Kolami always lives on the `Podes’ which are small hutments which are two to three km away from the main village. They seldom mix with the other communities.
Population in the Project Area: 44800
The People
India
The Kolami people are an indigenous community in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. They are primarily concentrated in the districts of Visakhapatnam and East Godavari. The Kolami people live in houses made up of grass huts, and government-provided houses with clay tile roofs. The men wear the traditional attire of dhoti. Women wear traditionally wrapped sarees with blouses and children wear a blouse with a skirt. The religious customs include worshiping Hindu gods and goddesses.
Making dolls and Agriculture is their occupation. They work as laborers in other fields for daily wages. Their staple food is corn, corn rice, and vippa flowers that they fry and eat.
The main source of livelihood of the Kolami living in the Wardha district is forests and Agriculture. The agriculture is purely rainfed and the main crops are soya beans, cotton, and lentils. The output from agriculture provides only 3 months of support to feed their families and for the rest of the year, they are dependent on the forests for their livelihood. From the forests, they get leaves of specific trees to make bidi, a form of cigarette. The average income generated per person is Rs.12/- to 30/- per day or $5 in a month. Joint families do not exist which is otherwise common in Andhra Pradesh.
They have a rich cultural heritage, with music, dance, and art playing important roles in their daily lives. However, the community faces many challenges, including poverty, lack of access to education, and discrimination. High infant mortality rate and low male-female ratio problems are comparatively higher in this community.
The Project
Mother-Tongue literacy.
The Kolami language belongs to the Dravidian language family. This language has a rich oral tradition, with many songs, stories, and legends that have been passed down through generations. Despite its cultural significance, the Kolami language is considered endangered due to the increasing use of dominant languages such as Telugu and English.
But the Kolami people have a positive attitude toward their language. With the aid of mother tongue speakers and support from linguists, we have developed literacy materials for training purposes. Attempts of orthography development aid in preserving cultural heritage. These materials have been designed using a pre-existing framework and methodology. They comprise a pre-reader, a set of books that introduce the alphabet in a structured manner, a complementary storybook, a rudimentary math textbook, teacher’s guides, a spelling guide, and an alphabet chart. These materials were presented at the literacy workshops, which have seen an increasing number of participants showing interest in the program. This is an encouraging indicator of successful progress in our efforts to promote literacy within the community. We plan further programs to train more native speakers and help them preserving their language traditions.
Progress
As of March 2023
The impact of literacy workshops on the Kolami people has been heartwarming. The community has started to realize the power of education in uplifting their lives and boosting their self-esteem. What’s really special about this literacy program is that it’s designed to teach them in their own mother tongue, which is a huge step forward in their progress. The program offers engaging learning materials, such as pre-readers, alphabet books, storybooks, basic math books, teacher’s guides, spelling guides, and alphabet charts. These materials have been tested and are now being used in the workshops, which have seen a surge in participation and interest. The literacy program opens doors to education for those who haven’t had access before, enhancing their cognitive abilities, social skills, and economic opportunities. The literacy committee is being trained to recruit and train mother tongue teachers and monitor the program’s progress. Experts have commended the program for its potential to change lives and instill a sense of value by promoting learning in one’s mother tongue.