BHOPAL: Ranjana Dwivedi from Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district is the lone representative from India to be featured by the US’ National Public Radio (NPR) in its documentary of 19 women from across the globe who shared their challenges and how they are overcoming them in the Covid pandemic. The recognition of this middle- aged ASHA worker is remarkable as the NPR is an American privately and publicly funded non-profit media organization.
Most of its member stations are owned by government entities. Fondly called Asha Didi in the village where she works, Dwivedi has been endlessly engaged in serving 500-strong hilly and remote Gurguda village in Jawa block of Rewa district for a decade now. Unlike other ASHA workers, Ranjana uses paintings drawn by her and son to educate residents of the village about various health programs of the government, particularly the immunization program.
The Gurguda village, her area of operation, is surrounded by dense forests and houses the backward Kevat (boatman) and Pal (shepherd) community, who are mostly illiterate and resist change. According to Ranjana, just like the problems she faced during her early days as ASHA worker – when women used to run away and hide from her, when she went on immunization drives – during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic also, people in the same village would say, “there is no such thing like Corona.
” But her sheer perseverance and the paintings drawn by her and son, saw her educate the Gurguda village dwellers about the dangers of COVID-19 and how it can be avoided through wearing masks, cleanliness and social distancing.“The women in Gurguda believe me blindly, so much that one of them (who was afraid of giving birth to a third daughter in male dominated society) not only delivered the third girl child, but also named her after me,” Ranjana said.
For the last decade, Ranjana has been travelling 20 km daily from her home to Gurguda, which includes crossing the mighty Tamas river in a boat. “I twice fell in the river, but it has failed to jolt my duty and commitment to the villagers.” Ranjana intends to carry on educating the villagers even as a large number of ASHA workers are on strike demanding hike in wages.