The road leading to the CHC, Tobu site of the proposed project.
Victor Dzüvichü
Kohima | April 24
The past few years has seen social networking sites become a platform for the voice of the people being heard from online barter and selling to internet activism social networking sites like Facebook have turned to be a boon to the young Naga generation. Meet Sangti Konyak a blogger hailing from Tobu, Mon who has been making news with his internet-funded project, which will see the construction of a 500-550feet foot-pavement connecting the only CHC (Community Health Centre) in Tobu with the new Khap-Jeang-Yeang village.
Tobu Town is one of the oldest Sub-division Headquarters located in the far corner of the eastern Nagaland. I had been to Tobu back in the winter of 2011, hearing about the project, Peter Rutsa and I decided to revisit the place and meet the young man who had dared to dream the unthinkable.
Excerpts from the interview:
So what is this project about?
Sangti: This project for us is not just about the construction of a 500-550 feet foot pavement rather we believe this is a project will encourage and motivate thousands of youth that we can bring the change that society longs for.
What inspired you to do this project?
Sangti: We have very few college students from our town and when we come home during winter, we organize social events, like essay competitions and cleanliness drives but we always found our Town in its old shape when we came home the next winter, we realized that though there was encouragement the impact of our work was very less. The Government is good we get funds based on the schemes allotted but carrying out the schemes becomes a very different thing with funds not diverted to the beneficiaries. The CHC in Tobu serves as a lifeline for patients of the nearby villages too, and without a decent pavement, it becomes a hard task to carry patients to the centre especially during the monsoon season. With encouragement from some bloggers I decided to carry out the project, it was more of a faith project considering the budget which nearly comes up to Rs 2, 00000.
Tell me something more about the funding for this project?
Sangti: I had been saving my scholarship, my pocket money for this project, but my savings were not enough to complete such a huge projected. It was then that I decided to seek support from the people on my Facebook friend list, and the response is overwhelming.
What do you aim to bring out from this project?
Sangti: The overall aim of this project is to encourage our youths to contribute what they can for our society, this project is just the beginning; there are more projects coming up, which, we will hopefully carry out in the days to come.
So what is the DREAM?
Sangti: I have always dreamt of a better Nagaland with better roads, better living and I believe that if the young generation join hands and work together, Nagaland in 2020 will be a sight to behold; we can be the change when we believe in ourselves. The age of just sitting and grumbling is over; it is time we acted to bring change.
For more information on the Project, anyone can join the Facebook group “The Genesis Project, Tobu”.
