Retreading the Forest Path (continued...)

"Initially, we went to Valara hamlet to do a workshop for tribal healers. There, we saw beautiful mirror mats made of bamboo woven by the older tribal women. We asked them if the younger generation also wove mats and received a dispirited, 'No.' They explained, "There are no buyers, we weave mats and baskets and have to sell them for such a low cost. Our labour is looked down upon. We are not interested."

"We felt sad to see such masterpieces not being woven by the youngsters. The parent body of JSS Idukki, the Mata Amritanadamayi Math, is in a position to offer buoyant orders for these products. We promised the people orders for their mats if they trained as bamboo weavers. Fifteen women trained to be weavers for one month under the guidance of an expert tribal woman who acted as the JSS resource person."

Orientation into modernity and the new 'knowledge culture' helps the tribal people to make strategic decisions about their future livelihoods. With this in mind JSS offers village based literacy programmes, which are a crucial step on the ladder of knowledge. JSS explains, "We were able to motivate the mothers to learn alphabets and words through computer-aided literacy. The literacy software developed by the National Institute of Speech and Hearing delighted the women. They watched the CD on a laptop in Valara. They are highly visual people who have never had a written language of their own, and seeing the words being framed on a computer screen fired their imagination. They said 'It is like weaving mats where so many intrinsic designs are woven. Letter writing resembles our hand movements while weaving. Watching the letters form on the screen, makes it easy for us to write it down on the slate, and later in our notebooks.'

Bamboo mats, bags and other trinkets from the Valara community are now being marketed by the M.A. Math ashram's ecology department, which has a busy international clientele. This relationship of the tribal producers with the Math is open to development with the growing demand from ashram visitors for direct access to the tribal people and their products.

These initial experiences have given the women of Valara more confidence and self-assurance to face the future and the world of independent work. They face challenges with an innate spiritual strength. They say they pray to the elements that nourish them, "We worship the sun for the light and energy it gives. We worship the moon for the light it gives us at night. We worship the bamboo for giving us the means to get food." In the light of the imminent environmental crisis, this attitude of reverence for all life is one of the most important lessons that tribal peoples can pass on to others.

JSS believes that support for tribal women is especially important. Through the empowerment of women, it is possible that their men folk who have fallen into degradation can be weaned away from the stupor of their indignity. When a tribal guide leads a trek, or a group of women are enabled to negotiate a sale directly with visitors to their hamlet, their introduction into forest-culture will be true and free of cultural stereotyping. A bridge between cultures is made, with each side becoming enriched, while gaining respect and acceptance for each other.

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