SELF-RELIANT: Bodo women at a silkworm farm

Nov. 1: It has been a long journey for Elizabeth Murmu, whose life fell apart with the death of her husband in the Adivasi-Bodo riots a decade ago.

Today, heading an 11-member all-women self-help-group (SHG), Murmu is a role model for many like her in her native village, Burachar. The SHG, christened Marshal, gives loans to the needy at nominal rates of interest.

Murmu still remembers her days at the Sapkata relief camp in Gossaigaon subdivision. But her face lights up with the realisation that those days are over and, she hopes, over for good.

“I had a difficult time managing my life in relief camps after I lost my husband. But today I have overcome all my problems,” she says.

Burachar is not the only village where women are making slow but steady strides to self-reliance. In neighbouring Khasibari, riot-affected women have taken up weaving under the guidance of an SHG called Ranjali, led by Tunushree Narzary.

There are several more SHGs in the subdivision, each helping groups of women build and cherish a new- fangled confidence in themselves.

“Life has been tough for us. When the riots took place in 1996-98, we were forced to flee our villages and take shelter in relief camps,” recalls Hiramoni Narzary, a member of Ranjali.

“We are thankful to the Lutheran World Service, which helped us form this group.”

The NGO provided the members of Ranjali with three sets of looms and 20 tin sheets to erect a weaving shed. With three Indi-yarn spinning machines from the block development office, the group began to weave shawls, bedsheets and traditional Bodo items like the dokhna and gwmgra.

“With the Lutheran World Service as our active and constant guide, we are now independent,” says Tunushree.

As part of the capacity-building initiative, the women have been introduced to awareness programmes ranging from conflict resolution to prevention of HIV/AIDS, family planning and immunisation. The trained women are, in turn, sharing their knowledge with their lesser-informed neighbours and friends.

“The SHGs are now in a position to break the vicious chain of illiteracy, superstition and conservatism to facilitate community development initiatives. Earlier, womenfolk would be confined to the four walls of their home. Now they are on their way to viewing the world with new eyes. They are in a position to extend a helping hand to their male counterparts,” says a member of the Lutheran World Service.