By: Jobie Lay
"Do you like Indian people?" asked Yacob Yacobi with his signature, slightly mischievous grin. It was one of our last days staying in Bene Ephraim with the Yacobis, our host family, and it seems this question had been percolating for quite some time.
The five of us (Hannah Davis, Maya Dicker, Jobie Lay, Saul Miller, & Marianne Vaisenbrut) came to India as part of a unique volunteer program, LeadEarth, run by Adam LeAdam, an Israeli NGO. We have 8 months, 3 in India and 5 in Israel, to study about and volunteer with social and environmental change projects. We hail from three different countries and varying backgrounds, but all possess an interest in gaining field experience and building the skills necessary to be involved in sustainable development.
Our second stop in India was Bene Ephraim, a small Jewish community located in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. We were hosted by the Yacobi family, whose small house sits adjacent to the community's synagogue. Bene Ephraim is part of Chebrole, a village of mostly Dalit (Untouchable) families—the lowest caste in India.
"Of course we like Indian people!" the group replied. In fact, this had been one of our first impressions upon our arrival in India—that the people here were incredibly friendly and helpful, even abnormally so. "Do you like Indians, Yacob?" we asked.
He laughed and shook his head. "No! All Indians are cheats!" he cried. "You can't trust an Indian; he is always trying to cheat you."
A fascinating question, for sure, to be asked of a group of five young people passionate about social change and interested in making a difference in people's lives. If anything, our experience living at Bene Ephraim proved the reverse; the Indians, especially the lower castes, are the ones that should feel cheated—but not by each other—by the systems in place and by their own government.
Our visit to Bene Ephraim consisted of three main goals: to check up on the progress of their past gifts and grants, to install solar panels on the roof of the synagogue, and finally, to conduct a survey on the overall quality of life in the community.
The first task, checking up on past grants that the community had received, primarily entailed monitoring the progress of a recent grant from Kulanu to purchase chickens. We visited all ten families, and it was encouraging to see how pleased the families were with the chickens. While it is still too early to tell whether this will be a very profitable project for the families, it is a low-maintenance way for families to earn secondary income. Additionally, we spoke with community leaders regarding past grants that have allowed several families to purchase buffaloes, and sell the milk for profit, and another gift was used to purchase bicycles, providing the children with easier transport to and from school.
Next, our group received a grant through Kulanu to install solar panels at the community center's synagogue. The panels installed do not completely replace the current light system, but the building is now less reliant on its traditional system. We see this as a three-fold benefit: first, it should decrease the Yacobi's electric bills (while also decreasing their use of fossil fuels); second, there will be electricity despite the black-outs and power outages; third, the installation provided the LeadEarth group with a unique opportunity to educate the community about solar energy and its benefits, as well as some general education about the environment.
Our final goal at Bene Ephraim was to better understand the community's quality of life and general needs by conducting a survey with some of the families. The community members that spoke English helped in translating the survey into Telugu, the common language in the village. Our hope is that the information gathered through these surveys will help direct any future grants and volunteer projects in the community.
First, we found that many in the community have a large interest in learning more about Judaism, as well learning to read and write Hebrew. Yehoshua Jacobi, a former member of their community who has been living in Israel for many years, was recently in Bene Ephraim to help with this process. In addition, we arranged with the Koren publishing to send 25 prayer books and 25 Chumash to aid in this learning process.
By surveying over a third of the families, we were able to learn a great deal about Bene Ephraim. Our program is heavily focused in environmentalism, so we were interested to find that in Chebrole, like many places in India, there is no waste management system in place, which means that trash piles up and then most likely burned. Water is of poor quality and scarce during the hotter months. Electricity is unreliable, and even more so during the dry season. The only affordable option for most families are the public schools, which provide a greatly inferior education compared to the private schools. A large majority of the community works in agriculture as day-laborers, making between 100 and 300 rupees per day (equivalent to approximately $2-$6.50USD). Some people refuse to work on Shabbat, to great detriment to their take-home pay each week. Medical check-ups are a luxury most families cannot afford; doctor visits are restricted to an as-needed basis. Most families are in debt, with no visible way, from their current wages, of paying back their debtors anytime soon.
Thankfully, we also gathered very encouraging information about the community, and their desire and willingness to improve their situation. When asked, almost all of the families had a vision for a better way of life or a second source of income. Many of the field laborers have an extensive knowledge of agriculture, and dream of one day being able to own their own land, where they can grow food for their family, and sell the rest for profit. Other members of the community have experience with livestock, and hope to create a larger-scale chicken or buffalo project.
We also discovered that Bene Ephraim has a community cooperative project set up for individuals to borrow money for business plans—just like a microfinance loan. The goal of the cooperative is to provide the start-up capital to fund a source of secondary income so that, for example, the families can build up a savings instead of borrowing money when their roof needs repairing, or they need to visit a doctor. The project is dormant right now, but they are eager to have it back up and running. They also have great ideas to benefit the entire community once the cooperative itself begins making money, such as supplementing the meager income of the several widows in the community so that they are better able to meet their basic needs. This is just one example of how considerate and community-minded the people of Bene Ephraim are—when asked in the survey what they would do if they had extra money from another source of income, many remarked that they had no specific plans, but would want to share it with the whole community.
"So does that mean that you are a cheat as well, Yacob?"
Again, he flashed his brilliant smile. "Yes! I told you, everyone is a cheat."
Yacob may be telling the truth (just to be safe, we put him in charge of negotiating our taxi fare), but we believe we saw a different side of the story. We met a generous, fiercely cohesive community that is not interested in competition. They are interested, however, in sharing resources and skills so that everyone in the community benefits. We found, at Bene Ephraim, not only an amazing community, but a new family, and lifelong friends. We stand by our assessment that Indian people, and especially the Bene Ephraim, the most genuine, loving, and generous people that we had ever met.
As heartbreaking as it was to leave so soon, and with little tangible change, there was hopefulness too. Sustainable change must come from within, and the community has their own ideas for improvements. They are eager to gain the skills necessary to make change happen, and with the aid of a few long-term volunteers, we are confident that sustainable development is possible in Bene Ephraim, and that their health and well-being will continue to improve.
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