The Garo people are said to be originally from Tibet, where they have fled difficult living conditions. They were considered savages and lived in inhospitable forests. Their history has remained relatively confidential because of their oral tradition. They migrated to North East India and Bangladesh where they are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Originally animists, at least 80% of them are today Christians. They celebrate Christmas in color.
I discovered them through my work with the NGO Eau et Vie in Dhaka. I spent a few weeks in a colleague's family village, Garo, in northern Bangladesh, not far from the Indian border. Their destitution is striking and their dependence on the abundance of crops weakens them. Those working in the tea fields further east have access to a fixed but extremely modest income. They also suffer from many diseases linked to the chemicals used in the plantations of multinational tea companies, where they live and where they work without protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those who live in the north, rice and pig farming are the main means of livelihood. They are also counting on those who have gone to work in the capital to support them. At Christmas time we also find this clash between the modernity of the city and the simplicity of the countryside. City dwellers who have managed to find a job providing a decent income come back with their smartphones and tablets and take pictures of mud houses. They also take advantage of the small solar panels that they have been able to finance for their family back in the village to recharge them before going to draw water from the well by hand. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Le Peuple Garo serait originaire du Tibet, d’o\u00f9 ils auraient fui des conditions de vie difficile. Ils \u00e9taient consid\u00e9r\u00e9s comme des sauvages et vivaient dans des for\u00eats inhospitali\u00e8res. Leur histoire est rest\u00e9e relativement confidentielle du fait de leur tradition orale. Ils ont migr\u00e9 vers le Nord Est de l’Inde et au Bangladesh o\u00f9 ils sont aujourd’hui implant\u00e9s. Originellement animistes, au moins 80% d’entre-eux sont aujourd’hui chr\u00e9tiens. Ils f\u00eatent d’ailleurs N\u00f6el en couleurs.
\nJe les ai d\u00e9couvert gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 mon travail au sein de l’ONG Eau et Vie \u00e0 Dhaka.
\nJ’ai pass\u00e9 quelques semaines dans le village familiale d’un coll\u00e8gue Garo, dans le Nord du Bangladesh, non loin de la fronti\u00e8re Indienne. Le d\u00e9nuement y est frappant et la d\u00e9pendance \u00e0 l’abondance des r\u00e9coltes les fragilise. Ceux travaillant dans les champs de th\u00e9 plus \u00e0 l’Est ont acc\u00e8s \u00e0 un revenu fixe mais extr\u00eamement modeste. Ils souffrent \u00e9galement de nombreuses maladies li\u00e9es aux produits chimiques utilis\u00e9s dans les plantations des multinationales du th\u00e9, au milieu desquelles ils habitent et dans lesquelles ils travaillent sans protections.
\nFor those who live in the north, rice and pig farming are the main means of livelihood. They are also counting on those who have gone to work in the capital to support them. At Christmas time we also find this clash between the modernity of the city and the simplicity of the countryside. City dwellers who have managed to find a job providing a decent income come back with their smartphones and tablets and take pictures of mud houses. They also take advantage of the small solar panels that they have been able to finance for their family back in the village to recharge them before going to draw water from the well by hand. <\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":70,"template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-753","phort_post","type-phort_post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","phort_post_category-bangladesh","phort_post_category-reportages","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louisbontemps.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/phort_post\/753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louisbontemps.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/phort_post"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louisbontemps.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/phort_post"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.louisbontemps.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louisbontemps.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}