We have been in the villages for one month after a 75 days intensive study/orientation program. 4 Community Workers have settled in the Harijanawadas of their central villages and the 5th has been helping them in this tales. This month he too will choose a central village and settle down. Every Saturday, at our office in Bagepalli, we have a weekly meeting where we review the week and plan for the next.
Every evening from Sundays to Fridays (both days included), games and classes for children are conducted from 6 to 8 p.m. There are followed up from 8:30 p.m. for about 3 hours with adults literacy classes, songs, skits, and drama practices.
The daytimes is utilised for visiting the fields, tending to the people’s kitchen gardens etc. Besides utilizing every opportunity — be it in the Community Workers rooms, the water taps, their places of labour, the tea shops or in the fields to have discussions and informal chats with the people, in order to gain as much knowledge as possible of the villages and it people.
Below is an extract from the proceeding of a meeting we held at our office on 2 and 3 September 1978 to review our 1 month involvement. Problematic areas and the conclusions we have drawn from these have been emphasised in both, the meeting as well as this report.