Where the „water is good for tea” but it is hard to get water...

Conflicts in a remote village of Karbi-Anglong, Assam

I. Introduction to the topic

II. About Karbi Anglong

a. Location of the research

b. Statistics on the whole district

c. History of the district

d. About the karbi and the sakachep people groups

e. About the local religions

f. About the local languages

III. About Langkarcha

a. Location, population, statistics

b. My observations

c. Surveys on the village

i. SWOT analyses (plan)

ii. Questionnaires

IV. Conclusion

a. The situation of Langkarcha (needs and problems)

b. What can be done by the church? (role of religious leaders and groups)

c. The plan of my congregation

d. Plan for further research and actions

Introduction to the topic

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Langkarcha is a small village on the border of the North-eastern states of Assam and

Meghalaya, in the Karbi Anglong area, a village where every second child dies and where

there’s division even between the Christian communites. The village of 70 houses surrounded

by jungle, unreachable in rainy season has a special potential: it can be the central village of its

area for spreading the idea and reality of peace.

Langkarcha and it’s neighbourhoud is not the base of the underground or the paramilitary, but

is the land of poverty and division. Most of the conflicts of this place is caused by the lack of

water, proper nutrition, education, health care and land.

I have been to this area three times so far. The church I belong to organised a crusade here –

for the request of a local evangelist. My pastor, 15 young people (all from all around the North-

East) and myself went and visited the place. We have further plans supporting, helping and

developing this village and the neighbouring smaller villages.

In the present paper I would like to give a short report and overview of west Karbi

Anglong and specifically of Langkarcha village. The information present here is based on the

what I learned from the people working there, what I found on the internet and on my own

observation. To make the survey complete, I have prepared questionnairs which was filled in by

the evangelist working there for more than a year now, the village leaders, the local church

leaders, a family of the villagers and a karbi man coming with us (from the same area).

Combining the emphirial and the theoretical information we can have a better picture of the

village – what it is like from the outside and the inside.

In this paper I will give a brief introduction to the Karbi Anglong district of Assam state of India –

its history, culture, language, peoples and religions. I will present the situation of the people of

this area and the main problems they are facing – problems that cause conflicts. After having

the big picture of the area, I will introduce the village, Langkarcha. I will present my own

observation and the plan I have for getting more information on this place – questionnairs,

interviews, research and a SWOT-analyses. In the last paragraph I will give an idea of what

the main problems are, conflicts and needs here, and what could be done, what the priorities

are. I will present the idea and plan of my church and my idea for further research and actions.

The location of the research

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As it is visible on the map attached, Karbi Anglong is situated in the central-eastern part

of Assam state, by the borders of

Meghalaya and Nagaland states. It is

bordered by the Golaghat district in the

east, Meghalaya and Morigaon district in

the west, the Nagaon and Golaghat district

in the north and the N.C. Hills district and

Nagaland in the south. The district with

dense tropical forest covered hills and flat

plains is situated between 250 33' N to

26035' N Latitude and 92010' to 93050' E

Longitude. The area of the district is

10,434 square kms.

The Karbi Anglong district is divided into 3

sub divisions: Diphu Sadar, Bokajan Civil

and Hamren Civil Sub-Division. Diphu

Sadar sub-division includes 4 blocks:

Lumbajong, Howraghat, Samelangso and Langsomepi. Bokajan Civil sub-division includes:

Bokajan, Nilip and Rongmongwe blocks. Hamren Civil sub-division is divided into Rongkhang,

Socheng, Chinthong and Amri blocks. Langkarcha (or in some official sites ‘Langkircha’), the

village the survey concentrates on

is in the western part of Karbi

Anglong district, just by the border

of Meghalaya state, in Socheng

block of Hamren Civil sub-division.

Some statistics on the whole

district

The total population of the

Karbi Anglong district is 8,13,311

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(male population: 4,22,250, female population: 3,91,061) - with an average population of 283

persons per village. The density of population is 78 per square kms. Only 11.30% of the

population live in the urban areas while the rest live in 2563 villages in the rural areas. Sex ratio:

922 females for 1000 males (as per 2001 census). The population of the district is

predominantly tribal. The major tribal ethnic groups of this district are the Karbis, Bodos, Kukis,

Dimasas, Hmars, Garos, Rengma Nagas, Tiwas, Man (Tai speakers). Besides, a large number of

non-tribals also live together in this hill region.

In terms of human resources the main workers constitute 28.24% of the total population, of

which 59.26% are cultivators. The GDP at current prices (1997-98) stands at Rs. 59333 lakhs and

the per capita GDP works out at Rs. 7911. The share of the primary sector is 49%, the secondary

sector 17.3% and the tertiary sector is 33.7%. It is interesting to note that non-tribal immigrants

dominate the tertiary sector while agro-based activities dominate the primary sector.

The district is basically an agricultural district. Different types of agricultural crops are cultivated

out of which paddy is the main crop. Except for the low-lying areas, the people follow the jhum

system of cultivation.

Natural resources of the area are: lime stone - found in Dillai and Sainilangso, China-clay - found

in Upper Deopani & Silonijan area, feldspar - found in Koilajan area, Coal - found in Koilajan and

Silbheta and iron ore - found in Tarapung.

There are only two full-fledged hospitals in the area, the rest of the towns and villages only

have health centres (or no health care at all) where there are no doctors on duty. The area

records the highest incidence of malaria PF cases in the State and the mortality rate is quite

high.

The literacy rate is 47.04 % in the district. In the education sector, for 10 Sq Km geographical

area, on an average, there are 0.6 primary schools, 0.2 middle level schools and 0.2 high schools

which have an average of 4.6, 5.6 and 9.2 number of teachers per school respectively.

Karbi Anglong has only one vehicle per Sq. Km and a total road length of 35.5 km per 100 Sq.

Km area. It has 24 registered factories and 289 registered small scale industrial unit.

In the context of electrification, only six towns are electrified and of the 2563 villages, just 1039

villages (40.53% of the villages) are electrified.

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History of the district

During the British rule, the territory of the present district was part of the ‘Scheduled

Districts’ constituted in 1874. Later, Mikir Hills tract was constituted as ‘Partially Excluded area’

under the Govt. of India Act, 1935. On November 17, 1951 a new district, the United Mikir Hills

and North Cachar Hills district was created by combining some parts of the districts of Sibsagar

(now Golaghat), Nagaon, Cachar and United Khasi and Jayantia Hills district of present day

Meghalaya state. This was followed by bifurcation of the erstwhile district of United Mikir and

North Cachar Hills district into two separate districts: Mikir Hill district and North Cachar Hills

district on February 2, 1970. The Mikir Hill district was renamed as Karbi Anglong district on

October 14, 1976.

Main ethnic groups of Langkarcha village and its neighborhood – the culture

The two main ethnic groups living in Langkarcha are the Karbis and the Sakachep

peoples. The Karbis, mentioned as the Mikir in the Constitution Order of the Government of

India, are one of the major ethnic groups in North-east India and especially in the hill areas of

Assam. They prefer to call themselves Karbi, and sometimes Arleng (literally "man" in the Karbi

language). The term Mikir is now not preferred and is considered to be derogatory. Apart from

Assam, the Karbis are also recognized as Scheduled Tribes in Meghalaya, Mizoram and

Nagaland. With a population of around 4 lakhs 60 thousand (as per 2001 Census), the Karbis

constitute the third largest tribal community in Assam after the Bodos and the Mishings.

The Karbis were among the earliest inhabitants of Assam, so much so that Kalaguru Bishnu

Prasad Rabha, a noted cultural personality and freedom fighter from Assam has called them the

Discoverer of Assam. The Karbis too trace their origin and existence in China and South-east

Asia. The traditional Karbi kingdom included Rongkhang, Kiling, Amri, Chinthong, Nilip-

Lumbajong and Longku-Longtar, which corresponds to the present day Hamren subdivision of

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Karbi Anglong district, Kamrup and Marigaon districts, eastern part of Karbi Anglong and the

North Cachar Hills district.

The Karbis are a Patrilineal society and are composed of five major clans or Kur. They are Ingti,

Terang, Inghi, Teron and Timung which are again divided into many sub-clans. These clans are

exogamous, in other words marriages between members of the same clan are not allowed. The

traditional system of governance is headed by the Lindok or the king, who is assisted by the

Katharpo, the Dilis, the Habes and the Pinpos. The Lindok is based in Ronghang Rongbong in the

Hamren subdivision of the district. These posts of administration, however, are now merely

ceremonial with no real power.

The Karbi women are expert weavers and they wear home-made clothes. Their main attire

consists of the pekok, a piece of cloth with designs wrapped around the upper part of the body

and tied into a knot on the right shoulder, the pini, similar to a sarong and a vamkok, a

decorative piece of cloth tied around the waist over the pini. The men's traditional dress

consists of the choi, a sleeveless shirt with a 'V' shaped neck and loose threads at the bottom, a

rikong, which looks like a dhoti and a poho, a turban.

The Karbis traditionally practice jhum (slash and burn) cultivation in the hills. They grow a

variety of crops which include foodgrains, vegetables and fruits like rice, maize, potato, tapioca,

beans, ginger and turmeric. They are quiet self-sufficient and have homestead gardens with

betel nut, jackfruit, oranges, pineapple, etc. which fulfill their nutritional as well as food needs.

However, with the integration of the traditional lifestyle with the market economy, many of the

traditional institutions and way of life has been left damaged, bringing about unending

sufferings on the people. The Karbi people have the highest HPI (Human Poverty Index) value of

33.52, indicating that this tribe has the highest number of people (of the recognized tribes of

Assam) in human poverty. (Assam Human Development Report, 2003).

The Khelma or Sakachep (sometimes referred to as Sakechep or Sankechep) are one of the Kuki

of the Mizo tribe in Assam, India. This tribe is one of the smallest tribes in the Kuki community.

They mainly inhabit areas of Assam's North Cachar Hills, Cachar and Karbi Anglong. We can find

Sakachep tribals in Jaintia hills in Meghalaya (Saithsma, Rumphung, Mongor villages) and some

lives in Peren and Kohima districts in Nagaland and a few in Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur, too.

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The full number of all the Sakachep people is around 25,000 (as in 2003). The lifestyle and

habitat closely resemble the other tribes of the Kuki or the Mizo Communities, but they don’t

like to be referred to as Kukis or Mizos. Among the inhabitants of N.C. Hills district the

Sakachep, also known as Khelmas are one of the smallest community. The Khelmas have close

resemblances to the Hrangkhols and the Baites in language, customs and traditions. The

Sakachep cremate the dead like the Vedic Hindu in olden days, but 90 % of the population are

Christians these days. Besides, this community is entirely dependent on agriculture for their

livelihood. The Sakachep also celebrate different festivals which are connected with worship of

different gods and goddesses during the year and they also have a number of folk songs for

different occasions.

The traditional outfits and ornaments of Sakachep are very interesting. The women wear a lot

of strings of different beads and coins round the neck (mainly only for special occasions

though). Nowadays, the majority of young boys and girls of the villages have put on pants,

shirts and traditional Mekhela. The old men’s dress is simple, generally they wear a dhoti. The

traditional social administration of Sakachep is known as Chep Halam, which is headed by Kalim

and Kabur. In the Sakachep community, the young man has to serve his father-in-law for four

years before allowing him to take home his wife. This system is called Maksa.

There are some 573 communities recognized by the government as Scheduled Tribes and

therefore eligible to receive special benefits and to compete for reserved seats in legislatures

and schools. They range in size from the Gonds (roughly 7.4 million) and the Santals

(approximately 4.2 million) to only eighteen Chaimals in the Andaman Islands. Central Indian

states have the country's largest tribes, and, taken as a whole, roughly 75 percent of the total

tribal population live there. The Karbi tribe is one of those recognized tribes, though the

Sakachep tribe is not recognized at all. This way they don’t get any benefits, any protection and

hardly any rights as a people group.

The religions of Langkarcha and its neighborhood

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Religion wise Langkarcha is nearly 80 % Christian, but some of the close-by smaller

villages are either Hindus or Karbi animists. Christian and Hindu faiths are well-known, however

the traditional Karbi religion is practiced only in this area and not studied at all. I could find only

one survey made on this local faith. Let me quote this paper of Dharamsing Teron

(Understanding Karbi Folk religion) below – giving a glance of Karbi folk religion.

‘Hi:’ and ‘Arnam’ — roughly translated to mean ‘demon’ and ‘deity’ — enjoy equal status in

Karbi folk rituals. The presence of dozens of deities and their ‘negative counterparts’ in Karbi

rituals reveal the inherent duality and unity in the folk religion of the tribe. The expression ‘Hi:-

Arnam’ is a phrase coined by the Karbi ancestors and it is never juxtaposed or uttered in

reverse. ‘Hi:’ therefore is not the parallel of the ‘demon’ of the established religions. The unity

and duality of the ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ forces and the ‘balance’ between them are what

constitute the philosophical basis of the Karbi folk religion. Ancestors are worshipped and Karbi

souls travel through predestined paths back to the ‘village of the ancestors’, which neither is

hell nor heaven. Karbi funerary ritual is a celebration of death as much as it is a celebration of

life. Karbi cosmogony is varied and fascinating. The ‘Mosera’ myth talks of a ‘mythical bird’,

‘voplakpi’ laying hundreds of ‘eggs’ to give birth to the Karbi progenitors and contemporary

human groups. The ‘Mosera’ also describes the migration ordeals of the Karbi forefathers. The

creation myths as narrated in the ‘Mosera’, ‘Golden Boats’ and ‘Chinlong’ do not talk of divine

creation in the Karbi cosmogony. ‘Mosera’ combines as the ‘legend of creation’ and ‘migration

memories’, which demonstrate a continuity and regularity of the theme with regional variations

while the ‘Karbi Keplang’ narratives demonstrate remarkable thematic differences as well. In

the ‘Mosera’ tradition, creation is attributed to ‘eggs’, with which some so called modern Karbis

find themselves uncomfortable and are dismissive of the larger philosophy that lies behind such

examples of primitive cosmogony. In one of the ‘Karbi Keplang’ myths, ‘Hemphu’ and ‘Mukrang’

are presented as the divine creators. Such narratives under the ‘Keplang’ or ‘creation’ genre are

many wherein one constantly encounters divine interventions. One of them, the ‘Legend of the

origin of Singer’, known as ‘Lunsé Keplang’, also has a divine personality named ‘Rangsina

Sarpo’ who descends from heaven to ‘teach songs’ to the Karbis on earth who were devoid of

such an art. The legend of the origin of ‘Peng’ gives an excellent example that demonstrates the

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fact that the Karbi ancestors had a mind of their own. ‘Peng’ is a household ‘deity’ who protects

it from all natural and supernatural ill effects and diseases etc. He is the eternal sentry who

guards the household against all dangerous intrusions. ‘Peng’ is therefore annually propitiated

and his ‘altar’ is placed atop the main door of the house. ‘Cho-jun’ is an essential part of the

ritual of ‘ancestor propitiation’ in the Karbi religious tradition. This ritual is called ‘Sar An-thok’

(lit. Offering of food to Elders) wherein all the male and female ancestors from the lineages of

both the father and the mother are propitiated. But in doing so, ‘all ancestors from the fourth

generation beyond his parents’ are propitiated as the Koreans do. Another important aspect of

Karbi belief system is the absence of the abstract concepts of hell and heaven. But in Karbi

concept, the soul or ‘karjong’ is immortal and it has at least three interchangeable forms. A

dead man’s ‘karjong’ is guided through predestined paths by female wailers or dirge singers

(Charhepi) to the “ancestors’ village”, analogous to some Lamaist practice. “Within the fold of

the Lamaist church the soul has to be conducted to its future abode, a service which is also a

characteristic function of the shaman. Death to a Karbi is only a transition to a new identity,

both physical and spiritual— through time and space. A mother is reborn to her brother as a

daughter, a father to his son as a son—reliving the genetic relation, all over again. Karma plays

but a less significant role in the Karbi rebirth.

The Karbis celebrate many festivals. Rongker is one such festival held around January-February

by the entire village as thanksgiving to the various gods and for the prosperity and the well-

being of the community. The Chomkan (also known as "thi-karhi" and Chomangkan) is a festival

unique to the Karbis. It is actually a ceremony performed by a family for the peace and the safe

passage of the soul of family members who died recently.

The Sakachep people are 90 % Christians, but also celebrate different festivals which are

connected with worship of different gods and goddesses during the year. The Sakachep also

have a number of folk songs for different occasions. Their songs are generally slow. Parsem Kut

is one of the biggest festivals they celebrate in the month of April - which is the age-old

traditional shifting jhum cultivation.

The language mix of the village

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Langkarcha is dominated by Sakachep-speaking people, but you also find Karbi, Mizo,

Khasi and other natives. Some words on Karbi and Sakachep language.

The Karbi language (Ethnologue language code is ‘mjw’), also known as Mikir or Arleng, is

spoken by the Karbi people of Assam. It belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family, the

latest classification has put it into a different Mikir Group, which is again sub grouped into Amri

and Karbi, Tibeto-Burmanists such as Shafer (1974) and Bradley (1997) have however classified

it as aberrantly Kukish. There is little dialect diversity except for the Amri dialect, which is

distinct enough to be considered a separate Karbi language.

Like most languages of the hill tribes of the North-east, Karbi does not have its own script and is

written in the Roman alphabet, occasionally in Assamese script. The earliest written texts in

Karbi were produced by Christian missionaries, especially the American Baptist Mission and the

Catholic Church. The missionaries brought out a newspaper in Karbi titled Birta as early as 1903.

Rev. R.E. Neighbor's Vocabulary of English and Mikir, with Illustrative Sentences published in

1878, which can be called the first Karbi ‘dictionary’, Sardoka Perrin Kay’s English-Mikir

Dictionary published in 1904, Sir Charles Lyall and Edward Stack's The Mikirs in 1908, the first

ethnographic details on the Karbis and G.D. Walker's A Dictionary of the Mikir Language

published in 1925 are some of the earliest important books on the Karbis and the Karbi

language and grammar.

The Karbi language is well developed, there’s a complete Bible translation, a daily newspaper,

dictionary and grammar book published.

The Sakachep language (ISO/Ethnologue code is 'sch') has 3 distinct speech varieties currently

identified within this language code. First is called ‘Chin, Falam’ (Speech Variety Code: #8759,

Ethnologue 14th code: HBH). Its alternate names are Chin, Falam or Sankechep. It is spoken in

Bangladesh India and Myanmar (Burma). The second variety is called ‘Khelma’ (Speech Variety

Code: #8764, Ethnologue 14th code: HBH). It is also spoken in Bangladesh,

India and Myanmar (Burma). The third variety of Sakachep language is called actually ‘

Sakachep’ (Speech Variety Code: #6173, Ethnologue 14th code). It is spoken only in India. So far

the only material found in this language is a ‘Words of Life’ audio recording made by Global

Recordings Network, telling a few stories of the Bible in the Sakachep language. The Sakachep

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language is a Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Kuki-Chin-Naga, Kuki-Chin, Northern language. The

closests languages are: Aimol [aim] (India), Anal [anm] (India), Biete [biu] (India), Chin, Falam

[cfm] (Myanmar), Chin, Paite [pck] (India), Chin, Siyin [csy] (Myanmar), Chin, Tedim [ctd]

(Myanmar), Chin, Thado [tcz] (India), Chiru [cdf] (India), Gangte [gnb] (India), Hrangkhol [hra]

(Myanmar), Kom [kmm] (India), Lamkang [lmk] (India), Naga, Chothe [nct] (India), Naga,

Kharam [kfw] (India), Naga, Monsang [nmh] (India), Naga, Moyon [nmo] (India), Naga, Purum

[puz] (India), Naga, Tarao [tro] (India), Purum [pub] (Myanmar), Ralte [ral] (Myanmar),

Ranglong [rnl] (India), Simte [smt] (India), Vaiphei [vap] (India), Yos [yos] (Myanmar) and Zo

[zom] (Myanmar).

Sakechep is mainly spoken at home by all ages. Bilingualism varies according to which state

they live in. Some speak Hindi, Bengali, Khasi, Karbi, Hmar, Chin Thado. In Langkarcha some

speak Mizo, Khasi, Karbi and Hindi. Language development: Literacy rate in second language is

approximately 25%.

Langkarcha – location and statistics

Langkarcha is in the western part of the Karbi Anglong district, just by the border of the

Meghalaya state, in the Socheng block of the Hamren Civil sub-division. The closest village of

Meghalaya, called Saithsma (inhabited by both Sakachep and Panaar people) is only 15 km from

here. The road from Saithsma is a soil road, which makes it hard to drive even in the dry season,

but is not drivable in the monsoon season at all (maybe only by motorbikes). None of the

Langkarcha people have any vehicles though. Langkarcha is among the lower hills of Socheng,

having plain and hilly parts, too. It is inhabited by around 400 people. According to the survey I

made, 10 % of the people can read and write (in Karbi), around 15 people finished class 6 and

maybe one finished class 12. Everyone makes his living on his own agricultural business and –

according to the answers of the villagers – there are no job opportunities for the villagers in the

neighbouring villages or towns either. Most of them grow charcoal, broom plant, bamboo or

cultivate different vegetables (potato, ginger etc.) or fruits (papaya, banana). They carry it on

small carts to the nearby Khanduli market, where they can sell it for minimum prices. According

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to the survey, most of these plants grow from June to January, and most of the people of the

village have nothing to sell in the remaining months.

My visits in the village

I have been to Langkarcha six times so far. First, at the end of January, 2010 I stayed

there for four days – along with 15 others from Shillong. My pastor from Shillong, Meghalaya

got an invitation from an evangelist staying in the village to come over, have a short crusade

and help in his work of development and mission. My pastor, Rev. S.K. Miller, 13 other young

people from my church and myself went there. Langkarcha can be reached from Saitsama,

Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya on a tiny soil road through the jungle. Langkarcha is exactly 100 km far

from Shillong, but it takes around 4-5 hours to reach there, specially when the road is wet.

The first thing I observed in the village was the lack of electricity, the lack of any market,

shop in the village and the number of children. Almost every adult and child older than 5-6

years old carried another child on his or her back. Most of the people are quite slim, but they

didn’t seem to be sick. Many of the children had bloated abdomen though, which can be the

sign of malnutrition. Being a foreigner, I tried to look for people speaking English or Hindi, but

could only find around four or five people understanding Hindi, and no English speakers (except

the educated Tripuri evangelist who stays there). Some of my group members speak Mizo, they

could speak to most of the Sakachep people, they did not always understand them all and

completely though. Some spoke Khasi and some Karbi. I was the first white person in this

village, and they hardly see anyone from the neighboring states either. We stayed in one of the

best houses of the village, in the house of the elder of one of the churches of the village. He

moved to the kitchen with his family to give their two rooms for our relatively big team. They

have built a temporary bathroom only for us – at the backyard of the house. It was built of

bamboo and wood, a small place to pour water on us. They also offered their simple village

restroom to use. The circumstances were challenges not only for me but for all the other

members of the group who are from North-eastern villages and towns themselves. Still we had

a better place than most of the villagers there.

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We held some indoor programs (in the biggest church hall of the village) and an open-

air meeting on the middle field of the village. Almost all villagers (and people even from the

neighboring villages, too) were gathered. We used a generator, played the guitar and keyboard

and showed a short video clip too. These people have most probably never seen such

equipment before. Some of the villagers use some solar electricity generators, but other than

that they have no experience with electricity. The people live on a very low hygiene level, some

houses don’t have even any kind of toilets or bathrooms and children freely eat whatever they

find on the fields or the roads and find eatable. The water is carried from nearby temporary tiny

sources from the jungle – by the girls and women and drunk without any purification. I found

this village a very remote but a place with a lot of potential for development, community work

and mission.

Second time I went for a short visit for a day in the beginning of February. This time it

was only four of us, my pastor, two leaders of the church and me. The village leaders sent a

message to my pastor that they want to talk to him. That`s why we came. They wanted to

discuss about a long-term cooperation between the village and our church mission. At that

point we didn’t have any long-term plan yet. First we wanted to see the condition of the village.

It was this time that I decided I want to include this village in my survey, for no research was

done there before.

The third time, in the middle of February, 2010 we had a visitor pastor with us in

Shillong from the Philippines. He came along with us. By this time we decided we want to help

this village, both in practical and spiritual way. From the survey I made by that time (through

the evangelist staying there who came to Shillong in the meanwhile) and from our own

observation, we realized the biggest need of the village is a safe, clean and closer water source

so they don’t need to fetch the water from different places every season and carry it for kms.

This time we took a look of one of the richest sources the villagers showed us. In fact it is three

sources flowing into one small stream. It is in the jungle, bit far from the village, up in the

mountain. We found it good to building a damn up in the mountain which would hold up the

water of the sources and build a simple aqueduct to carry it to the village. We made plans and

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agreed to come back soon, with some cement and other materials needed. The villagers

volunteered to help in the work.

The fourth time, in the beginning of March a group of students of an international

school were with me, so we decided to take them to Langkarcha to show them the village

condition. We went only for one day, only to hold a short meeting in the biggest church of the

village and take a look in the region. The village leaders greeted us with a bad news. Two of the

three sources supplying the stream we planed to build a damn at are dried up. The water level

in minimal now. We realized, the best idea is to build a ring well. The foreign group decided to

financially contribute in that project and we made plans on the well this time. From this time

my pastor was after professional well diggers but it took more than two months to finally get

some people willing to go to this small backward village and dig a well there.

The fifth time, at the beginning of April was a one-day visit again. Some American

friends came for a visit, we took them this time. We held a crusade in the church again and me

and my pastor worked on the second survey and the plans for the well.

The sixth, and so far the last time I visited the village was in the end of April. This time

we went for a whole week. The village leaders decided to give us a land at the side of the

village. This land was mostly jungle with some ginger garden on the side. More than 20 of us, all

young people went to start building a mission base, a simple house on the land given to us. This

village is the largest of all the small Sakachep villages in the neighborhood. Almost every time

we visited not only Langkarcha, but the neighboring tiny, Karbi and Sakachep villages, too. This

mission house will be the center to reach out to these villages. The leaders of my church made

a decision after discussing with the village leaders. We adopted Langkarcha and its

neighborhood as our new mission field. We cut off the jungle, dig the land, planted maize,

pumpkin and beans at the side and started to do build the house. We dig holes for the pillars,

cut off some stronger tree for pillars, collected stones and cut them into smaller pieces and

placed the pillars, the base of the house in the holes. This is how far we could go this far. The

daily works, fetching water, cooking, cleaning, washing up took much more time as it takes in

the city. We stayed in the school building, which is still without benches, desks and the teacher

haven’t been seen for months.

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Surveys on the village

I have started a series-questionnaire on the village and also plan to make up a SWOT

(Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analyses together with the village leaders.

So far I have two of the questionnaires completed. The first one was taken in February, 2010. I

asked four people to fill it in (with the help of the English-speaking evangelist): a village leader,

a church leader, a village family, a Karbi man from the area and the evangelist (outsider living

there for more than a year now).

In the first questionnaire I asked them about the following areas:

1) Legitimicy of the state

2) The rule of law

3) Fundamental rights

4) Civil society and media

5) Community conflicts

6) Economy

7) Social welfare

8) and their oppinion of what the main problems are and what could be the best help.

The answers show the following things:

- There’s not much problem with elections and voting (opperated with voting machines

here), and at least two parties are introduced and represented in the village.

- All the ones who gave their answers agreed that there is a certain kind of drug dealing

and/or human trafficking in the village. For clarification and more details I have added

more questions to this topic for the second questionnaire.

- All of them agreed that there is a certain discrimination between the people there, and

not everyone is considered equal before the law.

- Almost everyone agreed that there’s no discrimination based on culture, traditions or

religion in the village, but there is discrimination on the basis of language and gender.

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- All of them agreed that women are treated badly and are beaten sometimes. Let me

note, that 70 % of the ones giving the answers were men.

- All asked villagers agreed that neither NGO, civil agency, govermental social help, and

nor media ever came to the village before.

- Asking about their agricultural products, they all agreed that there are only a few

products they grow, no alternatives if those won’t grow well in a year. They also all

agreed that they have hardly anything to grow and sell between January and June.

- Almost all people agreed that the village leaders collect some money from the villagers

sometimes and they are supposed to use it to bring or generate electricity and solve the

water problems, but they haven’t done anything yet (or are not successful).

- Asking about what they can do when their child gets sick, their answers were the

following – quoted: ’just praying and ayurvedic’,’ if money is there to take him to Jowai

Hospital’ (which is around a day-long journey from the village), ’I can do nothing – just

sitting beside the child’, ’ayurvedic medicine’. No medical help is avaible in the village.

- So many people die before reaching the age of 60 – because of lack of proper

treatment.

- Asking about the main problems of the village 4 out of the 5 answers started with

mentioning education. Next came water, then medical care, electicity, transportation,

communication and market.

- Asking what they think would be the best way to help the village, the answers are the

following: ’education, salvation in Christ, water, electricity, education, to approach to

the gov., educate them’.

- Asking about the conflicts of the village, three people gave the answer: ’education,

water, health care’, one said ’the main conflict is we do not believe in God’ (given by a

family of the villagers) and ’religious and political’ (karbi man).

The second questionnaire was a more specific, deeper survey. It was taken in the end of

March, 2010. It was filled up by the village leaders and the church leaders together. The

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questionnaire included the areas I found important after checking the first questionnaire. I

asked them on the following areas:

1) Discrimination

2) Education

3) Domestic violence

4) Media

5) Agriculture

6) Climate change

7) Water problem

8) Health care

9) Living conditions

What I could learn from the answers:

1) Discrimination

a. The ones who get the advantages are the people of the ruling political party.

b. The ones who get less right than others are the opposition political party.

c. The Sakachep people suffer from linguistic discrimination in the village.

2) Education

a. The last time teaching was going on in the school was in December, 2009.

b. The teacher, appointed by the district government is from Bathalangsu, Karbi

Anglong.

c. There are around fifty students registered in the school.

d. When I asked how often there`s teaching going on in the village school, they

answered: `Up to the will of the teacher`.

e. I asked what their own children, registered in the school learnt so far, they

answered: `nothing`.

3) Domestic violence

a. In the first questionnaires I got the answer that women are beaten often in the

village, so for clarification I asked now who beat them. Husbands.

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b. The reason, the men filling up the second questionnaire gave for this domestic

violence, was the following: `because they talk too much`.

c. When I asked what they think could be done to stop this situation was, family

seminar, they answered.

4) Media

a. They use solar system to run their TVs.

b. There are 12 TVs altogether in the village.

c. The channel they get is DD1, they mostly watch TV serials in TV.

5) Agriculture

a. They mostly grow maize, pumpkin, ginger, chilly, turmeric and banana in their

gardens, on their fields.

b. These plants grow in season only, between January and June they don’t have

anything to harvest.

6) Climate change

a. I asked them if they changed what they grow in the past 10 years or not. They

said they didn’t.

b. I asked them if the climate has changed in the past 10 years or not. It did, they

answered.

c. The climate has changed in the following ways: there is less rain, the weather

both in the summer and winter is warmer, than it used to be and the seasons

change differently, as well.

d. They didn’t know what effects do the changes make.

e. They said they didn’t need to make a change in their plantations, neither adopt

new methods in their agriculture.

7) Water problem

a. It happens that the sources they use dry up sometimes, they have to search for

new ones that occasions.

b. The ones who filled up the questionnaire never experienced that they had to

stay without water for a day. They always got water somehow.

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8) Health care – I gave them some situations and asked what they would do.

a. When someone cuts himself and the blood sprinkles a lot, they apply some tree

leaves.

b. When someone coughs much, they give him hot water to drink.

c. When a woman gives birth, some nearby women help her.

d. Already at the age of 6 months, they give rice to their children.

e. They couldn’t give any answer what they would do if someone`s heart starts to

beat very fast or stops beating.

f. They take betel leaves and salt when they have loose motion.

g. To stop diarrhea, they eat tree bark.

h. When someone has a high temperature, they pour oil and water.

i. When someone catches cold (has running nose and is sneezing), they take onion

and oil.

j. When someone`s head aches, they pour water or tie his head with a cloth.

k. When I asked them what they think causes their head aches, they answered they

don’t know.

l. When someone`s throat hurts, they apply oil.

m. When someone gets skin disease, they apply some tree roots.

n. They said they can do nothing when they have scabies or lice.

o. When someone`s wound becomes infected, they pour boiled water and apply

salt on it.

p. When someone has worms, they give some tree leaves to him.

q. When someone gets malaria, they can do nothing, they answered.

9) Living conditions

a. They sleep on the floor, together with all their family members.

b. They take bath every three days, or sometimes only once a week.

c. They usually wash their hands twice a day.

d. They don’t used to wash their hands after using the toilet, but they used to wash

their hands before eating.

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e. They not used to washing vegetables before eating them.

f. They pour the blood out of the animals before cooking.

g. If they have leftover food, they just keep it in a pot, but they can`t keep it for

long.

h. They don’t clean the water they get from the source any way.

Conclusions

Looking at all this information, we have a picture of Langkarcha and its neighborhood,

but it is not complete yet. Further surveys, observations, questionnaires and interviews are

there in my plan. But we can put a temporary conclusion to the present research. I can see two

main things after this research. Firstly, the biggest need of the Sakachep people is the official

recognition – in order to get land, rights and development. Most of the villagers don’t see this

need. Mostly because they are not even aware of such a need, or such an opportunity. Most of

them would be surprised if the neighboring Karbis came over and just took their land. But it

could happen – at the present situation. The land they live on, the whole area, belongs to the

Karbis as the Sakachep tribe has no right to land. I praise God, that this is such a far-away and

remote area, that the Karbi leaders haven’t taken the idea of taking it yet, but it could happen

any time and the Sakachep people would have no idea what to do, where to complain, how to

fight – without violence. This is a real threat we need to be aware of – and prevention must be

done in order to turn this seemingly peaceful situation into a secure and permanent peace. The

other big conclusion I have made is that the present conflicts of the village are based on

maintenance problems. The water, the crop, the wood is not enough for everyone, which

causes conflict. Besides that there is discrimination– based on gender and language. The

Sakachep dominate the village, but Karbis, Khasis and some Mizos are also there – and they are

dominant and recognized in the neighboring areas thus have more rights. Obviously the

government supports them, and ignores the Sakachep people. The government ignores this

area itself, too. Besides this, the lack of education causes a common ignorance within the

village, so they are very vulnerable – only because not speaking other languages, being illiterate

and not being aware of their rights. Any political party, underground group or business man can

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make them believe anything and use them for their own benefit, leaving the villagers robbed

and helpless at the end. The total lack of health care and health education, with no proper

treatment available have lead to the untimely death of many. That causes conflict in itself, too.

Further research will show these conflicts in more detail and hopefully I will be able to find the

roots of these conflicts and have a deeper understanding of the situation of Langkarcha.

Actions done so far and plans for the future

As my survey and project is based on the activity of the congregation I belong to here in

Shillong, some actions have been done already and plans are made. Some problems are

obviously big and urgent, that the leaders of the church didn’t even wait for the survey to be

completed. Such a big need is the water resource. As I mentioned there are few natural water

sources around the village, where the villagers go and fetch water every day. But these sources

are temporary and not built up at all. When one stops, they look for a new one. These sources

are in the jungle, some of them kilometers away from the village and most of them are very

small – the water is very less and very slow. This way getting the water is a daily problem and

struggle – giving a whole-day job to so many women. Checking out the opportunities, our first

idea was to try to build a well. The villagers tried it themselves before, but having no idea about

wells, for seeing no wells outside before, they gave up digging after 10 feet (3 metres). We

encouraged them for further digging and planned on taking the building of the well as our part.

But no good source was found within the village area. They found a good source area at the

hills side not far from the village, and we decided to build a dam, a reservoir and a water pipe.

One of our church friends adopted a new idea of water pumping, which naturally drives the

water up – using its own power (of gravity). The dam area is dig by the villagers and soon we

began to get the bricks and cement for building the reservoir. My church leaders found the

water problem to be the most urgent problem. Besides this plans are being made these weeks

for lobbying for the recognition of the Sakachep tribe, for setting up primary education, giving

basic health education and accessories and training the church leaders. We need further

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surveys to be made in order to make our involvement really helpful and fitting to the village –

making them involve and continue after we start. I close therefore by planning to continue the

research – as more surveys will be done in the area.

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