WWSF - Prize for Women’s Creativity in Rural Life 2018 to Birubala Rabha
The nomination was submitted by Ankur Bora on behalf of AFNA
Dear Ms Bora,
It is with great pleasure that we announce to you that your candidate, Birubala Rabha was selected for the 2018 WWSF Prize for women’s creativity in Rural Life, with an award of US$ 1000. Ms. Rabha is among 10 laureates chosen by the International Prize Jury among the nominations received this ear.CONGRATULATIONS! As of to-date, WWSF has awarded 442 prizewinners in 140 countries.

We would like to propose, if possible, that a prize celebration is held on 15 October – International Day of Rural Women, to give visibility to Ms. Birubala Rabha’s work. If possible, we would like to receive some photos if there is an opportunity to do an event.
We thank you for your kind collaboration with the WWSF Prize program and wish you lots of joy in your interactions with Birubala Rabha. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Cordially yours,

Elly Pradervand,

WWSF Founder/CEO and UN Representative

Nomination submitted by Ankur Bora

Often it is only when we are confronted with adversity that our lives are transformed to reveal the radiant power and wonder of human character. There are inspiring stories of people who have been changed by the calamities they’ve faced, emerging stronger, wiser and more alive than they have ever been. Their stories teach us that tragedies, when confronted with faith, courage, and tenacity could be overcome, and at the depth of adversity lies the height and strength of our nobility as human being.
The story of Birubala Rabha began in 1985 after some of the villagers branded her son, who was suffering from a mental illness, as a witch being possessed by a fairy. Some of the villagers even tried to kill the helpless boy. Her husband took him to a quack who said he would die in three days. Fortunately, Birubala’s son survived and months passed without incident. It was a lifechanging experience as she witnessed firsthand the fear, ignorance and helplessness of the fellow villagers. Birubala made up her mind to fight the evil practice of witch hunting and educate her community to break the stranglehold of superstition and thus began a rewarding journey of endurance, fearlessness, compassion and hope.

 Slowly, over two decades, the story of Birubala and her gutsy crusade began to be reported by the media. She became the talking point among the chattering classes. The simple woman, clad in her handwoven clothes, looking thin, wiry, and outspoken, became the poster girl of a new campaign for change and modernity. Over the years, she has received several awards, including an honorary doctorate conferred by Gauhati University .In September 2012, social activists and well-wishers launched Mission Birubala ( www.missionbirubala.com ), a novel mission to reach out to witch-hunt victims and bring about changes in the outlook of communities cut off from modernity. The mission has been launched in Goalpara and Kamrup at present, but plans are afoot to spread the campaign to other districts of Assam. Birubala hrough her mission, emphasizes that merely saving victims is not enough and the victims must be repatriated with their families or given shelter and taught a livelihood. Assam Police, through its innovative Project Prahari, initiated by officer Sri Kula Saikia, has joined hands with the Assam State Women’s Commission to activate community policy against witch-hunting. The commission in consultation with Ms. Birubala has made certain recommendations including trauma counseling and retreat shelters for victims, provisions for women’s court at panchayat (village courts) level and formulating a state policy to root out this social evil of witch-hunting.

The history of witch hunting goes back to Middle Ages when in Europe thousands of innocents, mostly women, accused of practicing black magic, were burnt at the stake. In India, countless instances of witch hunting have been reported. In the state of Assam and North Eastern region of India such beliefs continue to prevail even in this 21 st century where gory murders of helpless women often take up newspaper headlines. In Assam’s remote countryside, the prevalence of witch hunting is closely linked to absence of healthcare. Lack of access to hospitals and doctors nearby leads people to treat diseases through medicines prepared by tantric or quacks who makes a living from selling cures and conducting purification ceremonies. When the patients are unable to recover, these medicine hawkers are quick to lay the blame on someone else – often the most vulnerable in the village: unmarried women, widows or elderly people. Branding as witch, these victims are ostracized, even more dangerously, they are beaten, buried alive, or forced to undergo horrific rituals such as being covered from head to toe with a net and prodding the body with sharp sticks.

Hailing from a poor family, Birubala was orphaned at the age of six years. She could study only up to class V, she, however, she got her bearing in cooking, embroidery, weaving and poultry rearing. Married at the age 16, she withstood the challenges of raising three sons and a daughter. When things are tough, we draw upon an amazing reserve of inner strength. Birubala confronted the villagers when her son was called a witch, taking it all in, defiant , unrelenting and thus she changed the course of events by herself, alone. Since than Birubala Rabha has been relentlessly fighting against superstitions, travelling extensively from village to village, speaking out against these evil practices, teaching lessons in schools, offering hope to victims and arousing fear in the perpetrators by making them accountable for their actions.

In 1999, she became a member of the Assam Mahila Samata Society (AMSS , http://www.assammahilasamakhya.org/) . Soon, as she spoke passionately in more and more meetings, it became a rousing cry against the darkness of ignorance and shackles of tradition. That was not all. At great personal risk, she saved 35 people, both men and women, from certain death at the hands of hostile villagers who had accused them of causing illness, death, or some misfortune. She sheltered another victim in her own home and narrowly escaped being killed herself. Both Birubala and AMSS have been fortunate to work with each other. While the society found in her a tireless crusader with access to the masses in Assam’s remote countryside, Birubala felt a sense of belonging in becoming its member, and the organization was able to intervene in many sensitive cases that came to her knowledge. 

I met Birubala Rabha on 6th January 2018. There was an event to honor all the NGO and Project partners of AFNA on that day at the Jeevan Kite and River festival. It was a great honor to listen to this plain speaking woman with the dust of country roads on her feet , her hands calloused by years of hard labor , standing tall in her traditional attire , one that she had woven at her own loom. While nominating Ms. Birubala Rabha for women's creativity in rural life, we believe that an international award and recognition will go a long way in rallying the support of the nation in assisting in the capture of the criminals, holding out hope to victims and ultimately bringing an end to this barbarous practice. 

In spite of all the honor and adulation heaped on this feisty woman, her life remains simple, even harsh. She makes end meet working as a daily wage laborer. Birubala, of course, is too proud to open up about her needs, and the stories of her privation remain cloaked in silence. Rather than being disheartened by her poverty, she continues to dream of her project, a shelter home for victims of witch-hunts, where doctors would help them cope with trauma of torture, a place where they would be safe, fed, clothed, taught a trade, given the courage to fight back, and reclaim a dignified life. Today, she has a cause that fills her with direction, motivation, inspiration and purpose.

Nominator : Ankur Bora

Director , Assam Foundation of North America( www.assamfoundation.net)