A sticker supporting the campaign for an emergency hospital in Kodagu pasted on a vehicle in Mahadevpet
In support of the social media campaign ‘We need emergency hospital in Kodagu’, people pasted stickers on their vehicles in Mahadevpet on Tuesday.
During a campaign carried out by the members of Team Coorg, in association with Social Democratic Auto Union, the stickers were distributed to the vehicle riders free of cost.
The riders pasted the stickers on their vehicles, supporting the demand to provide a speciality hospital for Kodagu. The stickers are published by Team Coorg.
Team Coorg Founder President M N Nasir said that the campaign has gathered good response from the people.
Social Democratic Auto Union President Suleiman said that there is a need for a multi-speciality hospital in Kodagu to save lives.
Surpassing all barriers, people should support the movement urging the government to sanction the hospital, he added.
The members of Team Coorg requested the general public avail the stickers and paste them on their vehicles.
Team Coorg members Shamir, Khalil Pasha, Faizal, auto union members Rafique, Jagadish and Akram were present.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by Adithya K A / DH News Service, Madikeri / July 16th, 2019
They walked for miles on slippery trails, crossing cascading streams and braving landslides.
Several people were carried on shoulders to the relief camps where they sat waiting for their names to be called to receive food and other relief materials.
The residents of Kodagu not only lost their homes due to the incessant rains and floods, but were also cut off from the rest of the world due to frequent landslides.
Since August 16, the villagers living in and around Madikeri were rescued and taken to the relief camps.
The much-needed support was a result of a joint relief-and-rescure operation undertaken by the RSS-affiliated Seva Bharati and the Usmaniya Charitable Trust (Bhadravati), an NGO run by Muslims.
Talking to PTI at a relief camp here, Anjali, a resident of Kodagu, said, “We feel so relieved and confident about life. …..We had lost all hope…Just then, the Seva Bharati and the Usmaniya Charitable Trust came to our rescue and provided succour.”
“They rescued and brought us here. Some of them carried the aged people. For some, it was quite a challenge to wade through the muddied and slippery terrains and cross the cascading streams coming down the slopes of the hills.
“The experience still haunts us, but hope fills us when we sit for meditation and yoga in the morning. Even I chant ‘Om’, though I am a Christian,” she added.
Some of the flood-hit people have great challenges before them as their houses were destroyed in the nature’s fury.
One of them, Lakshmi, said, “My house has collapsed. I hope the government will help people like me.”
Around 1,000 families were provided relief materials by the Seva Bharati and the Usmaniya Charitable Trust.
Mussavvir Basha, general secretary, Usmaniya Charitable Trust said they spent Rs 5 lakh for providing rice packets, water bottles, biscuits, free ambulance service, first-aid kits etc. to the marooned people.
“There was a barrage of fake news and hatred being spread on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. Some media persons too, I am sorry to say, are dividing the country into north and south.
“In this backdrop, the joint operation should serve as an inspiration to people to bring unity in this hour of crisis,” he said.
Basha and five others of the trust visited the RSS camp at Madikeri and proposed the joint operation.
Both the organisations took part in the rescue-and-relief work from August 21 to 24, before the members of the Usmaniya Charitable Trust returned to Bhadravati in Shivamogga District.
Expressing happiness over joining hands with the RSS-affiliated NGO, Usmaniya Charitable Trust president JBT Babu said they rescued 10 people.
“They (Seva Bharati) were very kind and treated our volunteers with the respect they deserved. We are moved and hope such concerted efforts will inspire other NGOs run by different faiths or communities to come together to serve the needy at times of crisis,” he said.
Kodagu district RSS pracharak Avinash said the two organisations working together to reach out to the stranded people showed the way to solidarity and social harmony in a divided world.
More than 5,000 people have been rendered homeless in Kodagu district, where rescue-and-relief operations are underway in full swing.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> India News / by PTI / August 25th, 2018
The villagers were mostly agriculturists, but with their farmlands and estates buried under debris, their future appeared grim.
The Forest Cafe at Kaluru
Madikeri :
In August 2018, when the skies opened up with a vengeance, and flash floods and landslides left a trail of destruction, Kaluru was one of the worst-hit villages in Kodagu district. People lost their livestock, houses, farmlands and estates overnight.
“Over 200 families moved to relief centres in August and we returned to our village only in October. Estates, farmlands, cattle – everything was lost,” recalls Dechavva, who was left to pick up the pieces after the disaster.
The villagers were mostly agriculturists, but with their farmlands and estates buried under debris, their future appeared grim. If was the women who rose from the ruins to crossed all hurdles to turn around their lives. Their grit and determination earned them the title of ‘Kaluru women’. They are now entrepreneurs and sole breadwinners, thanks to Project Coorg, a rehabilitation initiative.
Narrating how they started getting back on their feet, Dechavva, who became a master tailor at the age of 65, says the village temple priest, Nagesh Kaluru, approached Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, seeking support to rebuild the life of the villagers.
Dechavva, who learnt tailoring at the age of 65
Under Project Coorg, the trust started organising skill development programmes for the women of the village. They were also joined by a few affected women from Devasthuru village. Soon, tailoring and food processing training programmes took shape.
The tailoring unit was headed by Ashrafunissa. “I didn’t know much about Kaluru village till the disaster. I stay in Madikeri and my house also suffered severe damage due to landslides. During this time, I was approached by Balaji Kashyap – who heads Project Coorg. I was asked to train women in tailoring,” she says. A total of 30 women were trained for six months.
However, not all the women wanted to take up needle and thread. The older ones opted for food processing, and 30 women were trained in manufacturing masala, pickle, chocolates, chips, rice flour and other food items by Neena Shetty, award-winning chef from Udupi.
“We wanted to create a continuous revenue generating model for the women. We didn’t take the CSR approach as it is not suitable for the situation here. However, sponsors and partners came in to support the initiative after seeing our work,” says Kashyap of Project Coorg.
The women were also taught soft skills and other business know-how by Kashyap and the initiative launched ‘Yashaswi’ – a self-help group to empower the Kaluru women. The villagers’ struggle didn’t go unnoticed. Many sponsors came forward to support the group, and the land for the Yashaswi factory was donated by the Karera family of the village. The factory building was sponsored by the Kodava Koota of North America. With equipment donated by various companies, including Bosch India, the women of Kaluru soon became entrepreneurs.
“I only worked in farmlands all my life. I did not know how to even hold a needle. But our trainer, Ashrafunissa, taught me like I was a child and now I stitch bags for several companies; I continue to earn my own living,” adds Dechavva.
Ashraf explains that the women get orders from various schools to stitch uniforms and other products. “Our business is expanding as we are getting orders from colleges outside Kodagu too,” she says. Many other women in the village now have the skill of working with factory jack machines installed at the unit.
Ashrafunissa (standing) and her team at Yashasvi Tailoring Unit | EXPRESS
Muthamma, an entrepreneur under the Yashaswi group, opted for training in food processing as her eyesight was not good enough for stitching. Along with other elder women, she grinds rice and flour, prepares various masala powders and tries her hand at chocolate making. “Apart from the regular salary, we are paid incentives when sales increase,” she said.
A rustic eatery, called Forest Cafe, was also set up next to the factory, and tourists often visit it. “We serve local delicacies and also sell food products which we make,” says Jamuna. The flood victims have now become an inspiration for many, and skill development training is being extended to many other women across the district. “Post the pandemic, the Project Coorg initiative has expanded from being a rehabilitation initiative to a women empowerment initiative,” says Balaji.
30 women trained in manufacturing masala, pickle, chocolates, chips, rice flour and other food items
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Prajna GR, Express News Service / September 26th, 2021
