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Meet These 5 Rural Women Who Celebrated Mother's Day With The Mother Earth
India, 9 May 2022 11:59 AM GMT
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Countless women across the country celebrated Nature on May 8 and expressed their gratitude towards Mother Earth for providing them with livelihood opportunities and sustenance.
Mother's Day celebrations usually focus on the role that mothers play in nourishing their families. However, countless women across the country celebrated Nature on May 8 and expressed their gratitude toward Mother Earth for providing them with livelihood opportunities and sustenance.
Social organisation Grow-Trees.com has helped these women to conserve vital ecosystems for the sake of their children and also empowered them to take care of their families.
Here are some of these women warriors who treat the environment as an extension of themselves and know that motherhood has more than one meaning.
1. Hansidevi
Hailing from Uttarakhand's Nathuakhan village in the Nainital district, Hansidevi struggled to make ends meet. However, Grow-Trees.com helped her initiate a nursery of over 1500 saplings at her home. The region she lives in has seen massive deforestation. With the help of this enterprise, she was able to sustain herself and add to the eco-diversity around her.
On maturity, the produce will provide fodder for her buffaloes and help her save an annual expense of over Rs. 15000. She will also be earning an additional income from fruits and flowers. In addition, she is learning the nuances of sustainable agriculture right in her backyard and is seeing the transformative impact of afforestation on air, water, and soil.
Moreover, the trees create a protective bio-fencing against wildlife intrusions. Like any protective mother, she courageously beat back a forest fire sometime back to protect her saplings and does not regret losing her hair in the blaze!
She says, "I will continue to nurture Mother Earth against all odds and protect my saplings like my own children."
2. Mala
Hailing from the marginalised and underserved Irula tribe in Tamil Nadu, Mala had experienced dire poverty, discrimination and deprivation till she absorbed herself in Tamil Nadu's afforestation project. After facing social isolation and financial hardship, Mala found it highly gratifying to work with a larger community to heal and restore the environment.
She says, "Now not just my own tribe but every tree I have planted is part of my family. It is so rewarding. Thanks to Mother Earth, I am now able to earn a sustainable income and give back to her by planting indigenous varieties like amla, guava and jackfruit. Planting these trees is also good for future generations as they sustain local biodiversity, expand green cover and maintain the ecological balance of our region."
3. Surbali Singh
In Jharkhand's Laylam Tola Chardungri village, Surbali and her husband joined the plantation project to take care of their children and extended family. Since then, they have not looked back and have now constructed a thriving nursery after learning techniques such as pit digging, sapling transportation, and plantation.
Surbali says, "I feel so much more confident as a woman and a mother now that I am able to support my family and secure the future of my children. I now know that when we attend to the needs of the earth, she takes care of ours."
4. Meera Bai
Meera Bai, a mother of two, hails from Bardiya village. Because of Grow-Trees.com's Rajasthan Project, she is now able to earn substantially. Her work has also partially relieved her of domestic drudgery.
She says, "My plantation work has helped me understand that being a mother does not just mean staying at home. I feel proud to be able to contribute to my children's well-being and it makes me very happy that I am part of a movement that is larger than me."
5. Hanifa Begum
Hanifa is from Pannaikadu and for the longest time, her husband earned meagre amounts as a fisherman. As a mother, she now hopes to give a better life and education to her children, which makes her look forward to the future.
She says, "This income was not sufficient for us but I was given two rafts for seaweed cultivation and taught how to cultivate seaweed in an efficient way. There is light at the end of a long tunnel finally and I now feel that sustainable methods of cultivation must be embraced for the sake of the environment,"
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