Our Perceptions Shape Our Attitudes: My Experience at Sunderpahari

Realizing that our perceptions determine our approach to any person or situation, a Development Apprentice recounts how his negative impressions about the people of Sunderpahari marred his engagement with them and how change happened once he was willing to allow a shift in his perceptions about their innate nature and strengths.

W hen I joined PRADAN in Sunderpahari, my colleagues, who had been working there for many years, told me that the community in Sunderpahari was not an easy one to work with. The people were lazy, indifferent and unpredictable. I blindly believed this and formed a negative perception about the community. However, after working for almost two years, I have discovered that the people of Sunderpahari are not what I had thought.

Sunderpahari is one of the poorest, remotest, tribal-dominated blocks of Jharkhand’s Godda district. It is a part of Damin-e-koh (the Rajmahal hills). It is home to Santhals and Paharias. Geographically, the block is divided into two parts, the hills and the plains.

The Paharias reside in the hills and the Santhals mainly live on the plains. PRADAN began work in Sunderpahari in 1989 by introducing Arjuna plantations for tasar (pre-cocoon) activity. The project further expanded to tasar rearing. In 1995, the women of the area formed a Self Help Group (SHG).

I joined PRADAN’s Godda project in 2008 and spent the first few days visiting villages in the area such as Beldang, Salaiya, Dhenukatta, Harla, Kelawari and Bara. I saw the schemes that were underway—horticulture, paddy cultivation through System of Rice Intensifiction (SRI), dairy, reeling and spinning centres—and got a glimpse PRADAN’s promotion of livelihoods for the rural poor. I reached Sunderpahari on 6 August 2008, and was told by the Team Leader of Godda and my Field Guide, Binod Raj Dahal, that I was going to be based in Sunderpahari.