This Foundation Is On A Mission To Transform Sundarbans Community & Better Their Lives

Sundarbans, as its name suggests, is an expanse of 'beautiful forests'. However, upon diving deeper, one would be able to understand that this beauty is not reflected in the standard of living of the inhabitants of this region. Living in one of the largest mangrove forests in the world, these residents are prone to natural calamities, which in turn lead to loss of shelter, crops and even the spread of diseases rapidly.

Despite the reach of governmental facilities for the residents' education and medical treatment, they have done little help in bringing a change in their quality of life. The people of Sundarbans continue to be isolated from the modern idea of development.

In such a scenario, a resident of the delta, Prasenjit Mandal, decided to do something for the betterment of the land and its people.

Finding A Larger Purpose

Mandal hails from a humble family residing in the Bali village panchayat of the Gosaba area of Sundarbans. He lived with his family in a small thatched mud house that had become uninhabitable due to natural calamities. Soon enough, the calamities also took away their only livelihood of farming. This was the situation for many families living in the region.

They were also cut away from most of the essential facilities such as transportation, communication, health and education due to the environmental conditions. Non-availability of these services often led to the loss of many lives in the delta and has increasingly posed a herculean challenge for them.

Mandal was deeply impacted by these sights as he grew up watching his villagers struggle for their survival. Therefore, even after he received the opportunity to move out after the completion of his education, he chose to stay back with his people. He wanted to uplift his community along with him and began undertaking several activities that helped the people of Bali and Sundarbans.

It was not an easy journey, but he has dedicated his efforts to this purpose day and night for over 15 years now.

What Goes Behind At The Sundarban Foundation?

Mandal was able to rightly take advantage of the fact that Sundarbans is diverse and rich in its own culture and traditions. Establishing the private service organization "Sundarban Foundation" in 2017, he utilised this idea for the empowerment of the community in Sundarbans.

Some of the ways he incorporated these were through self-reliance projects of natural conservation. The deltaic region of Sundarbans facilitates the vast conservation and cultivation of honey and fish from the deep forest and riversides. With a collaborative initiative with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, he was able to convey and train incomeless families in the direction of self-informed beekeeping from home.

The initiative has also engaged over 1,000 women and school dropout youth in various skill training programs to make them self-reliant. Under the foundation, they also identified about 500 families of dead fishermen and honey collectors in the area and distributed free food and clothing to them.

The village has a belief that the "suffering of the people of Sundarbans does not go away even after death". Helping the deceased's families to deal with issues of cremating the body and continue on with their lives, Mandal has been a reliable companion to them.

As for those who continue to live in the delta, Mandal transformed the education, healthcare, and social scenario. The 'Sunderban Ardash School' was developed for the children of poor families in the region to study free of cost without bearing the financial burden of it. The foundation also opened a charitable medical centre, where people can avail healthcare services without worrying about travelling to hospitals in faraway cities.

The foundation conveyed to The Logical Indian that they treat about 500 to 600 people every month for free, and at least 7500 people have benefited from their various services.

However, amidst all of this, the foundation has also been mindful of the nature that has been giving them plentiful of the resources. With the mangrove forests slowly disappearing, the foundation has brought together the villagers to restore the forests in exchange for wages. They also actively distributed fish seedlings, rice seeds, and fruit seedlings with the aim of making about 200 poor families self-reliant.

These are just the tip of the iceberg of the efforts that the foundation has ideated over the years to strengthen the community and the environment. The efforts are still going strong and benefitting many in the delta.

Also Read: Why Is Human-Wildlife Conflict More Than Just A Conservation Concern? All You Need To Know