I surely feel that this matter should be included in Ripley's Believe It or Not! In Bangladesh, now many families are engaged in making birds' nests. They mainly live Jessore, a district situated in South Western part of Bangladesh. They live in the village called Sitarampur. These people are basically from lower caste of Hinduism and they did not have too much dignity in the society. In 1986, a person of this village named Chandidas could meet an NGO official who came to visit this village. Chandidas had some skill in using bamboo and date leaf to make different things. So, he got an offer that if he could make a bird nest he would get some steady works. He worked very hard and Chandidas got more orders. Thus, he became successful and changed his fortune.
Seeing the success of Chandidas, many other families of this village became interested to build birds' nests. Thus, now they build nests of 25 kinds of birds and their nests are sold in all parts of Bangladesh. These nests are now even exported to different countries including New Zealand, Australia, Thailand and Belgium. Of course, people like Chandidas never get good rate for their works although their nests may get exported in other countries. However, this work has changed the lives of many people. They have not become rich but they have seen their life improve a lot. In the past, they were poor and they did not have any position in the society. Now they have some decent income and dignity.
These ordinary villagers make bird nests with tree leaves, bamboos and coconut wastes just like the birds. They get only 4.5 US cent for one nest. However, since all the members of a family work together they can make a decent income. Many of the families have been able to change their fortune by making nests. They have been able to build new houses for them and healthy latrines. Many families can now afford to send their children to study. Thus, by hard work and honest effort these people have been able to make their own nests.
Do you know of this kind of success stories in any part of South Asia? If so then please mail me with pictures and I will try to cover it.
(I found this news item in a Bangladeshi Bengali daily newspaper. The picture has been taken from its website too.)
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It's a good thing to hear that people's lives improve through means other than destroying the environment which is pretty usual around developing asian nations.
I wonder if the birds feel comfortable in the nests they build?
Posted by: nepspeed82 | August 11, 2006 1:53 PM | Permalink to Comment