We are surveying a village where 70% of the residents are weavers. Yesterday we interviewed six of the local leaders.
Today we met with families covering the Basic Needs Questionnaire. In one family we interviewed, both the husband and wife work in a close-by town, one hour away from their village. Every day they leave home at 8:00 in the morning and return only by 8:00 PM, sometimes 9:00 PM. Their 19 years old son is doing his second-year degree course at college and after attending his classes in the afternoon, he also helps his parents in weaving to help meet the family needs. He also returns later at night.
One elderly lady, 70 years, still works 10 hours a day at weaving. She was enthusiastic to take a japa mala and promised to chant one round a day.
Most people in the village work 12 hours a day, earning a little over 400 rupees. Some, we are told, work as much as 14 to 16 hours a day.
A big rat ran close to where we conducted the interview. Dengue fever occurs often because of poor drainage which brings an abundance of mosquitoes and thus there are dengue-fever cases very often. They can be deadly.
By: HH Bhakti Raghava Swami
