After taking a tour of the CORD center yesterday, I got a feel of many of the individual projects that the center undertakes. Many of these are truly remarkable, including the amount of effort that the workers and volunteers show to help the villagers. One project is to introduce to the villages a new method of growing rice called "System of Rice Intensification" (SRI). It is more environmentally friendly and at the same time increases crop yields with less plants. Another farming related project is using Vermi Compost, which, as I had mentioned earlier, uses worms to produce better quality compost that the villagers can sell.
One of my favorite projects will I will soon talk about in-depth involves helping special needs children from these villages, who otherwise would not recieve any extra care. A different project which I dipped my feet into was teaching English to the Villagers, as well as introducing them to computers.
A large amount of effort from CORD goes to organizing Mahila Mandals. These are groups of women villagers who meet at the CORD Center and discuss many of things, including problems they may have. The main point of these are to empower women and give them a voice in a traditional male dominated society.
One thoughtful program that was developed was to take the deaf and mute villagers and teach them how to draw Kangra Paintings. They are then able to sell these paintings and earn a living. I personally think that this is very amazing, and their drawings are remarkable as well. Another craftwork program is teaching the villagers how to weave intricate designs and how to make items that can be sold at the Chinmaya Self Help Group store in Sidhbari.
| A group of rice paddies using SRI |
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