Charang-Kat

Down the hill from McLeodganj, the home of the Dalai Lama and the heart of the Tibetan refugee community is Lower Dharamsala. This community has fewer Tibetans; the larger 'refugee' community are the Ragistani who came because of drought and famine in the largely desert province of Ragistan. Many of these people came with no funds and no prospects and have settled in a slum project. Many of them have been beggars and rubbish pickers for generations, and have continued these occupations here, but with fewer resources than they had back in Ragistan. There are over 700 people (360 of them children) living in appalling circumstances. In 2004, 100% were illiterate and 98% of the children were malnourished. The average age span is 35 years. Most families have six to eight children, and the cycle of poverty keeps repeating. Things are beginning to change, but the problems are huge. Bound by caste and a belief in karma, there is an incredible sense of hopelessness in this community.

A local monk, Lobsang Jamyang, noticed some of the children gathering rubbish and eating the scraps from the window in his monestary. He was moved to start Tong-Len, a non-profit organization, in 2004 to provide some food and clothing, and since then has expanded the projects to try to begin to address some of the root causes of these problems through education, health, and social awareness programs, alcohol and domestic violence programs. Some micro-finance opportunities for other employment may be in the future particularly targeted toward the adolescent children who are still illiterate and at risk of simply marrying at 13 or14 and starting the cycle all over again.

Most of the children still show significant signs of malnourishment. Their hair, which should be dark and shiny has the reddish cast of protein malnutrition and a 2 year old child may weigh as little as 2.2 kilograms (about 5 pounds). Obviously the long term impacts on not only health, but also cognition are huge. Most have not been vaccinated, and disease spreads easily through the slum as there are no good sanitation facilities. The project is forbidden from building any good sanitation as these folks are squatters on the land.

Jamyang has learned over time that intervention is slow and requires shifting cultural practices and beliefs. He also understands that he can't simply provide resources, because those resources often don't go where they are needed. For example, when they first started distributing vitamins and some food items, they found that some families were selling them to get money for alcohol. Now the project manager monitors more closely to assure that the target populations, the children and pregnant and lactating mothers, are actually getting the vitamins and food. If not, then that family is cut out of the program for awhile to learn the lesson.

They have opened a small school in the slum site (a blackboard and a cement floor under a tarp) where some of the children can learn about what 'school behavior' is in preparation to possibly go on to get some education. Forty of the children from the slums are now in boarding school just up the road. Jamyang involves these children in developing community education programs (through performance, song, dance) about issues like immunizations, sanitation, and nutrition. He is trying to instill in these children a sense of responsibility back to their own community and to use their connections with their families and relatives to bring better information and some hope. These children are the living proof to the community that education may actually result in a better life for their children, something none of them believed in 2004. Jamyang had trouble persuading families to send a child to school then, but now they are lining up for the few spots available.

The global economic crisis means that even the traditional sources of income for these people, begging on the streets or shining shoes, which are both dependent on the tourist industry, are diminished because fewer tourists are coming. Even rubbish collecting does not bring in as much. The metals and plastics they could sell for 32 rupees per kilo last year are now only bringing 32 rupees.

This visit was the first time that most of the students have seen this level of poverty and hopelessness face to face and the impact was very powerful. For me too.

M