Prabhatalloi Foundation
New Year Report 2021
Here in Purulia—just as for everyone else, everywhere—life in 2020 was
dominated by the consequences of the pandemic. When the lockdowns first
began in March, Prabhatalloi Foundation acted to address some immediate
worries by beginning a relief programme to visit needy homes in villages around
Dabar: delivering individual packages which consisted of food, household
supplies, sanitizers and a little cash. Preparing meals from home helps keep the
bonds of family and community strong during tough times. Because Prabhatalloi
Foundation is a small and independent organisation, we can often move more
quickly and flexibly than government or other larger voluntary organizations.
The lockdowns are now less restrictive—the immediate crisis has passed—so our
emphasis has switched to recovery, in particular to providing employment. We are
providing jobs working on projects aimed at generating future income for the
foundation, such as a wholesale vegetable business and running an ashram for
paying visitors. Also, the government has asked Tinku to organise these three
projects which aim to help stimulate the local economy: organizing road
improvements, establishing and running an information centre at the main hospital
in Purulia and advising a group of local women on their self-help project to start a
new canteen at the hospital. Throughout the lockdowns, we have been continuing
to pay salaries to the around fifty staff whom we employ permanently.
Health and Medical Centre
We have always run a free medical centre for local individual consultations and to
arrange their treatment where necessary. Happily, this month Dr. Soma has been
able to restart her popular regular Sunday medical consultations. She provides an
examination and diagnosis, and prescribes medicine. Both are provided free of
charge. Where necessary, she can refer patients for specialist advice, and we
arrange their appointments and treatment. We need to replace our supplies of
medicine, which are now past their safe usage dates. The government has now
approved a budget for us to organise and staff a help desk at the main hospital in
Purulia which will guide people through the maze of getting medical treatment.
School
From the beginning, we have also run a primary school which runs in parallel with
government schools, aiming to give poor children an extra boost. We also arrange
free additional tuition for secondary school pupils. Because of the pandemic, all
schools are still shut down, including ours. We bought mobile phones for some of
the needy students we support so that they can participate in online classes.
Boys hostel
We run a hostel for needy children whose parents are too poor, are in bad health
or have to migrate away from home to find work. Unfortunately, when the
lockdowns started and all the schools closed, we had to send the hostel boys home. In fact, this did not reduce our costs because we now have to support their
families too—the lockdowns don’t permit their parents to work.
Nabakustashram (Leprosy ashram)
During 2020 we installed gas for cooking and provided outdoor lighting powered
by batteries charged from solar panels. Because we recently lost two friends living
at Nabakusthashram, we set up an oxygen supply on-site for emergencies. We
also provided new mobile phones so that people there can contact us directly and
quickly. We employ nine people there: 3 cooks, 2 nurses, 2 carers for bandaging
and 2 caretakers.
Vegetable wholesaling
In 2020-21 we are starting a wholesale organic vegetable business. We employed
six local people to prepare the field, plant the first crop and five others to dig a new
well for irrigation. A permanent employee provides daily watering and care. When
vegetables are ripe and ready for sale, we’ll employ people for harvesting and
selling. Local women who sell door to door can choose to buy from us and will no
longer be forced to travel by night trains to buy from wholesalers in other towns.
By erecting greenhouses we can count on several harvests a year.
Local employment
We added two additional guest houses next to the school, to accommodate paying
visitors, and upgraded the kitchen. We laid pavements, planted decorative flowers
and stocked the pond with fish. This project employed many workers, who were
glad to earn some money. Some local artists took the opportunity to create murals
and paintings on the walls. We now pay regular salaries to four more people to
take cook and serve the visitors now coming to the new ashram. When training
becomes possible again, we shall send two of the younger men to learn the hotel
trade at the local college. One of our former hostel boys has just got married, so
we arranged his training as a mobile phone engineer.
Some young boys in Dabar asked Tinku for work, so he gave them jobs on our
tree planting project.
The government asked Tinku to organize their project to improve the roads
leading into and out of Dabar. Tinku arranged for fifty workers from nearby tribal
villagers for the work. We arrange their food, and they sleep overnight at our
Community Centre. At night, they make their own entertainment, singing and
dancing and playing their instruments.
The government supplied us with a budget to create and run an information centre
to guide new patients arriving at the Purulia main hospital. In a separate project at
the same hospital, Tinku is also advising a self-help project of local women who
will plan and run a canteen to serve visitors and staff.
Hopes for 2021
This year we still need to budget for relief directed at individuals and families in
crisis because of the effects of the lockdowns. We hope and expect the numbers
will be lower than last year as restrictions are being eased and a vaccination
programme will be starting.
In 2021 we will continue partner with new government initiatives to stimulate the
local economy and foster employment. How much we can implement our own
initiatives will depend on our success in raising funds. For 2021 our plans include:
erecting greenhouses for our wholesale vegetable business, which will make
possible several harvests each year; expanding our community centre by building
a second level; and continuing our tree planting project. We also have to budget
for providing relief to individuals and families in crisis due to the lockdowns.
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