Taming the tiger


You support all who are falling and raise up all who are bowed down. – Psalm 145:14

A fence on the other side of the river from Samshernagar on the edge of the dense Sunderban forest keeps the tigers out of the village.

Still, the remote location of the village and a decline in employment opportunities have left the men and boys no choice but to venture into the forest to make a living by fishing and crabbing, honey collecting, wood cutting and firewood gathering.

In the last several decades, more than 150 men and boys in this community and two neighboring ones have been killed by the Bengal tigers and many more injured. The “tiger widows” are ostracized by their communities and lack the skills to become self-sufficient.

These are the marginalized women SARANI (Society for Action on Rehabilitation Awareness Networking and Information) and MCC are helping to empower.  

One afternoon, we sit in a bookkeeping class for the women who have started home businesses to generate their own income. Many of them have learned sewing and garment making skills and they are proud to show us some of the clothing they have made. MCC provided the funds to purchase the 15 sewing machines in the classroom.

Bijolibauligayen tells us she that with her new sewing skills she can earn enough money to feed her children and send them to school.

At the end of the class, students who have completed other courses are presented certificates. We celebrate their achievement.

The next morning, we visit a woman who has started a sewing business in her home. With what she earned at first, she was able to buy her own sewing machine. “Now, I can make anything,” she tells us.

Another woman, Shefali Mridha, shows us how she has learned about vermiculture, cultivating earthworms to convert organic waste into fertilizer. She sells compost to her neighbors. SARANI is working with the villagers to regenerate the soil which has become unproductive because of increased salinity.

Shefali tells us she has learned a lot and she wants to share what she has learned with her neighbors. “If I don’t share what I’ve learned with others, what I have learned has little value,” she says.

Later that morning, we are invited to join a village meeting where program participants and others thank us for helping provide some assistance for their community.  SARANI leaders tell us that only two men came to the first meeting they held, but now, many more people are coming and the women are also getting involved and speaking up.

SARANI leaders tell us that other organizations like MCC have promised to provide some help for these communities, but when they see how remotely the villages are located, they politely say they cannot come.

“But you have come,” one of the village elders tells us. “You have spent the night and you have spent time with us.”  


Ron Byler is executive director of MCC U.S. 

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