My year-old cry turned into smile

“Aj dhaaner khete roudro chhayai, lukochurir khaela re bhai, lukochurir khaela...” - Rabindranath Tagore

Returning to Dacope and Khamarkhola after over a year to areas that had been hit by cyclone Aila in 2009 May I was received by the community that was in a very different mood. Last time there had been gloom and desperation due to the devastation unleashed by Aila leaving them with no food, water and shelter. I had sat on the speed boat and cried on my back from the village wondering how these communities were going to overcome the calamity.

The smile on the faces and joy in the voices of the women with whom I cut the crop gave a certain lightness to my steps and I felt like dancing in the air. This was the first crop that they were harvesting in three plus years as the entire area had been inundated by saline water. Support from ECHO and organizations like ActionAid Bangladesh and Ulasi Srijoni Sangho enabled them to build protection, road and reservoir to stop the saline water from seeping in and use the cash for work and cash for training to receive technical support and plant the saline resilient seed.

Women in the community told me that these initiatives helped them to join the Union level committees on Disaster and Climate Change again as a result of the humanitarian support of previous two years. There was no going back and they were negotiating with local government for relevant support and services. Interesting is the community with the local elected representative stopped from the previous practice of leasing a sweet water pond, they had to take the matter to the court. Now the community used the water for harvesting and gained the crop which convinced both the local authority and community that they should resist in future also the leasing of the pond instead spread the experience to other areas and communities. Isn't this what experts named as "self-empowerment"?

There was a fair and festival organised in the evening where both the women and the men from the community enjoyed music, “lathi khaela” and “pitha utshab”. The children in the child space performed a number of songs and dance. Women leaders confidently shared with us their thinking and future strategy for the community.

Families had gone back to their home and road had been built, children were back in school, adults assured of food for the next four months and were no longer looking back. Difficulties and complexities regarding livelihood and opportunities remained yet they and all of us where not going to spoil the mood for now!