Hirbai Ben Lobi the Diamond of the Forest.

Hirbai Ben Lobi the Diamond of the Forest.

Ritu visits the area in Gujarat where the Siddi tribe are descendants of migrant workers who came hundreds of years ago from Africa. Ritu talks to Hirbai Ben Lobi, who is called the Diamond of the Forest by the locals. The Forest Diamond and her friends

Empowering Women in Rural India Host: Ritu’s here to meet the woman they like to call Hirbai Ben Lobi the Diamond of the Forest. The Forest Diamond tells Ritu about the old days when the Siddi lived in the forest and women were harassed and exploited until Forest Diamond realized something. 

Ritu: What happened in the jungle? 

Hirbai Ben Lobi: When the girls of our village went to the forest to collect firewood the forester used to harass them a lot. When the girls used to run away from the jungle, they used to get injured. Our younger girls were also sexually harassed. So I realized that that we should not go into forest to collect wood anymore instead we needed to save our money up. But at that time the bank would not open accounts for us since some of us could not read or write. They asked us ‘who will fill your deposit slips?’ I was outraged and I told them that tomorrow all the women will be able to fill the slip. Host: It worked. The Forest Diamond and her friends formed a co- operative. Their savings fund businesses their businesses. Opposition yes, but diamonds don’t fade away. 

Ritu: Did the people of the village try and help you or try and stop you? 

Hirbai Ben Lobi: Yes, they did try to stop me, but I didn’t stop. I asked myself ‘What do women need the most?’ If the men need money and they don’t have any property, the land belongs to the men and the houses also belong to the men. I figured then I need to ensure that the women also own some property. That way they at least have some confidence in themselves. 

Host: Now unusual in South Asia 900 village women hold assets in their own names. 

Hirbai Ben Lobi: Today, through our women’s cooperative bank, the women have access to money. And the men come and ask their wives if they can borrow some money say a thousand to fifteen hundred rupees. And the women are able to access this instantly. So their position has vastly improved and there has been a lot of improvement in the village too. 

Host: Jambur Ritu finds is a thriving village thanks partly to Hirbai and the co-operative. Money from the co-op even helps the village school. If more women went to school and got paid jobs it’s been estimated the Asia-Pacific region could be ninety billion US dollars a year better off. And tradition’s not forgotten including Gandhi’s favorite hymn known abroad as the one in Slumdog Millionaire. Tradition can be inspiration the hymn calling on all women to be revered as you would your mother. 

Ritu: Now we see more girls are coming to the school what do you think about the way the village is developing? 

Tayeb Bhai Sandh: If a poor and uneducated woman can do so much. If women are educated and they come forward, this will bring a great change in society. 

Nathi Ben Arli Mazgool: It is Hirbai’s generosity that she believes in not only empowering older women, but younger ones too, by educating them because if one girl is well educated, then she is capable of teaching others and being empowered. 

Zari Ben Fakri Mazgool: My husband dissuaded me from joining the co-operative. But even so, I’d go and attend the meetings with Hirbai. When he fell sick he asked me for money, I asked him ‘How he could ask me for money, when he was the one who didn’t let me join the cooperative?’ Nevertheless I withdrew 5,000 rupees from the co- operative and took my husband to the hospital. 

Ritu: Do you ever wonder why God has made you a woman? And burdened you with so many problems? 

Zilu Ben Razab Modi: Thank God I am a woman. If I were a man I would have done nothing. It is because I am a woman that I can accomplish so much. I am happy to be a woman I don’t want to be a man. Host: Next Ritu meets men who want to be women if only for a day, her film on gender discrimination about to take a bizarre twist.

हीराबाईबेन वास्तव में एक शक्तिशाली नारी हैं।

हीराबाईबेन वास्तव में एक शक्तिशाली नारी हैं

हीराबाई बेन लोबी

हीराबाईबेन वास्तव में एक शक्तिशाली नारी हैं। कम उम्र में सर से मां-बाप का साया उठ जाने के बाद  हीराबाईबेन का बचपन बड़ी कठिनाइयों के साथ बीता। लेकिन, उन्होंने कभी भी हिम्मत नहीं हारा। सीमित साधन के बावजूद लगातार चुनौतियों से मुकाबला करते हुए आजीविका के लिए खेती की नई तरीकों का सहारा लिया।  इस प्रकार बैंक से  लोन लेकर उन्होंने जैविक कम्पोस्ट फार्म शुरू करने का फैसला किया, जिसके लिए स्थानीय समुदाय ने आपत्ति भी जताई। लेकिन कडी मेहनत व दृढ निश्चय और गुजरात के सिद्दी समुदाय की महिलाओं की मदद से, उनकी कोशिशों ने रंग लाया। खेती की यह नई वैज्ञानिक विधि हीराबाई बेन कि लिये बहुत फायदेमंद साबित हुआ और जिससे एक लंबे समय तक चल सकने वाला उद्योग की स्थापना हुई। आज भी हीराबाई बेन की सफलता की कहानी जारी है और उनका वर्मीकम्पोस्ट उत्पादक समूह बडे-बडे ब्रांडों से टक्कर लेते हुए, सलाना करीब 700,000 रूपये का कम्पोस्ट की बिक्री करता है।
अतिरिक्त
हीराबाई बेन ने वृहद समाज के कई दूसरे मुद्दों को भी छुआ है और साथ ही कई महिलाओं को भी इसमें भागीदार बनने के लिये प्रेरित किया है। उनके काम का मुख्य केंद्र स्वास्थ्य, आर्थिक आजादी व खेतीबाडी में बेहतरी पर रहा है। यहाँ तक कि उन्होंने अपनी आय व कृषि-व्यापार से मिले एवार्ड व फंड को भी स्थानीय स्कूल के विकास में लगाया है। और अब एक कॉलेज खोलने जा रही हैं।

60 साल की उम्र में हीराबाईबेन अपने तीन बच्चों के लिए ही नहीं, पूरे समाज के लिए प्रेरणा स्रोत हैं।

क्वोटः आपको क्या एक गर्वान्वित नारी बनाता है?

“मुझे गर्व है कि गाँव की एक नारी होने के बावजूद मैंने समुदाय के सदस्यों में आत्म-निर्भरता का भाव भरा है, जहाँ जागरूकता की कमी है व फंड जुटाना आसान काम नहीं है। वे सब मुझे एक प्रेरणास्रोत के रूप में देखते हैं ओर इससे मुझे हिम्मत मिलती है व मैं विनम्र रहती हूँ।”

http://www.redrickshaw.in/hi/the-women/

Hirbaiben began motivating women

Hirbaiben began motivating women

Hirbaiben Lobi (age 55)

Hirbaiben Lobi Ibrahimbhai was born in the village of Jambur (Talala Taluka, Junagadh District, Gujarat state), a Siddi community of tribal people mainly descendants of slaves brought centuries ago from Africa. Orphaned as a child, she was raised by her grandmother. Although inheriting a large debt, she refused to sell her tiny piece of land. Rather, she encouraged her husband to work harder, and with help from listening to radio programs on agricultural development, eventually succeeded in freeing the land from creditors. In 1992, Hirbaiben began motivating women to form women's development groups creating three groups that deal with issues of health, hygiene, savings and credit, and agricultural improvement. Realising the importance of education. Hirbaiben set out to find funds for a day care center and primary school, and convinced the village to assign land that had been allotted to private housing, to be used for a school so village children could study past the primary level. Together with other Siddi women she manufactures and sells organic compost proving that women can prepare a high quality product that can compete on the market. She also had the courage to contest the position of Sarpanch (head of the village government) and, although she lost, she is called the "Sarpanch" of the village and even senior government officials listen to her.

The Siddis, one of Gujarat's most backward communities, have for centuries led life in the shadows, marginalised and illiterate. Now, the future seems brighter for this tribe, thanks to Lobi. Illiterate herself, she is leading a quiet revolution across 18 villages in Saurashtra. Her initiatives include a cooperative movement, family planning, and small savings group. Competing successfully against established brands, her vermicompost manufacturing group sold compost worth Rs 700,000 last year. Helping to build a community school for the Siddis, she's now planning a college. Lobi has won the Women's World Summit Foundation Prize (2002) and the Jankidevi Bajaj Award (2006) for Rural Entrepreneurship.

MAKING OF AN ICON - FORESIGHT AND SWEAT

SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2010

MAKING OF AN ICON - FORESIGHT AND SWEAT

She is of Ethiopian origin, belonging to the Siddis clan whose ancestors were brought to India to Junagadh by the then Nawab, nearly 400 years ago. Resettled in Jambhur village of Talala taluka in Junagadh, by the government, Siddis, especially the women folk look up to Hirbaiben to empower and enlighten them towards a better life.

Hirbaiben Ibrahim Lobi was just a hapless girl of her illiterate, underfed and disempowered clan, who lost her mother at four, father at fourteen and was subsequently married to a landless man. Illiteracy, unemployment, indebtedness and alcoholism were very much rampant among the men folk and it was the women who foraged and sold fuel wood for sustenance.

With half a hectare of land inherited by her from her father on which was a debt of Rs 1 lakh, she was under constant pressure to sell the land to clear her debts. This was where she chose to be different and her life took a new turn.

By sheer hard work she and her husband produced enough from the land to pay off her debts. Today her labour and foresight gives testimony to the mango orchards, coconut trees, vegetable and sugarcane crops that adorn her land. It has a pump set, sprayer and other farm implements also.

Her vision grew and now the betterment of her community was her focus. Realizing the importance of education and self help, with support from, The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP), an NGO, she started a day care center for children and followed it up with a primary school. She went ahead to dispel superstitions and opened a flour mill in the village. Through promotion of self help groups (SHGs), she made a marked achievement by socially and economically empowering Siddis women. Health and hygiene also were her prime concerns. Her efforts bore fruit as 95 women from six villages formed 12 SHGs and started life afresh.

She had entrepreneurial skills also in her which was visible in the project started by her, to manufacture organic manure, branded ‘Panchatatva’ being very conscious of its qualitative standards. Today it is a household name and gives a turnover in lakhs and a comfortable life to many.

Modest as ever, though highly successful, Hirbai enthusiastically loves to share her experiences with visitors, while showing her farm and projects around.

Today she is no less than an icon as not a single women development programme or SHG initiative in Saurashtra takes off without her presence! A gifted orator at that, she is in the limelight at every public function. Undoubtedly, Hirbai is worthy of emulation as a woman of substance with clear foresight and hard work, a shining icon of success whose livelihood initiatives are practical solutions to eradicate rural evils like poverty, illiteracy and indebtedness. Hirbai is the essence of woman power, successfully transforming lives of the underprivileged rural masses to one of empowerment and. enlightenment. She could successful engage, enable and help the rural folks to evolve in life.

Her toothy grin says it all as she looks back on the journey of life, the road taken, from an unknown face among the crowd to one that stands tall as an icon today.

Contributed by Harina, Facilitator, State Bank Learning Centre, Indore

(Based on an article by Julius Machado in the Financial Express)

http://citizensbi.blogspot.in/2010/05/making-of-icon-foresight-and-sweat.html

HIRBAI'S ACHIEVEMENT

Hirbaiben Ibrahim Lobi Hirbaiben Lobi, 55 Junagadh, Gujarat For giving backward communities a future to look forward to  The Siddis, one of Gujarat's most backward communities, have for centuries led life in the shadows, marginalised and illiterate. Now, the future seems brighter for this tribe, thanks to Lobi. Illiterate herself, she is leading a quiet revolution across 18 villages in Saurashtra. Her initiatives include a cooperative movement, family planning, and small savings group. Competing successfully against established brands, her vermicompost manufacturing group sold compost worth Rs 700,000 last year. Helping to build a community school for the Siddis, she's now planning a college. Lobi has won the Women's World Summit Foundation Prize (2002) and the Jankidevi Bajaj Award (2006) for Rural Entrepreneurship. Hirbaiben Lobi (age 55) Hirbaiben Lobi Ibrahimbhai was born in the village of Jambur (Talala Taluka, Junagadh District, Gujarat state), a Siddi community of tribal people mainly descendants of slaves brought centuries ago from Africa. Orphaned as a child, she was raised by her grandmother. Although inheriting a large debt, she refused to sell her tiny piece of land. Rather, she encouraged her husband to work harder, and with help from listening to radio programs on agricultural development, eventually succeeded in freeing the land from creditors. In 1992, Hirbaiben began motivating women to form women's development groups creating three groups that deal with issues of health, hygiene, savings and credit, and agricultural improvement. Realising the importance of education. Hirbaiben set out to find funds for a day care center and primary school, and convinced the village to assign land that had been allotted to private housing, to be used for a school so village children could study past the primary level. Together with other Siddi women she manufactures and sells organic compost proving that women can prepare a high quality product that can compete on the market. She also had the courage to contest the position of Sarpanch (head of the village government) and, although she lost, she is called the "Sarpanch" of the village and even senior government officials listen to her. The Siddis, one of Gujarat's most backward communities, have for centuries led life in the shadows, marginalised and illiterate. Now, the future seems brighter for this tribe, thanks to Lobi. Illiterate herself, she is leading a quiet revolution across 18 villages in Saurashtra. Her initiatives include a cooperative movement, family planning, and small savings group. Competing successfully against established brands, her vermicompost manufacturing group sold compost worth Rs 700,000 last year. Helping to build a community school for the Siddis, she's now planning a college. Lobi has won the Women's World Summit Foundation Prize (2002) and the Jankidevi Bajaj Award (2006) for Rural Entrepreneurship.

Real hero HIRBAI IBRAHIM

Pir, Susanne (IBM) & Ajay (Tribal Dev Dept) Meet with Hirbai Lobi, Inspiring Siddhi Woman at Jambur (Siddhi village near Sasan Gir)

Hirbai Ibrahim Lobi – Indigenous Social Entrepreneur

Sep 2011 by Janhvi Johorey

Hirbai Ibrahim Lobi from the Siddi community, is a rural entrepreneur whose vision, perseverance and leadership qualities have made her into a beacon of hope and inspiration for women worldwide. Hirbai isthe essence of woman power, a true woman of substance who has transformedthe lot of the illiterate, underfed and disempowered Siddi women of her community into a universally successful model of women’s entrepreneurship.
Hirbai was just another hapless girl of her community, who lost her mother at four, and father at 14. Illiteracy, unemployment, indebtedness and alcoholism were rampant among the menfolk, and women foraged and sold fuel wood from the nearby Gir forests for sustenance.
Her marriage to a landless man did not help matters much. Hirbai had inherited half a hectare from her father, on which she inherited a debt of about Rs 1 lakh. Like all others in the village, she too was under constant pressure to sell the land to clear the debt. This was the starting point in Hirbai’s mission to be different. Hirbai persuaded her husband to till the land, instead. By dint of sheer hard work and better farming, she managed to produce enough over the years to repay the debt and recycle for more. Today, Hirbai’s farm stands a shining testimony to her labour and foresight. Mango orchards,coconut trees, vegetablesand sugarcane crop adorn her land.

The land boasts of a well, too, with apump set, sprayer and other farm implements. Having reached a comfort zone in her private life, Hirbai’s next Support Programme (AKRSP), and the state, Hirbai started a day care centre for children and followed it up with a primary school. Cleaning the cobweb of superstition was another job she took on hand. “Jambhur village did not have a flour mill because people believed that it will invite the wrath of Peer Geban shah, whose mausoleum was in the village.” Hirbai narrated to us. (Siddis owe allegiance to Islam). It took her weeks of persuasion and scores of meetings to dispel the myth and open a mill.The most striking achievement of Hirbai is the promotion of the selfhelp groups (SHGs) among the women of her community that has led to their social and economic empowerment.
Starting with one group of women, which addressed health and hygiene issues, Hirbai flitted from locality to locality, village to village spreading the message of SHG.

Today, the effort has borne fruit with 95 women from six villagesin the vicinity having formed 12 such groups known as mahila vikas mandals (MVMs). Hirbai, for all her rustic simplicity, is no ordinary woman. Not resting on her laurels in social awakening, she showed that in entrepreneurial skills she was no less gifted. Hirbai knew that economic uplift was the key to social change. In 1999, with the backing of AKRSP, Hirbai started a project to manufacture organic manure. Involving the women from her own SHG, the Nagarchi MVM, Hirbai offered her farm precincts to make compost for the venture, and gave a guarantee that she would buy all the 200 bags, if unsold. Mid-day meal, tea and snacks were thrown in for the women workers. Today, the organic manure, which has been branded as “Panchatatva”, is a household name among farmers in the area, and brings in lakhs of rupees as turnover.

For all her achievements, Hirbai remains as modest as ever and is willing to share her experiences. She shows unbridled enthusiasm in taking visitors around her farm and the compost production unit. Hirbai today holds an iconic status in not only Junagadh but also most parts of Gujarat. Not a single women development programme or SHG initiative in Saurashtra takes off without her presence. A gifted orator with hands-on experience of women empowerment, she is never short of words at public functions. Here is a women of substance and a shining icon of success,whose livelihood initiatives for rural women are worthy of emulation everywhere.