YIMJENKIMONG CITIZEN RESPONDS TO " Naga Village awaits the Fruits of Promises Made"

Referring to what had appeared in your esteemed paper on 9th August 2008, Vol- III, Issue-219, page 1, with the caption "Naga Village awaits the Fruits of Promises Made " by Bonnie Konyak, which made International news much to the surprise of the NEIP team as well as the citizens of Yimjenkimong Village, it is believed, the article has created a general awareness among Naga Public to what is happening in this "Small and Remote Village" of Yimjenkimong. However, the article in question contains incorrect and misleading information, which prompts one to think, "Is the scribe a callow?"

It is evident, the article is born out of website surfing and a phone call to Mr. Taliwaba (not Taliwapang, as appeared in paper), former Chairman of Yimjenkimong Village Council on 6 th August, at 5 P.M from Phone No.03862 268671(Caller's Identity was not disclosed to him, though asked). Plain enough, the writer failed to make any serious effort to do thorough investigation to what lies underneath the seemingly appearance in Website, which resulted many missing links of ground realities and negative repercussion overseas. From a layman's point of view this is "Poor Journalism"

As a responsible citizen of Yimjenkimong Village, being directly involve in these whole lot of activities in the level of a cook, an interpreter and a transmitter (of information) from day one the first batch of White People set their foot on the soil of Yimjenkimong and kept abreast of what is happening in America and at the village, one cannot afford to remain a silent spectator to what Bonnie Konyak has portrayed but bring out this account in all transparency for one and all on 'How and Why' NEIP is for Yimjenkimong.

It is true a group of Photographers from Photomission (www.photomission.com for details) representing 6 countries visited the village in December 2004. Though touched and moved by the remoteness of the village and low socio-economic condition of Yimjenkimong, perhaps, not all were convicted to the level of taking up the challenges of starting humanitarian services at Yimjenkimong except the Two Founders of NEIP (Yimjenkimong) - Jason K Powers, Colorado , USA and Ghani Zaman, Orissa , INDIA .

NEIP (Yimjenkimong) indeed is the brainchild of these two humanitarians, which came into existence in later part of 2006. Soon after, the second batch of foreign visitors, totally a different composition of people from various field of studies visited the village in December 2006 to assess the local resources and assist the village in coming up with the dream " Multi Purpose Building ". Immediately on their return home, in January 2007 a sum of Rs. 16500/- was sent from America, to the designated account in Nagaland and today it lies in the joint signatory account of Council Chairman and Finance Recorder NEIP (Yimjenkimong).

Thinking better ways to educate the people on Yimjenkimong and to raise the needed fund through exhibitions, the NEIP team returned to village on 9 th October 2007 to collect the village made artifacts, and the words "huge consignments of crafts" as written by Bonnie Konyak is "too huge a phrase", for, all that the villagers and the council could provide was one set of Ao- Naga Warrior attire (to Jason), 210 bamboo cups -contributed by Council, 5 numbers of bamboo made Ao-Naga Shields and some hand loom items sold to NEIP, with which 3 exhibitions were successfully held at different locations in Denver it has been informed, and a sum of USD 407.65 through exhibition sales, and 191.68 USD through bamboo cups was raised thus far, purely on free will donations. If only the village made handicrafts can fetch the price as tagged in Website, it is good for Yimjenkimong. It would be appreciated if Bonnie K is aware that the price of Arongtsokiya (Naga Warrior Sash) range from Rs.250/- to Rs.3000 or more depending on the materials used and workmanship, so also any other artifacts.

Addressing to second issue of what Bonnie Konyak has stated, "….about eight of these tourists has stayed for almost a month depending almost entirely on the hospitality of the villagers; the council also says that for these three trips that NEIP has made, it has spent about one lakh Rupees to tend to them…" This is sheer distortion of the fact that when PAP (Protected Area Permit) is issued to a foreigner only for a period of ten days how can a person stay for almost a month? NEIP ever since its inception visited the village only twice so far and each time they come, they paid for the entire expenses of food and stay. 'About one lakh rupees spent' includes expenditures incurred in procuring materials for retaining wall of the building site, local journeys made by the council members, of course, in connection to their visits, contributions of artifacts for overseas exhibition and small tokens of gestures to make them feel welcome to the village. This is nothing as compared to what they are doing for the village, forgoing all comforts of modern amenities and bearing untold inconveniences of their stay as this village has nothing to offer except the warm welcome.

Why Yimjenkimong today still 'a remote village' amongst the advance, is because geographically the village is located in Changki Range , where as due to delimitation of constituencies, falls under Alongtaki ( Japu Range ) constituency. So when it comes to any developmental work at Yimjenkimong, the Elected Member of Legislative Assembly from Jangpetkong (Changki Range) leave it all at the Mercy of the MLA from Alongtaki, while the later see no better reason to take up any developmental activity in all seriousness at a village other than his own Range villages. As such, the village remains 'a small and remote village' till today though it is blessed with manifold natural resources like - Tongtong Waterfall about 100mtrs high,(perhaps the highest waterfall explored in Nagaland) that can be converted into a mini hydro-project and Tongtong Lake which assures a promising fishing and boating spot. Panaktuba Ait, a natural bird sanctuary where seasonal birds migrates at different seasons- an ideal place for eco-tourists and bird lovers and healthy exercise of trekking down the hill slopes from village to Milak River (the biggest river in Mokokchung district) for Community Fishing Festival. Therefore, the Village Council and the citizens of Yimjenkimong are more than happy to see that where the government has failed, NEIP is striving to uplift the village and develop it into a self-sustaining community, and as such extends full support by the villagers to NEIP.

Besides economic front, the village is lacking behind even in educational field. Poor infrastructure, lack of modern facilities coupled by poor quality teaching results to very high rate of school drop outs in the village. The NEIP (Yimjenkimong) strive to uplift the quality of education in the village by providing modern educational facilities whichever possible. In fact the village is so indebted to Ghani Zaman as it was through his kind initiative and intervention that Christian School Yimjenkimong has received two computers from PRAG Foundation, Guwahati, in Nov 2007, and expects to receive more in near future through NIEP (YKG). Not only that, to upgrade the only existing library in the village that owned by General Students Body is one of their agendas.

Therefore, statements like "yet to see a single Pie", "locals are becoming restless" and "left the villagers questioning the fate of all future hopes" are all fallacious and (beg to state) reflects nothing but only callousness on the part of the scribe.

Ayangla Lemtur
Dilong Ward,
Mokokchung.
20th August 2008

Original article can be found here.