SOUTHWORDS
June 1968
Begin constructing "Little Maine South"
Maine South has contributed $1000 through the Brotherhood Society project of bricks to build a "Little Maine South" in the west central portion of India. The Oxford School Service Club of Hartford, Connecticut, contributed $88.
Twenty-five years ago the village of Rajaluadi did not exist. The farmers lived in the village of Sillad and walked to their fields every day. As the village grew, farmers found it more convenient to live on their land instead of in Sillad. A community was formed about two miles from Sillad and it became the present village of Rajaluadi.
The people of Rajaluadi are either shepherds or farmers. Rajaluadi is located in the Ghat region of Western India. The population is about 400, living within about 90 houses.
Agriculture is the main source of income, and the farmers raise mostly sorghum and vegetables. Goats, calves, and buffalo are herded. The village is located about one half mile from a national highway that connects the city of Awangabad to the Ajanta canon, which is only twenty miles north of Rajaluadi.
Compared to most villages in India, Rajaluadi is strikingly different. It is a well-planned village, although small, and the houses cover the area in a quadrangular shape. During the rainy season from June to September, the road connecting Rajaluadi with Sillad and the main road is often washed out, making it impossible for motorized vehicles to pass. The people themselves own no motorized vehicles, so it really offers only a small amount of discomfort.
The people of Rajaluadi speak the language Marathi. At present approximately forty children from the village attend the village school. It is a one-room building donated rent free by Sitaram Go Daji. It is dark, lacking adequate light and ventilation, and it is much too small for even an enrollment of one-half the present size.
Rajaluadi is a growing community. It has not been able to build a schoolhouse for its citizens because the farmers are poor, and the farms are actually a few acres per family. The farmers are able to grow adequate food to feed the family, but can rarely grow enough for extra money.
Donald Schatzberg, Peace Corps volunteer, explains in his letter about Rajaluadi, to Mr. Ken Faulhaber, Brotherhood sponsor, "When the village leaders heard I was going around the villages to find a suitable place for an SPD project, they didn't even wait for me to come to their village."
"They came to see me and asked me to come and see their village," he continued. "I went the next day and was met by villagers with such enthusiasm as I had not seen in the many other villages I had been to. They explained that although they were poor, they wanted a school enough to go to great lengths to get it."
However, the village needed money to build the foundation. The men explained that they would get rocks from a quarry on the other side of the mountain. Men began volunteering their oxcarts for transportation. Litaran Go Daji was unanimously elected coordinator of the work.
"He is a young man greatly concerned with the community," said Mr. Schatzberg. "He owns probably the largest amount of land. He is the one who approached me in the first place.
"The village needs a symbol of accomplishment, a greater sense of pride in their community," stated Mr. Schatzberg in his letter. This village will set an example for all other small, surrounding villages, an ideal village with a good system of sanitation also."
The day after the two-room schoolhouse is finished, there will be two teachers. The village expects an enrollment of eight to one hundred pupils in the primary school. Children will come not only from Rajaluadi, but from neighboring villages. The school is expected to be completed in June if all goes according to plans. The men of the village will also use the new building as a meeting house at night.
The Peace Corps volunteer requests that any materials from and about Maine South be sent to Rajaluadi to show the people where they are getting their school building from....