On one nice pleasant morning at around 8 am some small children were playing on their school ground, some were just sitting and enjoying the early sunlight. I saw a small girl of around 9-10 years of age who was sitting alone on the ground and was doing something on the sand. I just went to her and started a normal conversation about her and her school. After sometime I asked a question to her “तुझा आवडता विषय कोणता?” (What is your favourite subject in the school?) and in fraction of second she replied “इंग्रजी…” (English).
This was the reply of the girl from ‘Madia Gond’ tribe which is the most backward tribe among the Adivasis. Let's see the work of the people who gave her that confidence...
Every year we just celebrate our new year by going to some expensive restaurants or to some DJ parties but this year we a group of ten people decided to start out new year by visiting Anandwan and Hemalkasa.
From school days I have heard about Anandwan that one man named Baba Amte have treated leprosy patients and rehabilitated them and from that time I had a curiosity about his work. What exactly he had done? Rehabilitation for leprosy people means what? and many more such questions… But that quest came to an end when we reached Anandwan.
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| Entry gate to Forest of Joy |
As we entered Anandwan we felt that everything here is so perfectly planned and so well maintained. After seeing such a properly planned village our quest regarding Anandwan increased rapidly.
As many visitors come to Anandwan they have prepared a documentary on how it was established and how it functions now. After the documentary one young guy of age around 67 named Tulsidas Paranjpe met us. He promised us to show the work which goes on in Anandwan and we started walking with him.
While walking he started to share his experiences about Anandwan. He said “When I was at the age of 25, I first time came to Anadwan and saw the pain of the people who are suffering from leprosy and one man Baba Amte who left his luxurious life and started working for this people. I also decided to quit everything and start working with Baba Amte. Initially Baba didn’t accept me as a volunteer. He used to say go back and enjoy your life, don’t come by my way it’s very difficult. But finally he accepted me as a volunteer.”
Then he shared his experience about the behavior of other people towards leprosy patients. He said “At that time people used to be very inhuman to the leprosy patients. Once they give their patient to Anandwan they don’t use to turn back even for their funeral. Some of them were so inhuman that they used to take the thumb impression of the dead leprosy patients for the property. The same was the case with the physically challenged people. Baba used to be very furious and then he decided to train those people and give them work so that they should not dependent on such inhuman people for their remaining life. And these workshops are the product of those thoughts. Everything here is managed by either the people who are cured by leprosy or the people who are physically challenged. Even the Sarpanch of the village was a cured leprosy patient.”
Till that time we reached the doorsteps of the workshops and I think I should not write much the workshop work because photos will speak more about it than my words.
First we went to the workshop where they made showpieces and greeting cards out of waste. Showpieces and greeting cards made here are very much in demand. We can also give an order by an email. For details you can visit their website.
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| Made up of chocolate, biscuits wrappers |
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| Made by people who cannot speak or hear. |
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| Great work in progress… |
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| Greeting cards made by colourful threads. |
Then we moved to a place where they have kept wooden carvings done by physically challenged people which is really unbelievable.
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| Amazing Wooden Carvings... |
Then we came to the place where the people made cycles for physically challenged people and also made cupboards of steel themselves.
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| Special cycle for Special people under construction... |
Then came the handlooms and powerlooms where literally blind people used to run those machines…
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| Blind Women running a handloom |
She is making such a beautiful carpet with so much of efforts and concentration.
People here also make sweaters, sandals, travelling bags etc. There is also a printing press. There is also a music group named “Swaranandvan”. We went there and they sang for us…
इतनी शक्ती हमे देना दाता
मन का विश्वास कमजोर हो ना ...
Which really touched our heart and they gave us the power to not to lose hope in any situation. Here is a YouTube link of the song.
Paranjpe baba then took us to the Samadhi of Baba Amte and Sadhana Amte. Place of Samadhi was previously a graveyard. Baba Amte said that entire life I have been serving people so let me rest between them only. Sadhana Amte also said that entire life I was with Baba Amte so now also I will rest in peace with him.
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| Samadhi of Baba and Sadhanatai Amte |
Near the Samadhi he said “Baba would never have done such a great work without help of his children. His children helped him a lot. Dr Vikas Amte designed all the projects and executed them very well. He has also written a book “Anandwan Prayogwan” which explains how these projects were thought and how they are implemented.”
Finally we went to the old age home, a place for very old people who are cured from leprosy. Their family didn’t accept them but Baba Amte accepted them and cared for them. All of us got a bit emotional by seeing the helplessness of those old people. There were some visitors who came with us and were taking photographs of those helpless old people. All of us were very disappointed by their act. We had one question for those photographers “Would they have taken photographs if their grandparents were in that helpless condition???”
It’s my humble appeal to all the readers that please think before clicking any photograph anywhere.
Now apart from their projects I would like to write some observations which we made during the entire day. Everything is very properly planned. Vidharbha is known for scarcity of water but in Anandwan there is no scarcity of water due to proper water management. Everybody here is very punctual. All the workshops are closed between 12 pm to 2.30 pm but at sharp 2.30 pm everybody will be back on work. No one will be late by a minute also or no one will be lazy to do their work. Workers who work in the workshops are given merely Rs 200-300 monthly as a stipend and not a salary. But still they are happily and sincerely doing their work because there needs are less. Everything from wheat to vegetable is produced there itself using organic farming. One more very important thing we noted that there was not even a single temple in entire Anandwan.
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| Idols found in excavations |
There are some idols which are found from the excavations but they have not given any special treatment to them which means everybody here thinks that hard work is worship of god and nothing special has to be done to worship him.
Anandwan was all about the work being done for the leprosy patients and physically challenged people. Here the process has being somehow saturated according to me because nowadays there is much more awareness about leprosy. So the leprosy patients get the treatment on time and save themselves. Awareness of people and acceptance of the leprosy patients in the society is the real achievement of Baba Amte.
This was how we ended our 2015 at Anandwan and on the 1st day of 2016 we went to see another great work at Hemalkasa.
Around 1970’s Baba Amte came to a village named Bhamragad which is on the border of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. He saw the lifestyle of the people of Madia Gond tribal community and got shocked. He was restless by seeing the difference of the lifestyle of other people and this people.
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| Lifestyle of Madia Gond Community in 1970's |
So he decided to work for this people. Start a project for the upliftment of this community. His son Dr.Prakash Amte decided to take the responsibility of this project.
Dr.Prakash Amte with her wife Mandakini Amte shifted to Hemalkasa in around 1975 and named the project as ‘ Lok Biradari Prakalp’.
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| Entrance of Lok Biradari Prakalp, Hemalkasa |
There were major healthcare issues in the community at that time. As it is a very dense forest, most of the people used to die because of Malaria but no one was aware about it. It was a very difficult task to gain the trust of the people because they have never seen a doctor or never had a medicine. Dr.Prakash Amte did many things to gain their trust. One thing we see today also is the clothes that he wears; it is just a Banyan and a half pant. Most of the adivasis do not have sufficient clothes and if we go infront of them with proper dress they will never trust us, they will always treat us as an outsider.
Due to his consistent efforts he started to gain the trust of the people and people started to visit him if they are not well.
We all know that Dr.Prakash Amte likes animals and he has animals in Hemalkasa. We were also seeing those animals. While seeing the animals I saw the name of the place where the animals were kept. It was “प्राणी अनाथालय“(Animal Orphanage). I was very curious about the name so I asked the person who was explaining the work done in Hemalkasa. He said that there is a long story behind it.
In the initial days Dr.Prakash Amte saw that this Madia Gond people go for hunting for their food. They used to hunt any animal and take the dead animal as well as the babies of the dead animals with them. Eventually those babies of the hunted animal used to die without their parents. Dr.Prakash Amte noted this thing and made a request to them ”You kill animal for your food so I will not stop you to do that but whenever you bring the baby of that hunted animal please give it to me.” Those people gave a thought over it and discussed among them that this man is working for us so selflessly, we don’t give him anything so we can give that baby of the hunted animal to him and there is no loss in doing that.
So these are not the animals of the zoo. These are animals which do not get love from their parents but they get the same love and care from the Amte family so I guess it is wrong to call them orphans.
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| Cat and leopard together... Very rare Scene... |
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| Owl looking at visitors |
The next challenge before the Amte family was to convince the people to get their children for education. The story of getting children for education was told to us by the person who was explaining the work of Hemalkasa. He says “At that time there was an orthodox tradition to kill the person in the name of god and mostly small children used to be killed. So the adivasis got afraid that we will kill their children. Those days were very frustrating for us but Prakash Amte used to motivate us and then again we used to go for convincing them. After around 2 years of continuous efforts we got 5 students from one of the village and then the journey of education started for this people. And now there are seven hundred students including 350 girls and 350 boys.”
We got stunned by listening their efforts and the patience they had.
He said “Now there is everything for these students. They are number one in sports. Some of them have gone to national level, some are doctors, some are engineers and some are teachers. We also have a computer lab where this children use Linux and Windows operating system. They learn the lessons online.
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| Madia Gond Students using computers for learning. Do we??? |
And they are nowhere behind the students who are in cities.”
After listening the stories of foundation of “Animal Orphanage” and school for the Madia Gond people. A thought came to mind connecting these two stories that Amte family didn’t try to save the parent animal and also didn’t try to educate people of Madia Gond community but they saved the future generation of that hunted animal and educated the future generation of the Madia Gond community. Which also tells us that we should not think on whatever is gone but we should focus on whatever we have in hand.
After seeing such a great work with lot of questions in mind we moved to the Triveni Sangam to see the sunset. Everybody was lost in their own thought. Comparing the challenges which are faced by this people to do something which they didn’t have any guarantee and the challenges we face in our day to day life or to achieve something. Comparing the confidence of these people to overcome such a difficult situation and our level of confidence in tackling the small problems of our life. Sun was settled but our thoughts were not settling down.
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| A peaceful sunset |
In the night we got a chance to meet Dr.Digant Amte son of Prakash Amte who along with his wife looks after the hospital work of Lok Biradari Prakalp. We asked several questions to him and he answered all the questions very patiently. This was our conversation.
We: After spending so many years in this project what changes do you observe in the community? Both good and band changes.
Dr.Digant Amte: Yes, definitely there is more awareness in the society. If they are not feeling well they immediately come to hospital and get the treatment. People come to us and insist for their child’s admission in the school. These were the good ones. Some bad changes are also there such as some got government job so in 1st payment they get a bike and start drinking alcohol which leads to accidents. Again they come to us we treat them and try to show the right way.
We: What shall youngsters like us should do in their life to serve society or to enrich themselves?
Dr.Digant Amte: They should give atleast one year of their entire life for a social cause. I do not mean they should come to Hemalkasa and stay; they can join any social cause which interests them and spend their one year with full dedication.
We: What do you expect from the visitor’s like us who are not from the medical background?
Dr.Digant Amte: If you talk about people from non-medical background, they cannot help us a lot because our main work here is of hospital. There are people from IIT’s who are ready to teach this students but we desperately need people from medical background because there are lot of patients and only a handful of doctors. I expect students who are in medical field should come here and serve for atleast one year because in a year approximately 40 thousand patients visit the hospital and it will be a very great exposure for a fresher to practice here and then start a career.
We wished him a happy new year and thanked for patiently answering our questions.
The next morning was one of the most memorable mornings. We went to the Triveni Sangam to get some fresh unpolluted thoughts like the fresh unpolluted air. After coming back we spend our entire time with the school children who were full of energy and enthusiasm. The school started with the exercises and then with the classroom sessions.
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| Early Morning Exercises |
As it was the time of winter, it was quite cold there and small children used to feel cold so their lectures used to be taken in the ground which was one of our dream.
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| Classroom under the sky... |
Teaching here was very impressive. Whenever anyone makes a mistake the teacher never scolded. Inspite of that teacher used to give a smile and then explain the mistake till that student is convinced.
When we saw some students repairing a broken plastic chair, we realised that there was not only bookish knowledge but also a practical knowledge given to the students
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| Students are skilfully repairing a broken chair... |
These students were very much focused and were working with a pin drop silence. There was coordination between them but there were no words. Everything was going smoothly…
Then we saw a OpenAir class of English and were stunned.
Example of interactive OpenAir class in the video
After that we packed our bags and started a return journey with lots of experiences, lots of positive energy, lots of hope and a desire to do something for our society.
PS: Travelling Details
- Mumbai to Anandwan (Warora Station) by Sewagram Express
- Anandwan to Hemalkasa by public transport
- Warora to Chandrapur (45 km) by State Transport bus.
- Chandrapur to Allapali (120 km approx.) by State Transport bus.
- Allapali to Hemalkasa (70 km) by local transport.
- Hemalkasa to Balharshah (180 km) by State Transport bus
- Balharshah to Mumbai (Balharshah Wardha Passenger then connected to Sewagram express)
If you have a bit more time it is advisable to go by public transport to Hemalkasa because firstly it is very costly to book a vehicle from Anandwan to Hemalkasa and secondly you also get a chance to interact with the local people if you go by public transport. Entire five days trip’s cost was only 2800 per head and we were a group of ten people.
To know more about the work of Amte Family:
- Official Website of Anandwan: http://www.anandwan.in
- Documentary on Hemalkasa - Arnyatil prakashvata (Youtube link):
