An Overview of The Project
When India Tribal Care Trust was formed in 2016 and started its tribal welfare in Assam, it began from this beautiful tribal village Kundanala. At present ITCT is running multiple development activities in Kundanala and its surrounding villages in Chanighat, Nonaikhuli, Kachapcherra Part II, Kachapchera Part III villages.
How to Reach
By road one can reach Kundanala from Katlicherra by bike in 1 hour. The concrete road is not yet available in the entire journey. The nearby 2 villages Chanighat and Nonaikhuli can be reached by driving bike and one has to walk to reach the remaining villages.
The Tribes
Majority population in Kundanala and surrounding villages are from Reang & Tripura tribe, though few Assamese and Bengalis live in the villages. The local tribal speak in Kokborok language use it as a medium to communicate among themselves.
Sandipanimuni Gurukul
After constructing the Chotojamera Gurukul this is the second Gurukul opened in the Kundanal village. With 11 tribal students who are all studying in ITCT’s Nimai pathshala in Kundanala during the day and staying at the boarding are also studying Vedas and scriptures by waking up early in the morning. Every day after studying scriptures that the students do mantra yoga and kirtan. The gurukul boys also learn to play mridanga and, kartal. This gurukul is named after the great sage Sandipani Muni who was the teacher of Lord Krishna and Balaram in Ujjain more than 5000 years ago. At present, we have 1 teacher who is an expert in Vedic education is building the character of these students as Shiksha Guru. Our future plan includes the expansion of the Gurukul to accommodate more tribal students who want to build a bright future by staying in the Gurukul.
Vocational Training Centre
ITCT runs a tailoring training center in this area for tribal women. The tribal women generally wave their fabric and clothes. But due to modernization nowadays many tribal men and women wear Indian clothes which they have to purchase from the city market. This tailoring training will help the women tailor their clothes. Now they can tailor clothes and sell them in the market and also have an extra earning.
First-Aid Box
Kundanala is also one of the many villages where we implemented First Aid Box project. The concept of keeping first aid boxes in remote tribal villages is to ensure that the tribal can get the basic first aid in case of any medical emergency. The primary health clinic or village health care center is generally far away from these villages and with poor road communication, it takes a long time for a patient to reach the nearby Govt. health centers. The medicines are refilled by the trust when they go out of stock so that when there is a medical need ITCT is ready with its helping hand.
Guest House
The Kundanala village is 1-hour drive from Katlichera and half of the journey is through the country road, where one can drive only during the summer and winter season. Before the lockdown, ITCT build a guest house with 2 rooms and attached bathrooms. This was very much needed as earlier ITCT volunteers and guests who used to visit these villages had to avail homestay service in any tribal villager’s home.
Clean Water Project
Tribal communities living in hills and mountains have to depend on spring water as the source of water for cooking, drinking, and day-to-day household work. Since there is no nearby spring the tribal in t his area had to arrange water from a very distant place. To solve this problem ITCT built a clean water reservoir in the village beside the community hall and connected it will a well. This has solved the problem of clean water in the daily life of tribal villagers. Now all tribal families can get access to clean water all the time without any worry, neither they have to walk miles to get the water.
Temple & Community Hall
There is a beautiful Jagannath temple in Kundanala build with the support and donation of local MLA and local tribal communities. Every day tribal people gather and offer their prayers to the beautiful deities. This temple is also a place of social gathering for the tribal communities. In fact, during the first wave of the Covid pandemic, India Tribal Care Trust distributed relief materials and dry rations every week to support the local tribal from this community hall.
Patshala
ITCT is running 5 pathshalas in 5 villages Kundanala, Chanighat, Nonaikhuli, Kachapcherra Part II, Kachapchera Part III, and 260 tribal students are studying in these Pathshalas. The Kundanala pathshala has 110 students enrolled in the pathshala which is the highest among all Pathshalas of ITCT. This shows the popularity of our pathshala in the area. The quality and standard of education provided in this pathshala has made it famous and the parents of tribal children are very much interested to admit them to this pathshala rather than sending them to Govt. primary school.
Food For Life
During Covid relief and also during on special occasions ITCT organizes food for life program in local tribal villages, where hundreds of tribal gather for a free meal for which Food For Life is famous for. One can feed these tribal in case of any occasion like marriage anniversary, birthday, death anniversary, etc.
