The Village gathering at Narayanpur Subcentre
On 31st March 2008 Dr. Jona Dohrmann visited Narayanpur Subcentre which is located about 18 kms south of Bamhani. The Subcentre is housed in a rented place @ Rs. 1,200/- per month. There are two small rooms and a porch. The latter is used for the kindergarten and is covered by tin (steel) sheets, visible from the large place in front of the school where we normally park the vehicle.
The Village gathering at Narayanpur Subcentre
Following persons are employed at Narayanpur Subcentre:
1. Savita Kawde = Sewing Class Teacher who hails from Wathoda near Butibori. She was an earlier student on the 2003 VHSW batch and then joined the sewing class in the Gondwananagar Subcentre.
2. Madhuri Deotare = KG Teacher who hails from Ashta where Sangam worked earlier. She participated in the October 2007 VHSW Batch.
3. Varsha Lonare = Cook and Sweeper who hails from Narayanpur itself.
4. Praveen Urkude = Driver who hails from Bamhani and participated in the 2007 Technical Course batch.
5. Savita Kohade = TBA/Nurse was not present as she had gone for reporting and other work to Bamhani.
Narayanapur Subcentre Staff
Sewing Class:
On our visit there were about seven sewing class students. Savita told us that 13 girls are enrolled and ten girls come regularly. Being the first batch of students, the course is not recognised by the Government. The girls will receive a Sangam certificate on completion of the course. There are four sewing machines. Normally two girls work on one machine. Thus, a fifth machine (which is already with us) is requested for from Bamhani. The girls are all from Narayanpur. The timings of the course are from 11 a. m. to 5 p. m. Lunch break is at 2 p. m. When talking to the sewing class girls, they were in good spirits and enjoyed being able to learn sewing simple garments such as children’s frocks and blouses.
Sewing Class in Progress at Narayanpur
KG:
Madhuri said that 15 children are enrolled in the KG and twelve are regular attendants. We saw about 10 children. The children do not yet have a uniform. Their age is between 2 ½ to 3 years. Six children come from Narayanpur itself, whereas four children each come from Harankhuri and Khandala, villages which are about 5 kms away from the Subcentre. The timings are from 10 a. m. to 3.30 p. m. Lunch break is at 1.30 p. m during which they get a meal cooked by the Sangam cook. There is demand from other villages to take more children into our kindergarten. We were told that it is difficult to in bring them to Narayanpur in the monsoon period as the roads are often unsurpassable (which we could with our own eyes while travelling to Narayanpur).
The children were very shy and would not even say their name although approached in Marathi. We are sure there will be a change in their attitude after some months as experienced from other KGs.
Watershed:
The measures were done through the Government. The villagers just had to remove obstacles such as trees and are entrusted with cleaning the trenches etc. The excavated material was heaped on the side and serves as natural bund (hillock). Later Praveen also showed us extensive watershed measures such as excavated farm ponds, nullahs (drainage system) and bunding. It was quite impressing, and some of the inhabitants were quite aware of these methods. I requested Praveen to remain in contact with the people and the officials in case we will require their help.
The overall impression was positive given the fact that this Subcentre just started operating. The staff seemed happy that interest in being taken in their work. It is essential that regular visits from the Base Centre as well as from the Office are undertaken, especially to strengthen the working ties.
Farm Pond in Narayanpur