this program and got benefitted.

At Tranquebar, Dr.Uma Maheshwari - Chief Superintendent, Karaikal Government hospitalparticipated as the guest of honour. She focused mainly on women health, malnutrition, andanaemia during pregnancy. She insisted on the intake of nutritional foods such as green leaves,fruits, millets and vegetables. Most of the diseases are food borne. So a woman has to takecare of herself in order to look after her family. Around 80 women participated in this program.

Tindivanam - Tamilnadu,S.INDIA: Village CommunityDevelopment Society (VCDS) isworking along with MAITRI - Indiaand ADECOM Network on ‘Women’sProtection from Domestic Violence’through awareness campaigns,seminars and community awarenessprogram in 5 villages. On 14thMarch, VCDS conducted acommunity awareness program inThenkolappakkam village on the eveof World Women’s Day.

Delegates from ADECOM Network and VCDS shared information on how to protect womenfacing domestic violence, how to approach the issues legally and protection of girl children againstabuses and harassment, and what kind of counseling can be given to the victims of domesticviolence and sexual harassment & abuses. More than 75 members took part in the awarenessprogram, and six case studies has been identified. As an outcome of the seminar, members of thevillage requested for a medical camp to detect & treat cancer and Oral diseases as there is anincrease in the use of tobacco among women & increase in Alcohol consuming level among youth.

Charghat - Rajshahi, BANGLADESH: On 8 March2016, Thanapara Swallows celebrated InternationalWomen’s Day in which around 250 men and womenparticipated in the rally, which moved on to the main streetsin Charghat bazaar and finally a discussion meeting washeld at Thanapara headquarters.

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Emmaus Asia Regional BoardDate: 23 - 25 March 2017

Venue: AEP, Beirut - Lebanon

BEIRUT: Emmaus Asia Regional Boardmet at Association d’entraide Professionnellein Beirut, Lebanon from 23 to 25th March2017, in which delegates from India,Bangladesh, Lebanon & France participated.Several discussions were held during themeeting in preparation for the Board meetingof Emmaus International (EI) scheduled to takeplace in France in May 2017.

After the welcome session by the chair,the agenda for the meeting was adopted. Themain decisions of the Asia Regional Assemblyheld at Delhi in October 2016 and followup /actions taken have been reviewed by themembers, after which the minutes has beenapproved. Thereafter Treasurer presented thepayment details made by Asian groups in2016. She informed that all the full membergroups & trial members have made theircontributions towards Emmaus Internationalmembership fee & Solidarity salecontributions for 2016.

Moving ahead, discussions were held onthe 3 struggles chosen at Jesolo WorldAssembly in April 2016. Gregoire from EI madea PPT presentation explaining the transition forInternational Solidarity & Campaigning from thepriority action areas to three struggles, afterwhich Members also shared regarding the maininspiration in creation of their respectiveassociations. Thereafter member groupspresent shared in detail regarding the projectsimplemented collectively on Water, Microcredit, Eco tourism & Training programmes inthe year 2016. Also the groups reported onprojects supported by ‘Foundation Abbé Pierre’& ‘Emmaus Montbeliard’ based in France.Thereafter Gregoire shared with the membersthe details of the new calendar for AnnualSolidarity programme, and for FAP &Montbeliard projects, which comes into effectfrom the year 2017. The sources of funds,criteria and the work schedule for the above 3programmes were explained in detail.

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Members also wereinformed in detail regardingthe details of theorganisation AGIRabcedbased in France withmembers of retired volunteerexperts who provide free ofcharge their availability,experience & profesisonalknow-how. Also theirmissions in different parts ofthe world, specially in Asia.Member groups who areinterested to contact thisgroup have been asked to refer to the details in the working document, and contact AGIRabced incase they prefer to invite some volunteers.

Thereafter member groups presentedtheir projects for the year 2017, which will besubmitted for approval by the Board ofEmmaus International in May 2017. Followingtheir presentation, Tara & Thanapara updatedthe members regarding the progress ofmutual health programme in their respectiveorganisations. Their presentation included thedetails of the project area, health situationin the area, Initial actions of MHO and how ittook shape, the challenges in the initialstages, the details of membership feeyearwise, day care support and medical testsprovided, and the achievements as on today.

A PPT presentation on different stagesin handling trial membership requests,followup with the groups after they becometrial members, how to handle the requestsfor full membership and requests for fundingsfrom external groups were explained to themembers. Also the tools to be referred & theresponsibilities of the Secretariats & electedmembers in various stages of the processhave been explained. Thereafter discussionstook place on the trial member groups inBangladesh and Srilanka, and on the newapplications for trial membership from India.

Kamal shared about the details of visitmade with Oswald to YP, Indonesia from 4 to9 March 2017. He said that the main objectiveof the visit had been to study the presentsituation after the demise of Mr.Supapto inJan 2017 which has created a void in thedevelopment initiatives of YP, and in the

communication with EI & EA. Also to discusswith Ms.Anna-Liisa – the cofounder and withBoard & staff team of YP regarding the handoverprocess visualised with another organisation(The Salvation Army), and draw out a plan ofaction on the role of EI & EA in strengtheningfuture interventions. Regional Board expressedtheir condolences for the death of Mr.Suprapto,and they were of the opinion that Emmaus Asiawishes to extend all support to YP in thisdifficult situation.

Thereafter discussions were held on thecontributions made by Emmaus groups in ActEmmaus Digital platform, and members wereinformed that the different initiatives that havebeen uploaded by member groups in thewebsite. Thereafter the video documentariesof VCDS (India) and Jekawili Association (Ivorycoast) has been displayed, and members foundboth the videos interesting. And members wereinformed that the ‘Heritage & Communicationdepartment’ at EI will be publishing onedocumentary per month in ‘Act Emmaus’website which will help people to understand the diversity of our Movement and our strugglesacross the world. Thereafter discussions wereheld on the possibilities of organising a workcamp in Asia during the end of this year.

Lena and Gregoire shared with the mem-bers regarding the working group of 4 mem-bers on ‘Ethical Finance & Solidarity economy’,which met in Nov 2016 with the aim of relaunch-ing ‘Emmaus Ethical Fund’ managed by EI. Inpreparation for the Board meeting of EI to be

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held in May 2017, the Regional Activity re-port and utilization of funds for the year 2016were presented and approved. Projectedbudget for the year 2017 was also presentedand approved by the Regional Board. Therebeing no further business to come before themeeting, the meeting was adjourned at 7 pmon 24th March 2017, and visits were ar-ranged to AEP activities the next day to meetand interact with Micro credit beneficiaries.

INDIA: Florance HomeFoundation (FHF) in Cuddalore,Tamilnadu organised a meeting intheir Administrative Office atPudupalayam where more than 40members were present, and a photoexhibition of Abbé Pierre wasdisplayed for the public.

BANGLADESH: Thanapara Swallows(TSDS) in their premises at Rajshahiorganised a gathering wherein staffs, childrenand their parents, local villagers and a youthgroup participated. Members were informedthe history of Emmaus through a powerpointpresentation, and the life history of AbbéPierre followed by a question/answer session,wherein participants were asking theirclarifications on the Emmaus activities.

Village Community DevelopmentSociety (VCDS) in Tindivanam, Tamilnaduorganised a session for the school children ofParangini village, during which the life historyof Abbé Pierre and about Emmaus movementwith his activities worldwide was explainedto the participants. Also a poetry competitionand an essay writing on Abbé Pierre life historywas conducted.

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Delhi, N.INDIA: Tara Projects Association organized 4 different training programs onLife skills, Fire fighting, First aid & Capacity building during the first quarter of 2017. Theobjective of these trainings was to raise awareness and develop capacities of the producers,adolescent children from the learning centres, staff and community representatives. Thesetrainings covered approximately 200 persons.

Tindivanam - Tamilnadu, S.INDIA: Village Community Development Society (VCDS) organizeda 3-day training program on ‘Folk arts’ from 17 to 19th March 2017 at its centre in Vellakulam.More than 65 students including teachers from 24 villages participated in the training which mainlyfocused on ‘Parai Muzhakkam and Parai Adavugal’. Parai is an instrument widely used by themarginalized people to bring out their voice and seek attention for the problems they face in theirdaily life. It attracts the attention of others easily, and it is also considered as the voice of theoppressed. Mr.T.Aaron & Mr.S.Karmegan from ‘Thozhan Kalai Kuzhu’ were invited as the trainerswho provided following trainings to the participants - Parai Adithal, Parai Adavu, Oyil Aattam,Yoga, Seminar on Leadership qualities, Awareness songs, Brian power boosting games.

In the 3-day training program on Life skills, thestudents were made aware about various stages of ourlife, the importance of dignity, self assertiveness, theskill of decision making and problem solving. Thevarious aspects of Gender equality were also coveredin the program. The trainers from ‘Modi CareFoundation’ provided the training by using innovativetechniques & involving students in various group activities.The sessions organized were interactive and participatory.In the training organized on Fire fighting, thetrainer demonstrated use of fire safety equipmentssuch as hose reel, fire fighting cylinders, fire alarmsand smoke detectors. On this occasion, a fire was setup& participants were asked to demonstrate theknowledge gained about use of fire safety equipments.During the training a mock drill was conducted andthe participants were trained on emergencyevacuation procedures. An emergency response teamwas constituted to meet the threat from fire or anyother natural disaster.Under the capacity building program, 25 younggirls and women were provided training on Jewellerymaking at Sangam Vihar community. During the trainingprograms, participants learned the weaving, assemblingtechniques, use of hand tools carefully and properfinishing. The participants used raw material like beads,thread ad hooks etc. All took keen interest to learn thejewellery assembling craft The master craftswomenfrom Aadarsh Hastshilp Samiti, from Badarpur providedtraining to the participants.

For Communications:

Compiled by :

Mr.M.KamalakannanRegional Secretariat

EMMAUS ASIA SOCIETYDoor No: 43, Fifth cross street,Health Employees colony,NainarmandapamPondicherry - 605 004, INDIATel: +91 94426 17266E-mail: emmausasia@gmail.com

Ms.Moon Sharma, IndiaMs.Lena Sayad, LebanonMr.Selva Arokiaraj IndiaMs.Josephine Pavithra Devi, IndiaEditorial Committee:

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Rajshahi, BANGLADESH: On5 January 2017, PUP organised arally & a training session to createawareness among the people onthe importance of paying VAT &TAX. PUP has been working withDemocratic Budget Movement(DBM) since 2012. The main aim ofDBM is ‘Decentralization ofNational Budget’ and raise voice toprepare ‘District wise Budget’, sothat root level people canparticipate in the budgetingprocess. Preparing a budgetconsidering the demands of thegrassroots will be much realistic.

Hence DBM pressurizes the Government to prepare a budget integrating the demands fromthe root level.

The training was useful for theparticipants in understanding thehistory of the musical instrument –Parai. The participants gainedconfidence that they can address theproblems of people in their villagesthrough this art. Participants also feltthat there is a need to strengthen andspread the traditional folk arts whichare now becoming less famous andunidentified because of the westernmusic & arts, as the folk arts are theback bone of Tamil Culture and Heritage. This training also aimed at forming a strong culturaltroop at district level involving more youths with social responsibility.