Women of Khalwa
Assignment with Musht Sansthan NGO for the Korku tribal community
Each village of Khalwa, each of its households, each person had a story to say. Away from cramped houses of city, in the middle of forests of Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh,India lives the Korku tribal community who is spread across Burhanpur, Betul and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh and adjoining areas near the Melghat Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra,India. The Korkus originated from Munda tribes, who initially used to be hunter gatherers but now primarily relies on agriculture. Along with Musht Samaj Seva Samiti which is a grassroot NGO working for the welfare of Korku Tribes I was documenting women of villages in Khalwa block and their courageous untold stories. Musht Samaj Seva Samiti or Hunar Ki Pathshala is primarily run by Tausif and Prameela (who is from Korku tribe itself). Tausif and Prameela met years before while working for an NGO and decided to come together to work for the communities in their own villages who needed help. Under Musht Samaj Seva Samiti they primarily work towards the education and health of Korku community focusing more on the welfare of women and children. This project focuses on the stories of women who are working selflessly under the NGO for upliftment of their villages and its people
While visiting the villages of Khalwa block we hardly find any hospitals, but we can find women wearing white coat visiting every household of Khalwa for health check-ups. They do not fit in the societies title for a doctor but they do fit in the burning desire for helping people in their villages who cannot access to hospitals which takes hours of travel from their households. Sushila, Aarti, Durga, Ramvathi and Bhuri are CHE (Community Health Entrepreneur) fellows who teamed up with NGO and took training under the fellowship for providing daily health check-ups to the villages around which is saving many lives from early deaths and not getting diagnosed at the right moment.
