Starting the field work

On Friday, together with NGO called Samugam four of us went to visit the Gypsy Community they are working with. Gypsy people in India are considered dalits - “untouchables” by other castes. Traditionally they are a hunting tribe, but their existence in modern world became really hard. By the law they aren’t really allowed to hunt anymore and they hardly get by with their day to day lives.This particular community in Pondicherry has settled right next to Pondicherry’s garbage dump and the people have been living for year by scavenging the often hazardous waste. Since Samugan started working with them the conditions of their living slowly improve. They managed to convince the state to change the trash dumping site, so that the people are forced to start looking for different sources of food and materials. They encourage people to work, by making handicrafts and selling them at the beach side in Pondicherry. They also have temporary volunteers on the site that work with the community and especially children.

The state of things as we saw it is already much better condition to what it was but still is considered very very bad. Samugan build a school for the children, which provide only very basic education and usually children don’t continue it when they have to move to a state school. They parent's send them to the community school mainly because of free meals they get, which can fee a whole family. There is also a creche for the younger children, which is supposed to encourage them to learn and prepare for the school.

Community School

 

The green space we're looking at is the garbage dump

One group working with this community - Mikaela and Martin - will do their observations, focusing on the access of the children to the education. The other group - Dawn and Marta - will investigate at children's play, run some creative workshops with the children and design play solutions for playing in the outdoor space.



/Dawn & Marta