Handicrafts, printing, carpentry, woodcarving, auto repair, bike repair, electrical repair, welding, well-digging, tailoring, spinning, weaving, silk production, tin work, shoemaking... everything that a town needs is provided by Anandwan’s former and current patients. It is inspiring to see so many people overcoming such hardship, and accomplishing so much. Anandwan’s “handicapped” citizens are known for their expertise and skill throughout the region, and at times act as teachers and advisors. In the workshops, men and women with deformed fingers or stubs work treadle machines sewing cloth into shirts, hospital uniforms or blouses. Their looms weave towels, dhoti (the traditional cloth a village man wraps below the waist), placemats and bedsheets for thousands of people. Anandwan sits on rocky, dry land that was considered marginal when it was granted to the project; the current relatively high standard of living is built on the cooperation, labor and skill of all its patients. Because labor is like currency at Anandwan, hundreds of well-conceived projects have succeeded through workers’s enthusiasm. I saw a forest The forest village ofHemalkasa is one of a chain ofprojects, supported by Anandwan, workingfor the native Madia Gond tribes. Its hospital is run by Baba Amte 's son Prakesh and his wife Mandakini, both medical doctors. Years ago the forest people began to bring them orphaned animals, and diverse wildlife soon roamed the Amte household. The crossspecies compatibility is extraordinary: one finds a handful ofdifferent orphaned species, from lion to deer, nursing at the same time from a single animal ofyet another species. The commensal animals certainly deserve serious study by ethologists. The tribals provide the animalsfood in gratitude for the clinic, school, nursery and extension work done by the Amte's. Above, Prakesh Amte, with leopards and a lion who are close companions. Prakesh'sfather, Baba, ran awayfrom home when he was young to live for a while with restoration research project on 50 hectares of land that supplies over 100,000 saplings a year for reforestation and fruit orchards. There are schools for blind, deaf-mute and handicapped children, as well as vocational and traditional crafts training centers. The town’s Colleges, geared to help rural students, offer programs in sustainable agriculture. Anandwan uses the permacultural ideas they teach. Their water conservation and wastewater recycling projects are brilliant, and essential to survival in this drought prone area. Rainwater runs through underground channels, stalling evaporation, to various reservoirs. Graywater is recycled through small drainage canals into fish ponds. Energy conservation techniques are practiced, researched and broadcast to the region. Cooking gas is produced in methane digesters, and there are several solar demonstration projects. 1 was particularly taken by the beautiful, eye-catching low-cost housing, developed at Anandwan and based on Egyptian architecture [see page 23]. The construction minimizes use of timber, iron and the fuel to fire bricks. the Madia Gond tribes. Above, another Anandwan project in Hemalkasa is the coordination of a school where indigenous people pass down traditional skills, crafts and ecological expertise. Here a tribe member learns how to construct a traditional basket. Rain Winter/Spring 1992 Volume XIV, Number 2 Page 25
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