Catalysing a change with her chronicles

She underwent skill-training with the District Industries Centre (DIC) at Thanjavur and bought an auto with the loan the DIC provided her. However, she soon had to quit because of the discrimination she faced at her job every day. Now, she rents out her auto for an income and works with a community organisation that works for transgenders who are in search of jobs. 

This is just one of the stories that Nafeesa Usman, born and brought up in Chennai, has chronicled as part of her work with HIV positive and HIV vulnerable communities in ten districts of Tamil Nadu. “The organisation I work with identifies HIV positive people and help them navigate through life easier. The organisation helps these people get in touch with lawyers and policemen to resolve domestic violence and gender violence and in getting official documents like Aadhar, voter cards and so on. I chronicle the stories of these people — the struggles they have been through and how they found success — to inspire and guide members from the community who are trying to find a successful lifestyle,” says Nafeesa. 

Nafeesa started working with social awareness organisations immediately after her graduation in clinical nutrition and dietetics. “After graduation, I went to Auroville and collaborated with Urvashi Devidayal, Malvika Pathak and Martin Scherfler to write a book, My Pumpkin Roof: How to grow your own urban food garden. After that I applied for the SBI Youth for India fellowship. They selected me to work with the Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (CHIRAG). They had set up a culinary herbs programme in the Reetha cluster of villages in Nainital almost 20 years ago to give the rural women an alternative source of income,” she explains. 

However, because of unhygienic drying practices, the dried herbs brought in by the farmers were rejected and the initiative was dying. In fact, Nafeesa says, the villagers who didn’t even know where Chennai was and considered everything outside Nainital plains, were using the rejected herbs to make rosemary dal and thyme tea out of necessity! “The forests near these villages had herbs like oregano and thyme growing in abundance. The women collect these, dry them and sell them at the collection centres. But, there was a lot of hair and dust in the herbs they brought for selling, which had mostly turned black because of contamination, and were rejected. I chose to work with 20 women in three villages in the cluster for 13 years and taught them to build make-shift solar dryers with cheap locally available materials,” she adds. One solar dryer prototype was donated to one of the farmers, while many others built solar dryers on their own. 

Nafeesa says that people are constantly baffled by the perceived contrast between her work and her identity. “This is especially true when I was in Nainital. They were shocked that being a Muslim and a woman, I had travelled so far all by myself to work with NGOs. For most people, there are only two definitions of Muslim women, as terrorists or as people who have been chained to bed posts inside their homes. I’m happy I have been able to break the belief in this stereotype at least among a few. I’m really thankful to my mother for that opportunity, because I realise not when many women are given this freedom,” Nafeesa signs off.