The Senior Programme Manager of STOP, Smritikana Ghosh Paul, and Gerlinde Büchinger-Schmid, an important member of the STOP-Germany Friend Circle, visited the Sundarbans in West Bengal from the 23rd to the 28th of November, 2024. During those days, a number of meetings with at-risk women, children, aged people and survivors were held with the STOP Team.
This was our beloved Gerlinde Ma’am’s anecdote about her experience in there:
It was a deeply impressing und moving encounter with women whose husbands are killed mainly by tigers, and thanks to STOP, they receive vocational training in making dress and incense sticks which they can offer for sale on the local market, in order to finance their livlihood at a low level. Often however, the low income is not enough and requires local official support in the form of weekly food parcels known as “rations“.
Learning how to use digital tools (cell phones) is an important source of support in addition and is particularly favored by the younger generation of women. At the same time, education and protection of women and girls regarding human trafficking is an essential part of STOP’s social work in that area. Poverty and social backwardness makes you vulnerable to trust the promises of human traffickers and thus falling in unknown dependence and abuse of all kinds.
The fate of widows in the Sundarbans is diverse. It is a struggle for living space for humans and animals. The forces of nature, such as annual cyclones and floods, not only destroy nature but also the livelihood of the people in the Sundarbans. Since women play a very tough role in the society of the Sundarbans, they need a strong, sustainable support for their empowerment.
During our home visits, we were told a few depressing life stories. Some of them were:
A young widow and her 6-year-old son were sent away by their in-laws and thus refused the existing right of inheritance to real property. She is currently living with her mother without a school leaving – certificate and financial security.
In another family, after the marriage of the daughter, the fatal injury of the father by a tiger led to a considerable financial burden, as the family had been heavily in debts for several years for managing finances for the daughter’s wedding.
A grandmother whose husband was killed by a tiger and whose daughter was subjected to fatal domestic violence had to raise her orphaned grandchildren, aged 15 and 13. Although the son-in-law, who meanwhile passed away, was punished by the court and was sent to prison, the children remain victimized. The grandmother’s daily income of 80 Rs for cutting 40 kg fish is a minimal financial help.
STOP has been working tirelessly to combat human trafficking, and since its inception, the region of Jharkhali has become a trafficking-free zone, as was stated by our Outreach-in-charge, Bishnupada Dey.
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