Interviewing a Local family: purpose and survey findings

The Mondal Family and our Team

Today we began our survey work. Our team was Tim, Joanna, Sean S. and Rosemary from Loreto Sealdah who acted as interpreter for the group. Because it was Sunday we met the men of the family. Prasanto Mondal was the the main interviewee. The women sat inside their mud house looking on. The purpose of  our survey: to learn by conversing with local people in an organised way what needs and aspirations they have with a view towards planning future projects.

Interviewing Prasanto Mondal while women in family look on

The family consists of several generations living under one thatched roof. Prasanto lives in the city with his wife and daughter but comes home after work in a government job each Saturday evening.
Their lifestyle and diet are basic consisting of a daily routine of work tending crops and eating rice and dahl.
Men play cards for recreation and they say they don't have music or dancing. They have oil lamps and cook in clay ovens using timber and dry cow dung as fuel.

They think our project is very good and they would like more help in building up the great dykes which protect them from the sea which keeps flooding their paddy (rice) fields  in the rainy season rendering them infertile. They would like us to help them develop their school to take students to secondary level. Presently if they want to go on they must travel over 7 miles on very bad roads. We talked for over an hour and we learned a lot from the conversation. They enjoyed talking to us too and gave us delicious coconut juice (called "Dub") from green fruits cut from the palm trees beside the house.

While students interview villagers...

...a son of Prasanto climbs a tree to get green fruits