A Day in the Life

Excerpts from CEO Joan Roose’s diary in the field.

September 25th – I awoke early this morning, about 6am, to the sound of “ja, ja”! I looked out my window across the fields where the hills were still shrouded in mist and saw five teams of oxen ploughing our bottom paddock. Round and round they went, in the cool of the morning. Just yesterday evening I had said to one of our workers, we really must get the land ploughed this week while there’s still a little rain around so that we can plant fodder for our cows. He looked at me and said “Yes Mum”, then something in Oriya with a man’s name and nodded his head. Lo and behold this morning it’s all happened. He is from Mastiput, the village across the fields from us.

Some days start early, like the day I was up at the cow shed at 7am, talking to Jogesh, our Mali (farmer/gardener) about our new cow and chicken shed. We were discussing how we would divide it and where the openings for the chickens to go out into the orchard area would be; where the gates to the land next door would be for the cows to go and graze; how many cows the shed will hold; which chickens would live where – Vanda Raj in one house, local country “Desi” chickens in another and the meat, Broilers, in another.

Just as I thought I might get back to have some breakfast, the Livestock Inspector arrived. We then spent the next hour and a half discussing worming the new calf, how to get more milk from the cows, what “medicines” they should be having, what “injections” the chickens should have and when – from day old through to 12 months old, then what supplements they need at different times. We got onto meat chickens for us to farm and how we should set up the “nursery” for day old chicks. We discovered that he can supply them for us, so we placed an order, and then made arrangements to go to the hatchery with him in the nearby town (about an hour’s drive on the motorbike from Rejoice) to place an order for laying chickens.

Every day has been busy – some with planning, finishing the building work, staff meetings, farm planning, visiting nurseries and buying car loads of plants (700 hedging plants for example), visiting the Central Cattle Breeding Centre and discussing the best feed, best next breed to inseminate our cows with (IVF Holstein-Friesians seem to be the go) or going to the Poultry Hatchery where they breed Vanda Raj Chickens – giant hens that start laying at about 8 months and lay an egg a day for at least 5 years. They are double the size of the normal country chickens. We already have 40 of them and they are just now starting to lay so I’ve ordered another 100. Allowing for 5% loss and the odd rooster, we should end up with another 90 laying an egg a day...that will give us more than enough eggs for everyone here and some to sell to cover the cost of their vaccinations, feed etc. We’ve also ordered 50 Broilers (to start with) – for meat purposes and sale in about 3 month’s time. Most of these trips are on the back of the motor bike and I became quite wind burnt on the face...the second day I was in Mastiput, I was on the bike coming and going from town and was really burnt on the back of the neck and arms. Everyone was fascinated with my peeling back for days afterwards. By the time everyone had been paid, supplies paid for and dinner eaten, it was 10.30 and time to collapse on my bed!

Out and About
On Friday the 18th we travelled to a district about two hours drive from Mastiput where we visited two villages that have wells provided by our sponsors. In one of these villages, we sat in on the literacy classes we commenced there eight weeks ago. Getting to these villages meant wading across a river, usually neck deep in the wet season; however this year’s wet has been seriously less than usual, so it was only knee deep.

Whilst we were at the literacy village, one of our RDOs also did some Hygiene Training as the village women and men were sitting taking everything in and it was too good an opportunity to miss. Six days a week two young women walk five kilometres each morning and evening from their village to provide basic education to 50+ children aged between 4 and 12. Let me say that the day we visited, there were only about three children 11-12 years old there; the rest were too busy out working in the fields, forest or minding cattle/goats. Most of the children were aged from 4 to 9 years. We spent about an hour there before returning down the newly dug road...12 weeks ago we walked along a 12 inch track between these villages, now the local men have been employed to dig out a “road” about as wide as a tractor.

About half way between these two villages is a huge banyan tree. It must be well over a hundred years old and has the best branches to sit in and have adventures. Our lunch was prepared there – live chickens became a delicious curry. Chapattis were mixed, rolled and cooked over the open fire... just like a barbeque only different. The food was excellent; we were a little short of drinking water by the end of the day, however it was not a problem. Just as we started to eat lunch there was a really heavy downpour so we all crowded under the tree (with our support team holding up seating mats over our heads to keep us dry while we ate). When we protest they insist that it’s no bother, but I can see how wet they’re getting. Fortunately it stopped after about 15 minutes and we were able to continue our walk back to the first village, then to the river for our return crossing.

Three punctures slowed our progress, the first on the way, the other two on our return journey. Tyres and tubes were patched, repaired, retreaded and have to be immensely worn before they are replaced. Two of the wheels on the car we used that day got new tyres a few days later, it really needs two more but they will wait a few more weeks for the owner to save enough.

On Sunday morning we went with our two tutor/interpreters and the local RDO to the village where our third rig will be commencing work. This village has a stream running around three sides of it, very shallow now after the less than usual wet season and just a trickle in summer. Right now the stream bed is full of a great rice crop that will be ready for harvest in 3-4 weeks time. Other vegetables are planted nearby. There is no good drinking water – it is collected from the stream from a section that is ringed by rocks at the edge of the stream. The thinking is that because the water has to come through the rocks to get there it is cleaner than the rest. It certainly doesn’t get as stirred up as the rest but it is the same water that the people have washed their pots, clothes and themselves in just 10-15 metres upstream.

We will be sinking a bore at the end of a very clean street where everyone in the village will be able to access it easily. The village elder sat us down near this spot and the locals had good discussions with the leaders there.

As we sat there, one boy about 9 was just watching us. He had the saddest eyes and a big, bloated stomach (usually meaning it’s full of worms/parasites and certainly malnourished). Whether it was because we were looking at him and talking or because he was news, he was brought forward and we were shown his foot which was quite black and swollen. It appears Dalzy was bitten by a cobra a couple of weeks ago and his leg and foot had blown up like a balloon. He was treated with local medicine and was recovering. We then learnt that his mother died a week after he was born from complications of childbirth and that his father died when Dalzy was just starting to walk. His grandmother had been caring for him. Dalzy has now joined the children at Rejoice.

Dalzy will bring the number of children at Rejoice up to seventy and with that comes the need for another carer. Fortunately, Anita from the local village who worked as a day labourer on all our building work came to us looking for work. What a blessing she will be – local, knowing the children for years and has always cared for them – especially the girls. She and Muni will look after the little ones (boys and girls) in the third dormitory room. This will free up space in the boys and girls rooms and give the bigger kids a bit more privacy and room to study, etc. I hope we will have the funds to commence the second floor of the kid’s block next year, with the girls moving upstairs then with the boys downstairs. This will enable more kids to come, but also give better space for the existing children and cater for the differing ages and needs of our existing children.

The next immediate priority is a fridge and a heavy duty washing machine... and what a blessing they will be. The small children don’t have to wash their own clothes but 6 years up are expected to. They really don’t wash their clothes very well, especially the boys – they just don’t care.

Three nights ago two leopards were seen just down the road from us. Two of our workers returned to our land and were reluctant to leave because they saw them and were afraid. It really justifies the boundary wall and 10 ft cyclone fencing we’ve built and are just finishing this week. I have seen bears on our land and have encountered them nearby, but had not been concerned about leopards even though I’d heard they were sometimes seen here. It explains why the cow bellowed most of the night before and why the dog had kept up a low growl most of the same night – never leaving the verandah but standing guard by the children’s doors. I heard them and got up with my torch, woke the tutors but we didn’t see anything and now I’ve been told I mustn’t leave my room if I hear strange noises at night.

Yet Another Day or Two at Rejoice
Saturday 19th
The inauguration was a time to honour all of the supervisors, masons, tradesmen, craftsmen and workers who have done a great job building the boundary wall and the large multi-purpose hall. Many of these bricklayers and their labourers (women who mix the cement barefoot, carry all the cement bags, sand, stone chips and water) have worked on all our projects since day one. Sadly one brickie, Romeo, died earlier this year after an auto accident. Many of these workers have watched our first batch of children grow and develop, they have seen joy and sadness as people have come and gone and they truly care for the children of Rejoice. The men will often have a kick of the football with the boys after school. Many of the tradesmen who have supplied us with the raw materials, pipes, etc attended, as did the officer in charge of the Department of Horticulture, friends from the nearby town of Koraput and members of the local village Mastiput. We ate a great lunch, chilli chicken, vegetable curry, fried rice, dhal and salad. The kids played, sang, danced.... it was a great day.

Thursday 24th
We began a three day intensive Literacy Training Programme here at Rejoice Centre. Our literacy teachers, another two girls (who will join our team once we have support for them and identify a village in need that they can reach), our RDOs, some of their wives, our tutors, carers and two of our boys who are in 8th class and on holidays at the moment have been getting some super training from two men, retired headmasters and currently employed by the government to run training programmes as well as working with organisations like us. I don’t speak the language but have been filming the sessions and have enjoyed much of the teaching and activities. This time they are concentrating mainly on pre-school work and in preparing children who’ve not been to school before. They will return and do more workshops as we require, and have recommended that both Sangram and Ramesh go and do some in-service training at a couple of innovative, multi-class, multi-level schools interstate.

If we are to take on teaching our children instead of sending them to the school down the road, where little care is given, and if we are to provide the best opportunity for our children to get into the really good high schools in town that will give them the grades to get them into college courses, then this is a great beginning.

I also have to travel to Bhubaneswar, the state capital – an overnight train trip – with our project manager Kasi, two of our farmers and at least one of our tutors as interpreter. The Officer in Charge at the Department of Horticulture here has recommended that we go there to speak to the Medicinal Plants experts in their department because our part of Orissa has the perfect climate for many of these highly sought-after plants and he will assist us to grow them for sale. He will be there for the next 10 days so will introduce us to the right people and arrange for us to get the right plants, cultivation advice and free stock. While I’m there, I will try to find some solar power people to see whether we can set up a solar panel to drive the bore on the farmland. Either that or a windmill, but that seems impossible.

Well, I pray that this finds you all well. Please feel free to forward to whomever you think might find it interesting. God bless you all, see you soon.

Lots of love, Joan