Dalit Christians Digest

By Purushottam Nayak

Bhubaneswar: A Dalit Christian youth has facilitated the increased income of rural women in Odisha.

A 30-year-old Saphick Kumar Nanda, a social worker from the Kandhamal district, is taking collective initiatives for the vulnerable women entrepreneurs to increase their income, the standard of living and status in society.

He provides capacity building, planning, technology, credit and marketing linkages for women. It is this experience Nanda brings to the “Seeders Fellowship” which is for 10 young rural professionals working in district economies of Assam, Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland and Odisha.

“Seeders Fellowship” is offered by Dhriiti, a social enterprise NGO that promotes entrepreneurship.

“Before the seeding Grampreneur Seeders Fellowship in 2020. I had lots of stories about Self-Help-Groups (SHGs). I noticed the members of SHGs were only for savings, loans, microfinance, and lending, but I saw another side after the training of the seeders and visiting SHGs’ new inputs,” said Nanda.

Women can express their thoughts, frustrations and enthusiasm in groups. They know that the choices that they make and the benefits that life brings the opportunities are not limited to men. Women need more opportunities to succeed better, continued the young man.

Nanda belongs to the Church of North India (CNI) denomination. He began his primary education in the village school of Kurtamgarh from 1995 onwards and completed grade tenth in 2005. He finished his Bachelor’s degree in 2011 at Netaji Subash Chandra College, Tumudibandh, a town in Kandhamal.

He obtained a Master’s degree in journalism in 2013 at the National Institute of Social Work and Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar, state capital.

Nanda loves to create short documentaries on social issues that could inspire people. So far, he has produced two short films—“Water we want” and “Blessings in disguise.”

Everyone has a right to drink clean water. Water is life. It helps boost energy, prevents overall dehydration, helps fight off illness, improves blood oxygen circulation, aids in digestion and helps maximize physical performance. These are some of the lessons from the short film “Water we want,” Nanda said.

“Differently-abled children need our help to reach their full potential. They have the determination and will power provided they get opportunities. They can be self-reliable in their life,” he explained.

Physically Challenged children are facing and suffering from so many difficulties in their daily life, like the problem of social adjustment, inferiority complex, poor educational performance, lack of self-confidence, social isolation, and low self-esteem, said Nanda in the short film “Blessings in disguise” based on children with disabilities.

“They need our support and encouragement to come up in life,” continued Nanda.

He has uploaded a short documentary video ‘Kandhamal beauty’ which has more than 30,000 viewers on YouTube.

He has created videos on the beauty of nature, “Spice parched rice” (‘mosola mudi’).

He has uploaded more than 50 videos on YouTube to bring change in society.

At present, he works in Seeders Fellowship for three months.

Dhriti invited applications for the year ‘Seeding Grampreneur Fellowship 2020’ to create enterprise based livelihood opportunities in India’s smallest and farthest districts. Nanda stood first in this mission.

The organization described him as a good storyteller.

“He is enthusiastic and passionate about his work. We were pleasantly delighted that he has been documenting and telling his stories from the field,” says the organization.

Many people have contributed to Nanda’s education and professionalism.

“Vijay Kumar Nayak, then parish priest of Kurtumgah in 2006 inspired me. I gratefully acknowledge the encouragement and guiding spirit through the journalism programme held in 2010 by two Catholic priests from the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar,” said Nanda.