Rural Camp-Haveri

   

Wedding procession in Havanoor Village

Rural Camp Report

Village : Havanur, Haveri District

24^th to 28^th March 2011

Introduction

                Haveri  District situated about 250 Kms away from Udupi District has a village called Havanur. Community work as a part of our study, the Students of I MSW of Government First Grade College, Thenkanidiyur, Udupi decided to go for Rural Camp with a strong willingness to explore the village and to gain practical experience. To serve this purpose the rural camp has been designed.

            As an Initiative our 3 heroes Chandra, Manjunath and  Thimmappa visited the village for Pilot study. They spoke to concerned Authorities of CBO’s (Community Based Organizations), made arrangements for food and accommodation. At the same time hot class room discussions were taking place. Students were divided in to four committees namely Food, Cleaning, Programme and Assistance committees. Everyone was enthusiastic and waiting for the day.

Day - I

                At last the day came, on march 24th night we left from Thenkanidiyur, Udupi with our Faculty   Ms. Archana, Ms. Reshma Salian, Mr. Anil Palan, Ms. Sumangala, and Mr. Mandeep Shetty and reached Havanur on 25th early morning. We all took rest for an hour as everyone was tired due to long journey.  As a first step all were asked to assemble, each committee was given responsibility and the committees left to perform their duties and programme committee arranged for the  Inaugural function. Mr. Manjunath had made arrangements for announcement of Inaugural function through the experts from village who did their job. Village Panchayath Members, PHC  Authority, School Head Masters and Members from “Nirvana” NGO  were invited for the function. A respected and experienced person was given opportunity to speak on stage who recited some folk songs in local Kannada Language.

         We got a warm Welcome from the Villagers. At the same time Villagers were also very curious about who we were, where we had come from and  what is our purpose. For them it was a surprise.  The inaugural function gave us opportunity to build rapport with community People. In the evening there was cultural programme. After returning from Cultural programme all gave their feedback about the day.

Programme Committee planning for Inaugural function

PHC Doctor Addressing the gathering

Inaugauration of the Camp

Respected villager's Address to the gathering

 Day II
  Day two was utilized by Procession in different parts of the village. Camp members were divided in to four groups and we took school children for our procession and went in to different parts of the village holding boarding and shouting slogans on Sanitation, Education and Health. After breakfast we assembled again and divided in to Six groups for survey of the village. Each group scattered in different parts of the village with survey formats. Different groups observed varied things in the community including their lifestyle and socio economic Status. After this we visited Community based organizations like Public Health Centre (PHC), Anganwadi and Self Help Group (SHG) and studied about their functions and challenges faced by them. After returning we discussed about the organizations we visited, practiced for cultural and presented it in the evening. Community people were also given opportunity for Participation and there were several cultural programmes by school children. Day ended with Feedback from us regarding our experiences and some suggestions.

Instructions to School children before procession

School going girl Sanjotha sharing her feelings with us.

Cultural Programmes on II Day

Cultural Programmes on II Day

  

 

  

PRA wealth Mapping demonstration

 DAY III

          On day 3 we all went to clean the surroundings with the intention to make them aware of the cleanliness and to encourage them to clean their surroundings. After this we arranged for two street plays to be played in different areas, focusing on Alcoholism, bonded labour, education and sanitation. We went to the centers of the village reciting some awareness songs. We performed our plays on the streets which gathered large number of public. It was followed by a demo on PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) Wealth Mapping (modeling). This was done on the experience of previous day survey. Before we start the wealth mapping, camp members expressed their experience and observations viz. child marriage, political system, life style, sanitation, education and some physical observations. Discussions were held regarding this, evaluation of survey and PRA was also done in the end by students and faculty.

            Culturals were practiced and presented in the evening which was followed by a grand dinner prepared by ourselves. Later we all enjoyed camp fire. 


 

  

Street Play on Bonded labour

Camp members engaged in cleaning

 

Street Play on Alchoholism

Enjoying the Camp Fire

Stage programme on sanitation

Cultural Programme by a girl

  

Gathering for culturals

DAT -IV

            Day 4 was meant for Valedictory function. Programme committee arranged for the Function. Villagers were also given opportunity to give their feedback and it was expressed that all villagers liked our four days stay in the village. We were appreciated for involving community people in our activities which they have never experienced before though several organizations have held their programme in this Village. Village Panchayath and PHC were given Feedbacks before departure.

 Havanur is a typical backward village which lacks sanitation facility, education, drinking water facility etc. Members of Panchayath did not seem to be much interested in Public welfare. The only interested person in Public welfare we saw is newly appointed PHC Doctor. People of the village were very friendly and we mixed with children so much that inspite of facing so many  problems we did not feel like leaving the village. Thanks to our H.O.D, Dr. Duggappa kajekar for giving us such a good opportunity.