30 October 2009
Twenty-year-old Rohim Miniaka is so keen to get hold of the soldering iron and solar lantern circuit board that Pulka Wadeka, in the nose ring and traditional dress of Orissa’s hill tribes, has to stop him before he gets his hands burnt. Pulka is a trainer at this workshop run by the DFID-funded Orissa Tribal Women Barefoot Solar Engineers Association. Rohim is here to pick up some valuable new skills.
“These solar lights are changing things in our village," says Rohim. "I want to get one for my family – we really need it. And if I’ve got this training I’ll be able to repair it if it goes wrong.
“Like most people, we don’t have any electricity at home. We find it hard to get kerosene, because we don't have any money, and it costs about 16 rupees (20 pence) a day. So often we have no light at all. That means at 6pm, when it is getting dark, we light a fire with wood to cook our food and then have to go to bed.
Daily hardships
“We farm a little piece of land on the hillside, where we grow millet, mainly. My father and younger brother work as labourers on other people’s land, for a share of the crop. But with no light we have to stop work in the fields at 4pm, go home and do the work that’s needed there. If we had light at night we could all work another two hours a day.
“It is hard here. We’re five – me and my 15-year-old brother, my parents and my grandmother – and we can’t earn enough money to eat. Food prices are going up because of the poor monsoon and my brother had to drop out of school when he was 10, and work in the fields. We didn’t have enough money to afford his books and uniforms.
“Last night we ate what we usually eat, millet porridge and a little tamarind to flavour it. We might have a bit of chicken once a month. In the past we’d eat wild pig, but they’ve gone now the forests here have all been cut down.
Learning new lessons
“I studied till I was 15, but I’ve only ever worked in the fields. These last few months, I’ve been earning an allowance as a volunteer for Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Programme. I’ve been learning good new things there, all about trying to conserve water for the farmers, and advising them on how to improve irrigation. We’re advising people not to cut down trees because that will reduce rainfall. We’re building water sheds and dams, to stop the rainwater running off. It has really helped the farmers and production of crops has improved.
“I’m so happy to be doing this training. I really want to be an electrician, but how would I ever find the money for the training? It’ll take maybe two months to earn the money to buy a solar lantern and solar panel. But when I bring one home to my parents they will be so happy.”
Facts and stats
- The solar engineers association is supported by the Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Programme (OTELP).
- OTELP is being funded by DFID (£8,669,021 from 2004-10) and run with the state government of Orissa. It will sustainably improve livelihoods and food security for 75,000 poor tribal households.
- Over 40% of people in India do not have access to an electricity supply.