Footloose, NOS, The News International
Changing outlook
Internet Radio Village in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka is aimed to provide information and all that the villagers need
By S A J Shirazi
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Internet Radio village Thatta (district Okara). I am Farooq Ahmed, in charge of the village NGO Anjuman-e-Falah-e-Aama. We are starting our 2009 test transmission. In 2010, we will start our Urdu transmission for local agricultural community and English for others, Sarfraz will be our folk singer, video interviews will be converted to audio and aired.” This was the first announcement from Internet Radio Station TV Thatta Village that started its test transmission in October 2009.
The cluster of mud and brick houses in the plains of Punjab, Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka was like any typical Pakistani village only a decade ago. A lot changed in the rustic village of about 200 houses situated 80 kilometres from Lahore, when in 1990 Amjad Ali – a Pakistani student – invited Dr Senta Siller, a German graphic designer, and her husband Dr Norbert Pintsch, an architect, to visit his ancestral village in the hinterland of Punjab. They came and saw a village where farmers followed an ancient lifestyle. No one in the village could afford fired brick buildings so they built houses using mud material. There was no electricity and no road led to the village.
The German couple decided to work with people of the village. Senta established a Women’s Art Centre and started a self-help project in the remote village where the local women were encouraged to make hand-crafted dolls dressed in traditional attires from different regions of Pakistan along with other decorative items and toys. Simultaneously, Norbert (fondly called ‘Chaudhry Sahib’) started Technology Transfer and Training Centre for men to develop the community rapidly. The income generated by the project was distributed among artisans and part of it was spent on the uplift of the village and the community. This changed the face of the village and made Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka a rural travel attraction.
At first, only the women of Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka benefited from economic improvements but soon the project expanded and women from other villages were integrated. Presently, the village project is working in collaboration with other local and international NGOs.
The latest addition to the project, internet radio, one of the best affordable solutions to reach out to all those involved in the self-help project anywhere, is usually accessible from anywhere in the world. This radio is being used to offer news, sports, talks, and various genres of music like traditional radio stations. Two rooms have been constructed where new solar units have already been installed. Computer and MP3 recorders for the radio station have also been set up. “People in the villages need information and Internet Radio Village Thatta will offer them what they need,” says Norbert.
He says that the community radio will help create awareness among rural communities of the area about all relevant fields. Plans are to air news, interviews, music and so much more. The radio will also offer advertisements to the interested stakeholders. This will create awareness as well as generate some more economic activities at the grassroots level. “Whatever is happening in the village is a help towards self-help,” says Norbert.
Self-help efforts are important to direct the population to use the available resources. Land holdings are small, the agricultural activity in the village is not sufficient, and therefore it is necessary to provide opportunities for additional income in the villages. Promoting the traditional culture and its conversion into handicrafts can do this. The approach must always be understood in its totality and implemented properly.
Collective community work has changed the face of Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka and made it a travel attraction. The murals are painted on the peripheral mud walls in the village where doll collectors and people interested in sustainable development and rural heritage from different initiative groups come and stay as paying guests. The village folks still consider cooing crows as symbol of the arrival of the guests. Architectural competitions are held annually when best mud house is selected. The Chief Harappan Explorer Dr Mark Kenoyer was on the competition’s jury last July.