Out-of-the-Box #5

DECEMBER 2020

The Rural Changemaker OUT-OF-THE-BOX! Published by The Rural Changemakers e.V. · www.rural-changemakers.com · hello@rural-changemakers.com

The Future Is Now!

When I left Janwaar early in April this year, I knew it would take some time to come back. I never expected it to be that long. But here I am, waiting for the re-opening of Mother India.

Just like in Europe and the US, the Covid-cases in India are rising in numbers – it is just that hardly anyone, at least in the rural areas, is bothered. Our jungle-knight, little Satyam, who is wearing a mask, is rather an exception. What I hear from my friends is, that life is back to normal, except that schools are still closed.

Satyam – the jungle-knight.

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Of course the pandemic had an impact on our project. While sessions and communication moved into the digital space at the same time community work in the village grew. And some of our kids were at the forefront. Looking back at these passed eight months – besides all the challenges – really something very beautiful unfolded: The kids took over community work such as school, feeding the poorest and elders, handing out warm winter clothes and rising awareness among their parents about the virus. They’ve taken responsibility and grew as human beings.

This was great to observe! Proof of concept one could call it :-) Thank you for all your support!

All the best for 2021!

Founder of Janwaar Castle and The Rural Changemakers gem. e.V.

DECEMBER 2020

The long way to something better

Photo 1: Aakash with his little sister Roshni at the mini skatepark right next to Villa Janwaar.

Photo 2: Shiva aks Spiderman at the mini skatepark right next to Villa Janwaar.

Barack Obama once used this title for a speech he gave. He was talking about democracy and what it means to him. He said, even as the President of the United States of America, the change he can achieve, is only incremental. That even he can only move forward in small steps to a more perfect democracy. It doesn’t come with a big bang. And it’s all about teamwork and compromise, he said. And sometimes he had to take a hard punch.

life for the entire village. Many of them grasped the lifeline with both hands, listened, and little by little understood what changes they could make, step by step. We set them free from poverty, not of material things, but the poverty of their minds, poverty of aspiration and ambition. Now they are rich in realising what they can achieve and already inspiring the youngest to imagine things differently.

All he said, resonated very much with me – because it was exactly what I lived through in Janwaar over the passed six years. The change I saw in the village I only saw happening in small steps – Yadav (caste) and Adivasi (the so-called Untouchables) carefully and hesitantly interacting with each other or kids coming together and breaking down taboos to achieve a better outcome. I am still often way too impatient, push too hard to get things done – until I realise to let loose and let things evolve. If you would ask Asha, she’d probably say that a “classic” example for my impatience would be her “accounting” skills.

Which indeed drove me crazy once in a while :-) In such moments I have to remind myself that it is not about what I know or want but rather what they can understand and translate into “action” and behaviour. It’s a lot about compromising between what is possible (=maximum outcome) and what they can and want to achieve realistically. And yes, I had to take a couple of hard punches – equally from parents and kids and people who envy what is happening in the village. But I do believe in the approach we’ve taken and I have faith that we are on the way to something better – each single one of us in her/his very own way. Including me.

Looking at the photos above – and this is only a small selection – they show children who are happy, full of joy, expressing in their posture self-confidence and freedom. There is a sense of purpose about them that leaps out of the pages. They are no longer victims, but individuals with a future and a purpose, even the youngest.

This is what people tell me who came for a visit to Janwaar and who’ve been with me on this journey for a while.

Right from the beginning I was very much convinced that any changes needed to grow organically, and that our journey was not about changing their lives to different ones, but change the way they live, and think, about their existing lives – to improve

Yes, there are our poster girls/boys and frontrunners – Asha, Anil and Arun – all of them covered extensively by various media outlets. But there is much more beyond them. There are at least 130 youngsters who as well participate in our journey and who will soon step out of their frontrunners’ shadows.

I’ve just finished a truly colourful presentation “The Barefoot Skateboarders from A-Z” which presents portraits of those who come more or less regularly to the skatepark or our Villa Janwaar.

(If you want this presentation please drop us a line at hello @rural- changemakers.com). These are more than half of the children in the entire village. And being aware that we don’t have a photo of every kid, this is quite an outreach which is hard to neglect and will leave the kids’ marks on the village’s future.

Skateboarding has triggered a kid’s movement in Janwaar. There’s no kid in the village who cannot stand on a board. Our youngest skateboarders can hardly walk. Many of them start out by sitting with their bare butt cheeks on the board and pushing it

DECEMBER 2020

Photo 3: 2015 – The first visitors of the skatepark: The “Yadav Boys”: Ajay, Brajendra, Pushpendra and Selen (left to right)

Photo 4: 2019 – The “Adivasi Gang” : Anikesh, Priyanka, Kalpna and Dilasha standing in the back

slowly forward with their chubby legs. It’s very often the elder sibling, whose job is anyhow to take care of the little ones, who will teach them their first moves and guide them carefully on their first roll-outs. It’s fun for them. And it’s fun to watch.

The Aakash Family Aakash (photo 1) is the older brother of our jungle-knight Satyam (photo on the frontpage). In-between is Shiva (photo 2) aka Spiderman. And Roshni, not even one year old, is currently the youngest child in their family. Almost every year the family welcomes a newborn – while struggling heavily to feed the ones who are already there. The concept of birth control isn’t understood yet in their family. Their family house is right across our Villa Janwaar. It has one room and one charpie (Indian bed). The parents of these four are both alcoholics and only work occasionally. Hygiene is a foreign word for them whereas fights and yelling is part of their daily encounters. No wonder the Villa and the skatepark have become welcoming places for these kids. There, they experience something different, something which provides them comfort – something which they will take home. One day.

But they always have big smiles. They are happy. Shiva loves to flip through the books in our library while Satyam is observing him. Shiva’s nickname is Spiderman and almost everyone in the village calls him by this name – and he loves it. One day when I arrived at the village in the morning he was “blocking” the road – he stood with a wide stance, his arms outstretched and he was wearing nothing but a filthy knee-long T-shirt having a huge Spiderman imprinted. That was the day I called him Spiderman.

All of them attend the morning sessions held by Asha at the Villa Janwaar. They paint, play, build things, learn basic hygiene rules and Hindi. They learn in a creative way which will provide them a more easy access to schooling. And because they are part of a bigger group they feel safe and comfy. They also learn to respect each other and value a better way to express themselves. The language and words they normally hear at home, you do not find in any dictionary. And if they continue to do so, this will have an impact on their lives. It already shows – Aakash his taking his younger siblings for a daily shower to the water pump right next to their house.

The Societal Dilemma Aakash is six or seven years old. He first came to the skatepark when he was three. So more than half of his live he is skateboarding and really does it well. He is extremely agile and lissome. Quickly he picks up the latest trick and is trying to master it with ease. He rarely shows up alone. In the beginning I saw him schlepping his younger brother Shiva. Today Shiva is schlepping Satyam and Aakash schlepps Roshni.

Upon arrival they would “park” the little one on a skateboard or on the ground, grab a board for themselves and off they go, until the little one starts screaming. Then they would come back, cuddle the little one and clam her/him down.

All of the four siblings have the same faces – slightly roundish when they are younger, dirty, pimply and usually their noses are running. Their brownish eyes look sometimes sceptical.

Caste is still a dividing force in the village. What has changed though since the skatepark disrupted village life, is, that caste has become a talking point. It is no longer a given fact, an ancient tradition – it has become something that is questionable and therefore changeable. The older generations – the grandparents of our kids – have accepted that the youngsters interact with each other, they skateboard, play, learn, travel and even eat together. Nevertheless we are fully aware that not all villagers embrace this change. There is still resistance and sometimes even denial, especially within the Yadav caste. And this “old system” is striking back once in a while – mainly carried out by the young male Yadav generation in their late teens and some of the younger parents, mostly when they are drunk. It’s then when their fear, despair and anger erupts.

DECEMBER 2020

Photo 5: Baliram, one of our sweetest guys, yet a rascal, goes regularly to school.

Photo 6: Rajaram, just like his older brother Baliram, is always in a thinking mode.

The photo #3 was taken in the first months after the first skatepark has opened, some day in late 2015. Only the Yadav boys were skateboarding – back then they “dominated” the park. In November 2019 photo #4 shows a different reality: Adiwasi boys and girls are confident and enjoy the skatepark to the fullest.

energy in a sense of being calm and well-balanced. Neither one of them is a frontrunner or an early adopter. Both always observe first and then join. Once they are part of the game they truly add soul and mindfulness to the team. Plus, they rarely start a fight. In view of their pleasant qualities we are always happy to include them in our travels and engagements.

They do belong to the core team of the Barefoot Skateboarders, and yes, the two master the skateboard well!

Many realities lie in between these four years. First of all the girls made it to the skatepark and today they are 100% part of the game. Especially the Adivasi girls have taken over and under the guidance of Asha they’ve found their place. Asha has paved the way for these girls. Her persistence to go to the skatepark and to resist the broadside from her own community but also from others without losing her own track and growing into a young respected woman is unparalleled in this village. Asha is a role model for the girls and is strongly supported by her mother AND her father today and more and more families trust their girls now and let them participate.

A huge step made. I only wish we would see this in the Yadav community as well – but there, gender equality is a far cry.

As it turns out over the years, the Adivasi community is much more open for change. Naturally one would think, because they are at the bottom end of society’s hierarchy. But even within their own community resistance to break with the caste system exists and some are still reluctant to allow the girls to pursue their dreams.

The good news is that the village society is in motion. And one needs movement to drive change.

Ram Ram Many Hindus greet or farewell each other by saying “Ram Ram.” Hindus believe if they pronounce “Ram”, it will create positive energy. This is why you often find “Ram” as part of a name. For the two brothers Baliram (photo 5) and Rajaram (photo 6) this belief proves true. They really spread positive

The boys live with their family at the outskirts of Janwaar, so it’s a bit of a walk for them to reach our Villa Janwaar and the skatepark. Nevertheless, whenever they can, they drop in and participate in the activities. Their house is right opposite of the lake in Janwaar – so the lake is a welcoming playground for them as well. During the hot summer season they often dive in for a refreshing swim or when the water gets really low before the monsoons, they try to catch the tiny little fish bare-handed.

Once they’ve caught enough fish, for sure they will start a fire, skewer the fish on a thin limb and broil it. Needless to say how much fun this is.

Baliram and Rajaram are often busy with household chores.

Their mother, Muliya – even though she is always smiling – seems to be kind of strict and demanding. She has a very distinct voice and gets easily fussy when her boys do not attend school and are missed out on an occasion. She knows very well that her two boys rarely articulate their wishes or demand anything. They are rather shy, step back and wait what will happen. We know, Muliya will be very happy when we include at least one of her sons in our Open School Project next year and provide him a better learning environment and possibilities. I am sure he will appreciate and make something out of it.

And rather sooner than later I expect him to be confident enough to step out of the shadows of our frontrunners and take a lead.