Three weeks ago Ida and I went to an area called Pillur, a four hour journey by bus from Kotagiri. We were supposed to stay for a week in Keystones resource center by the banks of the Bhavani river but ended up having to leave after only one night. Apparently the forest department does not want foreigners staying inside the reserve forest due to past accidents where tourists have been killed by elephants. The adivasi communities we were there to document all live within the reserve so our complicated relationship with the authorities makes our work impossible to carry out right now.
Anyway, at the moment we are preparing for the Swallows partner meeting which starts Wednesday night. The theme of the meeting is Engendering Mobilization and Sustainable Social Change and Im looking forward to taking part of the different organizations’ perspectives. Around 50 visitors from the various partner organizations in India and Bangladesh will stay in Kotagiri until the beginning of next week. Needless to say we have many practical issues to take care of in order for things to run as smoothly as possible.
Other than that things are much the same here except the weather where the rains have been replaced by dry cool days and bitterly cold nights.
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Trist att det är så svårt att arbeta där. Ni har iaf fin utsikt och spännande djur att titta på:)
Synd ni inte kunde stanna, men förstår samtidigt att de inte vill riskera något. Faran med vilda elefanter är stor. DE är inte att leka med…inte ormarna heller för den delen 😉
Ni har en intressant vecka framför er med de andra som kommer till Kotagiri.
Ha det fint!