International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

Wishing my friend on her birthday, I noticed something else special about this ninth day of August. According to the United Nations, this day is observed as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. It is celebrated to raise awareness and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population. This day also recognizes the achievements and contributions that indigenous people make to improve world issues such as environmental protection. It was pronounced by the UN General Assembly in December 1994. The date marks the day of the first meeting in 1982 of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

What’s in the symbol?

If you observe carefully, there is something special about this as well. The artwork was done by Rebang Dewan a Chakma boy (Chakma people are a native group from the easternmost regions of the Indian subcontinent and they are the largest ethnic group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region in south-eastern Bangladesh).

What does 2020 have in stock?

With 2020 being a rollercoaster ride from the beginning, the UN decided to have the same as its theme but with a slight twist. The theme is as follows, “COVID-19 and indigenous peoples’ resilience”. The aim is to highlight how the preservation and promotion of indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge and practices can be leveraged more fully during this pandemic.

Well, all the above information were curated from a few Google searches, but apart from that, I would like to share something which is not related to the theme of this year, but of course, related to indigenous people whom I met early 2019.

I was a student at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. As a part of our curriculum, we were taken for a deprivation trip. The aim of this trip, as the name suggests, was on deprivation. We were taken to Thiruvallur district, which is about 50kms from Chennai. We had a guide and a teacher who accompanied us during this trip. Our lodging was somewhere within the city where there were proper roads, electricity, vehicles, shops, restaurants, washrooms and so on. I am adding this as a ‘privilege’ here because we were taken to places where open defecation was ‘the norm’ and electricity was 'an availability' in a few thatched houses.

We happened to visit an Irula settlement in Kadambathur. Irulas are a Dravidian ethnic group whose main occupation includes snake, rat-catching and honey collection. This was our knowledge of Irulas until we reached there to find a completely different narrative. Most of them, including elders, have quit the occupation as it doesn’t help in making their ends meet. They were working as daily wage labourers in nearby fields or were workers under the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) scheme. The kids did go to nearby government schools, however, only a few attended. What about others? Well, that’s when we met an exciting human being here. His name was Maari, and he was a 14-year-old school dropout. Did I mention interesting a moment back? Yes. So his major hobby was to pierce himself! This includes piercing of ears and lips too! There were about six studs in one ear, and one of them was red enough, indicating that it was a recent puncture. A small twig passed through his lower lip. When asked, he told us that he likes doing it and there was no specific reason for the same. Surprisingly, he said that it never hurt him!

When that was the case about Maari, there were many things waiting for us there. We happened to talk to the womenfolk in the settlement. It was about 3pm, and we never had a rest till then. We entered a hut and were about to go inside an extension outside the main portion of the hut. But we were not allowed. That’s when one of them explained about the purpose of that room (cannot be called as a room, because there was barely any space inside that place). It was a room for menstruating women to stay in seclusion. During those days of the month, the woman has to stay there no matter how severe the weather is. And talking about menstruating habits, they preferred cloth because pads were a product of luxury! (To the ones reading this post, can you spare a moment to think how life is not the same to all even in the 21st century?)

That’s not all, some people had no idea of their age. Living in an era where we are used to midnight birthday parties, Facebook and WhatsApp status updates, this was a hard nut to crack. However, if you notice the smiles on their faces, it emitted a different level of positivity. They lived a life of contentment and taught us happiness can be found from the simplest things. It’s not that you must know everything around the world, but it’s about how you find happiness on everything that’s around you.

 

References:

Wikipedia

UN official website