Greeny News

women in the east coast of India to educate their children and pay for health care increases by scraping shells

Basanti extent of the cart for me. Made of bamboo strips of light wood, all that seemed to have a little grass on the bottom. However, the grass was moving. He pulled out the green fuzz in a bouquet, revealing his latest capture. For me it was stuff that nightmares are made in each bulb with two claws, three slender legs on each side of the shell of dark blue. I do not care if the cord was wrapped around their claws, like straitjackets. His bulging eyes said otherwise.

But women and other Mahinsa Basanti, these crabs are their livelihood. Home to 150 families, about 800, the village is one of over a hundred scattered along the shores of Lake Chilika in the eastern state of Orissa in India. The lake is technically a coastal lagoon, the largest in the country, and brackish water fish, crabs shelter gray shrimps, 160 species of migratory birds and rare Irrawaddy dolphins, which helps attract tourism value .

three years ago, Mahinsa were no toilets and almost no trees. Today, the projects of the NGOs have tried to change this situation: the planting of palm trees, create worm compost heap, and the installation of water pumps that children wash their feet before others run to school. The most important thing is that they have brought life. thought of saying, "Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for life "as a group of women led us around the island, a kaleidoscope of saris fuchsia, turquoise and pink eraser. Sometimes the road was sandy, full of cactus and small white flowers. The air smelled of the sea, the first markets in the morning, fish, and long-billed sandpipers strutted along the coast, while the white cranes care of them. We followed a network of dirt roads to ponds where the crabs thrive. While some cultures may bring as much as $ 300, plus an average of $ 200. With six crops a year and women from 10 to 15 for benefit sharing, which manages about $ 80 per year for each woman. This additional income can be used to educate their children, pay for medical care, or build their savings for a rainy day. And with the threat of monsoon and cyclones never far away, rainy days are sure to come.

Guardian Weekly
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