http://viewchange.org Videos from ViewChange.org (Filtered by topics: Untouchability) en-us Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:38:00 +0000 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-the-scavengers <p>The Sulabh toilet is self-composting and requires no drainage, and already serves some 4 million people daily in India. What's more, this revolution in public sanitation&mdash;with help from the Sulabh movement's leader, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak&mdash;is empowering some of the country's poorest people.</p> Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:38:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-the-scavengers India, Bindeshwar Pathak, Sulabh International, Sanitation, Improved sanitation, Untouchability, Caste, Public toilet, New Delhi, Alwar >> TITLE: Alwar, Rajasthan, North India >> TITLE: The Scavengers >> VOICEOVER: From 1.1 billion Indians, 750 million are completely deprived of sanitary facilities. It is a set morning ritual: just before sunrise, at 5 AM in the morning, they relieve themselves in the open air. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK [Founder, Sulabh Foundation]: More than half a million children die every year because of diarrhea, dehydration, hookworms, roundworms, cholera and so forth. And nobody is taking notice of it, this has to change in this country. Half a million children die! A lack of sanitation is the root cause of all these diseases. >> VOICEOVER: There are hardly any sewer systems. The feces are cleared by the so-called "scavengers". These are always outcasts, also known as untouchables, people who are at the utmost bottom of the hierarchic Hindustani caste system. >> SHAKUNTALA [Untouchable]: I have to do this work to feed my children. I can't let them starve. So I am compelled to do this. Although I think it is horrible. >> VOICEOVER: The Hindi word for untouchable is pariah. The Untouchables live -- just as here in Alwar -- on the outskirts of the villages and towns, in separate slums where other Indians don't come. Nowadays the Untouchables call themselves Dalits. For two and a half thousand years they are consistently, and often with impunity, discriminated. They account for almost a fifth of the Indian population. >> PREM [Untouchable]: No one ever comes here to sit and talk with us. So we are sitting home alone, in seclusion of the society. No one will ever come here to spend time with us. >> PREM: Work is like hell. People hate me because of that work. Sometimes they give me some food, but it is thrown to me from above because they won't touch me. Even cows have a better life than I do, because the people pray for the cows, and they take care of them. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: In earlier days, the scavengers had to wear bells to create sound, or if not, they had to create signs to clear the road so that people could keep away from them. They don't want to see even the shadow of the scavengers. >> VOICEOVER: When Dr. Pathak was little, he liked to know what the matter was with the Untouchables. That is why he touched a Dalit on purpose one day. His grandmother saw that. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: She made a huge cry in the family: "How can he live in the family now because he has touched an Untouchable!" And for that matter she forced me to swallow cow dung, cow urine, sand and Ganges water to purify myself. I was crying. >> VOICEOVER: The matter in question kept haunting Pathak, from the Brahmin caste himself, the highest caste with the Hindus. He decided to dedicate his live to the improvement of the position of the Untouchables. In 1973 he founded the Sulabh movement for that. >> TITLE: New Delhi, Delhi, North India >> VOICEOVER: The movement has her headquarters in a suburb of the capital city New Delhi, and offers employment to 50,000 outcasts in the whole of India by now. She is supported by one simple technical invention. Every Indian knows the Sulabh movement, if only because of the word Sulabh has become a synonym for "public toilet" in the meanwhile. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: This is a prototype of a Sulabh toilet. It requires only 1.5 liters to flush per use. You see, from there there's one drain, it has been divided into two, one leading to this tank, and the other to that one. When the first is in use, just close the other one, and after it is full, switch over to the other one. >> MAN: You need a sewerage system for it? >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: No, it's not required, because it functions independently of the sewer system. The treatment is on the site itself. >> VOICEOVER: It sounds so simple: a WC connected to two covered underground tanks. Water is hardly necessary and no sewerage at all. When the first tank is full -- this takes approximately four years with an average Indian family -- it is closed off and the feces fall into the second tank. After two years the contents of the first tank is fully composted, on site and in a complete natural way, without adding chemicals. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: This is the manure fertilizer taken out of the pit, as I told you. >> MAN: This is human excretes? >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: This is human excreta. Here, no smell, no pathogen, no bacteria, nothing. It can safely be handled and used in the field to raise the productivity of the field on the flowers and the fruits. So this is a technology, which can reach each and every house of 2.6 billion people who have no access to safe and hygienic toilets. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Suppose a person is living in a slum. They can have a toilet only for 10 to 20 dollars. So this is a technology that ends both the problem of open defecation as well as manual cleaning of human excreta and scavenging. It also reduces the diseases. It improves health. And it improves working man days. If he works more, then certainly he can earn more money, and he can be eliminated from poverty. >> VOICEOVER: Pathak is not just anybody. In India he is a celebrity, and recently his WCs were recommended for the second time by the United Nations for 2.6 billion slum inhabitants all over the world. He has been decorated by the Pope and praised by the former UN bosses Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan. He takes us along to the central station in New Delhi, where one of the many public toilet complexes is situated, which his Sulabh movement has set up. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Here we have toilets and a bathroom. People come here to use the toilet. They pay 2 rupees, roughly 4 eurocents, they go to toilet, take shower and they go away. During night hours they can also come here, so they should not have to go outside for defecation. This kind of facility we have throughout the country. We have more than 6,000 complexes, used by roughly 4 million people every day. >> VOICEOVER: The Sulabh complex near the central station in New Delhi is visited by 4,000 people daily. Just as with the other public toilet complexes the personnel consists of Untouchables. The Untouchables, who clear up feces on the street, earn approximately 6 euros a month. The Untouchables who work here earn at least 50 euros a month, eight times as much. Food and shelter are free. The Sulabh movement offers employment to 50,000 Untouchables in the whole of India. >> SANITATION WORKER: My room is over there, sir. This is my bed to sleep in. It's really comfortable. This is my god. He fulfills all my wishes. He helps me. Here are my clothes. All my wishes have been fulfilled. Here is the tap. In the morning we turn it on. Look, water is pouring out! Then I wash my face. Here is my comb and mirror where I comb my hair. And if I want to, I hum with it. At night we leave on the fan, so it becomes nicely fresh. Then we sleep tight. No fussing, no problems. >> VOICEOVER: The jobs are popular among the untouchables, as in India there are hundreds of thousands Dalits who have to live from cleaning the filthiness off the street. >> TEACHER: "M" for monkey, "N" for nest, "O" for owl... >> VOICEOVER: With the money that the Sulabh movement earns from the public toilets and the sale of WCs -- the turnover amounts to almost 20 million euros a year -- Pathak has set up schools and training institutes for Untouchables and their children. The Untouchables, who learn a profession here, are all illiterate and former street cleaners. During their education, they receive five times as much money as they earned when they still collected feces on the street, and therefore the Untouchables are craving to be educated. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Were you often offended, when you still cleared feces with your bare hands? >> WOMAN 1: I walked with the basket on my head. It started raining, and the basket overflowed, and all the poop poured over my body. Everybody was laughing at me. With difficulty I delivered the basket and then ran away. >> WOMAN 2: After work, people came over to my hut. They threatened to drag me along to report me to the police if I didn't start cleaning again. >> WOMAN 3: I walked with my basket in the rain. Everything ran over my body. Everybody was laughing and I had to throw up. If I got any food or money, it was thrown to me. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: I took them to a five-star hotel for dinner in Delhi. Everybody was surprised. Here are scavengers, in a five-star hotel, where Clinton had food? So I said they should also go there. Now see, this was a symbolic gesture to show that you are on the par with others. You also have the right to go to these places. Had I asked international aid agency or the government to give me funds to take them to this hotel for dinner, they would have said to me, he is a mad person. >> MAN: So you're not receiving government money or Western money from NGOs? >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: No, we have not so far received any money. >> MAN: It's completely self-supporting? >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Totally self-reliant. >> MAN: You don't want government interference? >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Not at all while I am alive, because if you have your own money, you are independent, your decision, then you can do. But if you are tied by the decisions of others, the organizations whose money you take, then you can't do the way you want to implement the things. That is the success of Sulabh. >> SHAKUNTALA: It isn't in my hands. It's in the hands of God. He decides on my next life, on how I return after my death. If he gives me the same work, it is the will of God. That's faith. We have to accept that. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: The women have to suffer most, because they have to look after the children. And the men they don't care. So certainly the ladies are depressed about the act of harassment. In our training institute, we also teach their husbands also, not to drink too much, and don't make violence. So this is a candle in the darkness, the beginning of the beginning. It will take time to change, but it is changing. If they leave this job and then do something else and live a proper life, then society will accept them. But while doing this job, the dirty job, they cannot be accepted by society. All you try to find out the solution of the problem. Talking about a problem is one thing. But all your talking only adds to the problem. But 90 percent of people in the world, they talk about a problem, not a solution. Anywhere, about the rivers, the forest, this and that, they talk about the problem and if you ask, "What is the solution?" "Oh, that I don't know. The government should do it." >> WOMAN 1: I have already signed up for the training. I have even turned in a passport photo. I live here in the neighborhood. When do I get the chance? >> WOMAN 2: I haven't heard anything yet. Just have patience. Next time it is your turn too. >> WOMAN 1: I have called in there so many times. >> VOICEOVER: By now, the solutions of Dr. Pathak -- the WCs and public toilet complexes -- are built in 14 African and in several Asian countries, including China and war-stricken Afghanistan. The Indian scientists and technicians, who are working for the Sulabh movement, haven't been sitting around doing nothing. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: This is the back portion of a Sulabh public toilet. Human excreta from there comes to the biogas-digester, which is not visible. It is 20 feet deep. Here the human excreta gets converted into biogas, and the biogas is tunneled through a pipeline for different purposes. So here again no electricity is required, nothing from outside. It's automatically. >> VOICEOVER: In the bigger Sulabh toilet complexes, the human excreta are fully recycled on site. The only thing that remains is compost, purified water and biogas. Meanwhile, the gas is also used to generate electricity. In India there are 122 power stations where this happens. A few months ago Dr. Pathak received the Energy Globe Award in the European Parliament for one of the best permanent development projects in the world. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Just listen, one day you will be just as valuable as everybody else. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-the-gulabi-gang <p>Sampat Pal is a campaigner with a mission: to ensure that those born into the lowest caste have an education, avoid child marriages, and earn a decent wage. But, while Mahatma Gandhi famously preached non-violence, Pal believes that India's long history of patriarchy, abuse, and corruption demands a new style of justice.</p> Tue, 05 Oct 2010 01:12:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-the-gulabi-gang India, Gulabi Gang, Uttar Pradesh, Sampat Pal, Domestic violence, Untouchability, Banda district, Caste system in India, Caste, Women's rights >> TITLE: The Gulabi Gang >> VOICEOVER: These women may not look that tough, but they're all hardened gang members. They've left their fields and villages in rural Uttar Pradesh for a special meeting. >> WOMEN: The Pink Gang! Long live! Sampat, keep on fighting! We are all with you. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat Pal is the leader of the 'Gulabi' – or 'Pink' – Gang. This feisty crusader for the poor and downtrodden believes in speaking loudly and carrying a big stick. Today she's teaching these women how to wield the 'lathi' - a long, wooden staff. >> SAMPAT PAL [Leader of the Gulabi Gang]: If someone aims for your head, how will you protect yourself? >> WOMAN: I'll hold it like this. >> SAMPAT PAL: All right, I'll hit you. >> VOICEOVER: India's founding father, Mahatma Gandhi, famously preached non-violence. Sampat Pal says times have changed. >> SAMPAT PAL: I salute Gandhi. He was the father of our nation. But my style is different. >> SAMPAT PAL: I am Sampat Pal. I do what I think is right. >> VOICEOVER: That involves striking out at corrupt officials and men who abuse women. Gang members seem to relish the chance to hit back. >> SAMPAT PAL: Now who wants to be hit by me? Here, take this. >> VOICE: What a good leader! >> VOICEOVER: The gang's vigilante tactics have included attacking police and publicly humiliating a district magistrate. >> SAMPAT PAL: Why do I have to take the law in our hands? I'll tell you. The government doesn't obey its own laws. Police and government officials take bribes. Now people look up to me and don't go to the police. Sampat can do what the police can't. That's why people respect me. >> VOICEOVER: Perhaps it's no surprise that a women's vigilante group has sprung up here. The Banda district of Uttar Pradesh is one of the poorest and most feudal parts of India. 20% of the population are born into the bottom of the caste ladder, which dictates where they can work, whom they can marry and even where they can bathe. Above all, it's women who bear the brunt of discrimination. Sampat Pal herself is illiterate and low-caste. She was married off at 12 and had her first child at 15. Even then, she says, she was angered by a world in which people are considered 'untouchable'. >> SAMPAT PAL: It makes me angry. How could people hate another human being? They don't even hate dog piss. If a dog pisses near the water where they are worshipping, they still drink that water. But they hate touching a human being. That's why I had to do all this. I've always argued and fought since childhood. >> SAMPAT PAL: Those officials who don't listen... Kick them with your feet. >> VOICEOVER: Today, Sampat Pal is leading a protest. The target of her anger: bureaucrats accused of excluding poor people from a government jobs scheme. >> SAMPAT PAL: Those officials who take bribes... Kick the thieves! >> VOICEOVER: This former health worker spent years working quietly behind the scenes with local women. But it was only when they adopted a uniform and threatened violence in 2006 that they were finally taken seriously. The gang pickets the office of the man responsible for the jobs program and calls on him to "come to his senses". Then Sampat decides to barge in with the women's complaints. >> SAMPAT PAL: I'm here to discuss what needs to be done. I'm Sampat Pal. >> OFFICIAL: Hello, this is our first meeting. >> SAMPAT PAL: Why are people are dying of hunger? Why aren't they people given work when there's work to do? Nobody gives them work. They're making fools of everyone. Well, I just came over today to meet you… >> OFFICIAL: Look, list the names of all the people in this village. >> SAMPAT PAL: Yes, make a list… >> OFFICIAL: List those who need work. >> SAMPAT: That's it. Then I'll… >> OFFICIAL: I'll see what can be done. >> VOICEOVER: The Gulabi Gang has only resorted to violence on a handful of occasions. Sampat says most people now see reason. >> SAMPAT PAL: It is quite straightforward. Firstly, we simply approach people with our requests. "Please do what we ask. If that is wrong, don't do it. If it is right, then do what I ask." But those who have been dishonest and are taking bribes, they are not able to help us. So, when I know that my request has not been considered, I go there once, twice… If they still don't listen I hit them with the lathi. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat Pal's supporters make a list of everyone who's been left out of the public job scheme, which is handed over to the beleaguered bureaucrat. >> SAMPAT PAL: Yes it's all there, where they're from, all the details. >> OFFICIAL: Alright, I'll see that something is done about this. >> SAMPAT PAL: That's good, you are listening. >> VOICEOVER: But when Sampat is told about another official here accused of taking bribes, she wastes no time. >> SAMPAT PAL: If you've done the wrong thing, you must change your ways. >> OFFICIAL: I have changed. >> SAMPAT PAL: People are aware. If you have taken from anyone, return it. Just do it. You better give it back or it will cost you dearly. People join the Pink Gang if they're being robbed. The more you rake in, the bigger the Pink Gang gets. It's not right. This is not what you should do. Give me a list of the women who have given you money. I will keep track of it. Right? Don't make things worse for yourself. >> VOICEOVER: Tackling corruption is just a small part of what Sampat Pal does. Every day women come to her to plead for help. >> WOMAN: They hit me here, too. >> SAMPAT PAL: Oh my God, they've really beaten her. >> VOICEOVER: Sometimes they're victims of domestic violence and Sampat takes up their case with the local police. >> SAMPAT PAL: First, I have to make them understand and if they don't understand, I'll have to beat them up. >> VOICEOVER: Others are being exploited by their in-laws. This young widow's mother-in-law won't give her a share of the family home. >> MOTHER-IN-LAW: I know about being dishonest. I don't want to go to jail. We divided into four parts. Four parts. Then she said something that wasn't for her to say. >> WIDOW: She was abusing me and not giving me my share. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat frequently steps in to sort out these quarrels, acting as judge, jury and, today, property surveyor. Although she's fought with the police and still faces criminal charges for her vigilante attacks, Sampat Pal tries to stay on the good side of the law. >> SAMPAT PAL: Sir, when did you come here? >> OFFICER: Recently. >> SAMPAT PAL: Yes, they told me the sahib is here. >> OFFICER: I'm just about to go patrol >> SAMPAT PAL: I just came to meet you. >> VOICEOVER: She figures it's more effective to shame the authorities into doing the right thing than to make headlines by beating them up. But the headlines have also helped. With up to 40,000 members across Uttar Pradesh, the Gulabi Gang has become a mass movement. And thanks to supporters around the world, it's raised the funds to start its own school. Now Sampat Pal can provide poor children from low-caste families – especially girls – with the education she herself missed out on. Of course, the uniforms – and sometimes even the chalk – are pink. And Sampat's bought sewing machines, too – an unlikely weapon for a gang member, but an important one. If girls learn to sew, they can earn some money, a good reason for parents not to marry them off too young. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat Pal is just as determined to stamp out child marriages and dowry payments as she is to eliminate corruption. Today she's brought her posse to this Muslim village in order to celebrate a wedding, if she can make sure it happens. Sampat was approached by the bride when her parents wouldn't let her marry the boy she loved. >> SAMPAT PAL: Tell the story from the beginning about beating the girl. >> MOTHER: Yes, I beat her. As her mother, I did beat her. >> SAMPAT PAL: Because of the marriage? >> MOTHER: Yes, for that. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat has been here three times and spent hours cajoling and browbeating the girl's mother and father. >> SAMPAT PAL: You weren't happy about it? >> FATHER: No, I wasn't. I wasn't happy, so I beat the girl. I could have killed her. That's what happens when the community is let down. If I'd beaten her really badly I could have been sent to jail. >> SAMPAT PAL: If you love your daughter, then it's good to agree to the wedding. In the films we watch, they show such stories. The children of enemies marry and families come together. You must have seen films like that. >> VOICEOVER: The groom's parents had also refused to let him marry, according to him, because they hoped to sell him off for a higher dowry. Now, despite having eventually agreed to the marriage, the groom's father signals his displeasure by refusing to turn up. >> SAMPAT PAL: Where is his father? Call him here. Tell him to come here. >> VOICEOVER: Sampat is beginning to lose patience by the time the groom's father arrives. >> SAMPAT PAL: I'm not going to ask you any more. He's not listening to his village and his community. Are you speaking to your son and daughter-in-law or not? Soon you'll be playing with your grandchildren. They will climb all over you and you will like that. And you're going to sabotage all that. I'm bringing two souls together. God will help me. You are feeling Sampat is being unjust to you. Sampat is never unjust. I've seen enough of your drama. >> SAMPAT PAL: They fear me. I'd never been to this village so people didn't know me. When I came the other day, people argued with me. But, gradually, they found out who I was – the same Sampatji who had once beaten the police! Then they became fearful and showed me respect. They did what I told them to. >> VOICEOVER: As the fine points of the marriage contract are worked out, the gang leader gives the groom a clear warning. >> SAMPAT PAL: If you do anything illegal or wrong to the girl, you will feel the full wrath of the law. That is the simple truth. Don't hit the girl. You need to guarantee this. If you hit her, I will come back. If the boy does wrong, can the girl hit him? Tell me, council members. >> MAN: She won't do that. >> SAMPAT PAL: Why not? Boys have faults and girls have faults. They must tolerate each other. The contract implies that. >> VOICEOVER: After the wedding, the bride prepares to leave her parents' home forever. >> DAUGHTER: Father, forgive me. >> FATHER: It's all forgotten. >> SAMPAT PAL: All is forgiven, child. >> FATHER: It's all forgiven. Go now, we'll all be here for you. Everything is forgiven. May you have a good life. >> VOICEOVER: Despite the frustration, this has been a good day for the Gulabi Gang. Love has triumphed over adversity. There's no doubt the threat of violence plays a big role in Sampat Pal's success. But for the women she helps, her common sense and compassion are her most revolutionary qualities. >> SAMPAT PAL: More women are pouring in. Like an ocean flood, there's a flood in the Pink Gang! >> TITLE: [End Credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-untouchables-breaking-down-caste-barriers-in-india <p>Despite being rejected by society since birth, millions of so-called "Untouchables" in India are beginning to win the battle against the prejudice that has denied them basic human rights for centuries.&nbsp;</p> Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:03:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-untouchables-breaking-down-caste-barriers-in-india India, Caste, Caste system in India, Social equality, Empowerment, Untouchability, Education, Poverty, Human rights, Marginalization >> DALJIT DHALIWAL: Imagine being rejected by society since birth and being denied access to certain human rights because of your status in the community. Well, that's the reality facing millions of so-called "Untouchables" in India. Although the Indian government has been fighting prejudice against them, it still continues to this day. >> VOICEOVER: They are considered the original inhabitants of coastal Karnataka in South India. They are called upon by their community to beat ceremonial drums, to race and guard water buffalo for the upper caste. They are the Koragas, one among the many Untouchable communities in India. Literally outcasts of society, they live on the edge of the forests in segregated communities, brought up to believe that they are inferior. India's 170 million Untouchables can face a lifetime of abuse, but slowly their status is changing. Basri is an Untouchable. She and her family are illiterate and desperately poor. >> BASRI [Koraga]: It is our bad luck that our community has been cursed for such a long time. >> VOICEOVER: Basri's granddaughter, Jaya, was sexually abused by an upper caste man, a fact she finds sad. >> BASRI: Today, the men folk are not hesitant to touch us as they wish. But the women would not come near us. Sometimes, I can't resist asking: "Do worms grow in our bodies?" >> VOICEOVER: Hindus place people into four castes, based on how they lived their past lives. At the top are the Brahmans: the priests and the scholars; and then the Kshatriyas: the rulers and soldiers. Below them are the Vaishyas: the merchants and traders; and then the Sudras, the laborers. The Untouchables, considered impure and unclean, are unworthy to belong to any caste. By tradition, they are the lowliest of the low. But they do have their champions. For nearly two decades, Keshav Koteshwar, an upper caste man, has been struggling to end the discrimination against Untouchables. At a time when few dared to, he entered the community. His goal: to change attitudes in the entrenched Indian caste system, including a custom in which the Koragas were expected to eat other people's scraps. >> KESHAV KOTESHWAR: Earlier, the Koraga used to go to marriage halls and collect leftover food that was thrown there. They dry them like this and store them in a box. During the rainy season, they re-cook the food and consume it. >> VOICEOVER: Untouchables also have a difficult time finding work. >> KESHAV KOTESHWAR: Members of the Koraga are not given decent jobs. They are given only cleaning jobs in hotels and hospitals. >> VOICEOVER: Historically, there have been many attempts to eradicate Untouchability. The most famous is the hunger strike led by Mohandas Gandhi in 1932. In 1955, the Indian Parliament passed legislation outlawing Untouchability. Today, national and state governments have a minimum quota of jobs set aside for Untouchables, but these are not always enforced, says Shukra, a Koraga working part-time in a government hospital. >> SHUKRA: People promise that there are jobs reserved for the local community people. But no one is bothered. I am not blaming the government, but that is the reality. >> VOICEOVER: For generations, the Koragas have accepted the limitations placed on them, following the traditional beliefs and practices dictated by the caste system without question. Sridhar explains. >> SRIDHAR: In our village, we are not allowed into the house of rich families. We feel sad, but we accept it. Our families think that we are from the lower class. >> VOICEOVER: In 1993, Keshav set up Spoorthi, a residential school for the Koraga kids, to teach them about equal rights and to stand up against such feudal customs. But people in the upper castes were reluctant to release them from work to go to school. >> KESHAV KOTESHWAR: When we first started enrolling the Koraga kids, they asked me if my father would work in their houses if the kids are gone. >> VOICEOVER: Only 10 students were enrolled in the first year. But Keshav persisted. He began staging hunger strikes and peaceful protests to draw attention to the plight of the Koragas. He led a movement to collect alms from home to home, village to village to raise funds to support the children's education. Today, the school provides a 12-year curriculum to 60 students, including a class teaching a dance form that is traditionally practiced only by the upper caste. >> SRIDHAR: Earlier when our parents said that by entering the temple god will curse us, we used to believe them. But not any longer, thanks to my schooling. Now I have the confidence to talk with anyone. Earlier I used to be scared of even facing the upper caste people. >> VOICEOVER: While progress is being made within the younger generation, many older members of the Untouchable communities continue to follow the traditional duties handed down to them. The Koragas lead processions to announce temple festivals, a duty that they have performed for generations, says Santosh. >> SANTOSH: Traditionally my job is to guide the buffalo. This is a duty that I have inherited. If we don't do our duty, then the deity will create problems for us. >> VOICEOVER: More importantly, Santosh and others fear losing the money, the rice, and the coconut they receive as donations for carrying out these rituals. Ganesh, a young Koraga, challenges this tradition. He joins Keshav in his fight to change perceptions about Untouchables. >> GANESH: Only the lower caste participates in the buffalo procession. To bring equality, we suggest all communities participate because it is a program of the entire village. >> VOICEOVER: At the village square, an intense discussion is taking place between members of the upper and lower castes about the procession. After much negotiation, Keshav succeeds in persuading both sides to join the march. >> KP Adyanthaya: Do you have problems if we participate? >> KORAGA: No. >> VOICEOVER: Taking the lead is an influential upper caste man, KP Adyanthaya. He's the caretaker of a powerful local Hindu temple. This may seem like a small step, but it's deeply symbolic. The willingness of different caste members to march together shows that attitudes can change. It offers hope for the Untouchables: the possibility of breaking down centuries-old prejudice and caste barriers. >> DALJIT DHALIWAL: That's all for this edition of 21st Century. I'm Daljit Dhaliwal, we'll see you next time. Until then, goodbye. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/explore-ramana-s-garden <p>Former Hollywood actor Dr. Prabhavati Dwabha came to India to find herself; instead, she found people in need and a new purpose in life. At Ramana's Garden, Dr. Dwabha is working to give a future to children who would otherwise be without one.</p> Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:38:19 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/explore-ramana-s-garden India, Education, Ramana's Garden, Prabhavati Dwabha, Rishikesh, Untouchability, Annenberg Foundation, Change Makers, Ramana Maharshi, explore >> TITLE: explore>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: I met this woman the other day, and when I asked her how to describe India, she called it the land of magic. But she said she felt like India was also losing its magic. >> TITLE: Ramana's Garden, Rishikesh, India>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: You had this inspiration to start a school.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA [Founder, Ramana's Garden]: I met these kids and I realized that this is what I wanted to do with my life.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: Is the school K through fifth grade?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: K through 10.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: And what do the kids study?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: Everything.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: What's the background of the children here?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: You have to either have no parents, or one parent who couldn't in any way take care of you, to live-in. And to come into the school, you have to have parents who earn less than 1,000 rupees justifiably, means through a disability, or you're a beggar, or you're a sweeper, or you're an unskilled laborer.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: So does that kind of parlay into the whole Indian caste system.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: They're all Untouchable.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: What is an Untouchable?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: My concept of it is that it was set up originally to make India work. There were teachers, who were the prasads. You had the priests, who were the pandits. And they needed somebody to do the dirty work. So they created a caste called the Untouchables, and it's their born birthright and duty to clean the shit of other people. And, for example, when I started working, I immediately wanted to put lunch in all the schools, I wanted to feed the children. And the villagers opposed me and they said, "We will not let our children eat with those children." And I said, "Why?" And they said, "Because they're Untouchable. They can't eat in the same place, they can't drink from the same tap." I put in water lines to the school, and at night they broke them, because an Untouchable had taken water from it, so it was desecrated.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: Is there anything to compare to in the West, this kind of caste system?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: Prejudice. But here it's religiously acceptable. They were branded. And they're no longer branded; what they are is they're denied education. They wind up being the ones that fall through the crack of education, so they become the scab labor. Like this boy: this boy's father works for 40 rupees a day. He has five children. He sold this boy when he was nine years old. We managed to get him back. He sold him because he couldn't feed the others. If you were taught, like these children were, when they were born, that they must be very careful, they must never take water from certain taps, they must never do anything that would make someone else's life or place dirty -- then if no one told you that it wasn't true, you would believe it. And the whole idea of Ramana's Garden is that it's not telling them that it's not true, it's giving them a life that makes them know it's not true. It's giving them a future. Look. This is going to be a multimillion-dollar resort. If we walk over there right now, there are 500 Bihari laborers building that. They're laboring for 40 rupees a day. They're doing that because they're hungry. They're doing that because they don't have an education. Never. Not one of these kids will every carry a brick on their head, they won't have to. Our kids are so well educated, and they speak perfect English. And when they come out of our school, no one would ever dare to believe they're Untouchable. That's what Ramana's is all about: making sure that every one of these kids will be able to go to university, every one of them. This little girl, living under a piece of plastic on the bridge, you know? She lives under plastic. Several of these kids do. They come here and go to school, and so from us they get their lunch every day, they get their clothes, they get their books. They get everything free, otherwise they would be in the street, begging. And if you beg in the street from this age, what are you going to do when you grow up? You'll either be a thief or a beggar. But she won't have to do that. None of them will. Anrak, what do you want to do?>> ANRAK: I'll be a teacher.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: He wants to be a teacher. His mother breaks rocks, and his father carries them on his head, they build roads.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: What do you want to do?>> GIRL: I want to be a doctor.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: You want to be a doctor?>> CHILDREN: Teacher. Pilot.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: So when I ask them, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and they actually are saying their dream -- that's almost unheard of.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: An architect, an artist, a painter, a pilot. A pilot with a difference. If they become a teacher, they'll be a teacher that makes a difference. If they become a doctor, they'll make a difference. It's not about just having a job, it's understanding that we all have to make a difference, in our own little ways, our own little pond. This is our pond.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: We want to feed you.>> CHILDREN: Welcome to Ramana's Garden.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: They will have a future where they can create their own future. Right here and now, they can say, I want to be an engineer, I want to be a doctor, I want to be a teacher, I want to make a difference.>> CHILDREN: This is our kitchen. Where we can get food. >> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: We have our own bakery. The kids bake cookies, croissants. They're learning to make a difference. They're learning that this food makes a difference. They know that people eat here and not in the other restaurants because we make a difference.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: So it's all organic and vegetarian?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: It's all organic, it's all grown by the kids. There's a benefit to grow your food healthy. So we now collaborate with a group that are trying to spread green awareness. They're called Navadania, and they have got over 1,800 farmers that are now willingly growing organic. So we support them. Down in the café right now, you'll find people down there that are saying, "We eat here every day because it's different.">> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: Do you have any success stories you can share?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: We have 13 teachers that are Untouchable and are teaching in schools in Delhi, in the high private schools of Dehradun, which is the capital of education of all north India. We have 16 boys that are electricians; two of them have their own electrician company, to do wiring, and bring light into Brahman houses. I like that. >> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: That must make you feel good.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: Yeah, don't you feel good when your kids do good?>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: Yeah. It's really rewarding.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: Yeah. It's nice.>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: It's great.>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: I like it. I love beating the system. I was an actress, living and working in Hollywood. I came to Pune, as a seeker. >> TITLE: Ganga (Ganges) River>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: I lived in an ashram for 18 years, and wound up in Lucknow, with the oldest and strongest disciple of Ramana Maharshi, which is why this is called Ramana's Garden. And he brought me here to Ganga, on a pilgrimage, and took me to a place that's seven kilometers upriver, which was a broken, decaying, the roof-falling-in old ashram, and there was a cave there where he'd spent a lot of time, and he told me that I needed to stay there in silence and [meditate]. And I started meeting kids, and basically kids were just coming because they were curious -- this crazy white lady in a cave by the bank of the Ganga. And you know, they didn't have any buttons. That was the first thing that struck me: none of them had a button on their shirt, and a lot of them would have the whole sleeve hanging off. So we started sewing buttons. And then we started making numbers, and then we started learning to write our name, and first there were five and then there were 10 and then there were 20. It's not like I came here and said I'm going to be a social worker and I'm going to change anything. I was trying to change myself. I started to feel totally helpless. Like, so many kids came, and so many villages needed help. And I had very little money left, and so I decided I had to leave. It was too big for me. I can't do this. And if I can't make a difference, I don't want to be here. I've seen something living here, these kids have touched me. If I can't make something change, then I shouldn't be here. I should do something else. So I was actually going to leave, and had come down from the cave to make those arrangements to leave. And Ganga rose; she rose double or triple her height. And while I was away, she rose and she took everything I owned in the world. The cave was gone when I came home. And I came back and all the kids were there to meet me, and they were so excited. And they were jumping up and down and shouting, "Ghate! Ghate!" ["Loss! Loss!"] And I started saying, "Ghate, ghate," because I thought it was some new greeting. And then all of a sudden I see that where my whole life, where my whole identity, where everything I thought I was, is a wave of water. It's gone. And in that moment, villagers start arriving, and they keep telling me, "Chinta mat karo," and I don't know what that means either, and it's, "Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine." And they build me a little structure. And they brought food, they brought a string bed, they brought a mattress, they brought carpets, they brought buttermilk. And there's 70 of us in there in a space this big. I looked at these people, and I realized: I'm not going to leave. They're giving everything they have, and asking zero in return. Their only concern that night was that it wasn't enough. It was all they had and they wanted to give more, and I'm going to pack and run?>> CHARLES ANNENBERG WEINGARTEN: What is the message of the Ganga?>> DR. PRABHAVATI DWABHA: Every moment will be new. Embrace it. If you hang onto anything, you'll suffer. The essence is with the river. The essence is in the eyes of the kids. That essence, it's still here. Magic is still here.>> TITLE: With the support of the Annenberg Foundation, explore has made funding possible to: Ramana's Garden. To learn more: www.sayyesnow.org www.friendsramanasgarden.org>> TITLE: explore.org http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-s-sanitation-solutions <p>Lack of toilets is a serious problem in India. Human excrement pollutes fields and rivers, causing disease and even death. But the Sulabh Sanitation Movement is helping to change that, with cheap, eco-friendly solutions that already benefit more than 10 million people every day.&nbsp;</p> Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:53:35 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/india-s-sanitation-solutions Sulabh International, Bindeshwar Pathak, India, Sanitation, Hygiene, Improved sanitation, Stockholm International Water Institute, Human waste, Flush toilet, Water pollution >> VOICEOVER: World Water Week brought over 2,000 water experts to Stockholm, Sweden in August 2009. The annual event, hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute, addresses pressing global water challenges. A featured theme this year was the world's lack of toilets and it's devastating effect on the world's poor. More than two and a half billion people in the world don't have access to a toilet. Half of all hospital beds in developing countries are filled with people who are ill because they lack clean water and sanitation. And 5,000 children die each day as a result. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak is changing all that. For 30 years he led India's Sulabh Sanitation Movement, bringing new sanitation technology to millions and breaking down social barriers in the process. He received the 2009 World Water Prize from Prince Carl Philip of Sweden. The USD$150,000 award is the world's most prestigious prize for outstanding achievement in water-related activities. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK [Founder, Sulabh International]: Sulabh Sanitation Movement was started to fulfill some of the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi: good sanitation, and removal of Untouchability and social discrimination from Indian society. >> VOICEOVER: Lack of toilets is a big problem in India. Every day, 100,000 tons of human excrement pollute India's fields and rivers. Seventy-five percent of the water is contaminated by human and agricultural waste. This leads to illness and loss of productivity, which clips 7 percent off India's gross domestic product [GDP] annually. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: Seven hundred million people still go outside for defecation. In India, ladies have to suffer the most and sometimes they have to face criminal assaults, snake bites sometimes. Girls don't go to schools because of lack of toilets. >> VOICEOVER: Dr. Pathak's Sulabh Sanitation Movement developed a twin-pit pour-flush toilet system that uses less than a half gallon of water, or 10 times less than a normal flush toilet. Today, over a million Sulabh toilets are used in Indian homes and in 7,500 public facilities serving more than 10 million people daily. >> DR. BINDESHWAR PATHAK: If you adopt these technologies then you are saving water, you are saving global warming, you are getting fertilizer, and it's eco-friendly. >> VOICEOVER: In keeping with Gandhi's vision, Dr. Pathak is changing lives for the better for the more than 700,000 people who work as manual scavengers, cleaning human waste from pit latrines. Called "Untouchables," they are shunned by Indian society. But, thanks to Dr. Pathak, more than 60,000 scavengers have new jobs, jobs that have more dignity, and are more lucrative. And a new generation of Untouchable children will have a brighter future as a result of the education and training they receive in Sulabh-supported schools.