SHERGAON, 26 Mar: Thirteen persons from Kongthong village in Meghalaya, along with three officials of Shillong-based Meghalaya Institute of Governance (MIG), were on a visit to Shergaon village in West Kameng district from 21-24 March.
The trip was part of the MIG’s initiative titled ‘Bridging rural communities with best governance practices’.
“The purpose of this exposure trip was to create a connection between the two communities to foster exchange of governance mechanisms put in place for development and promotion of sustainable rural tourism in Meghalaya,” Shergaon-based NGO Garung Thuk, which organised the tour, informed in a release.
On the first day “the visitors attended a classroom session for orientation and best practices of sustainable rural tourism and the Sherdukpen culture,” it said.
The next three days involved “field visits to Granjo Project – a cherry blossom plantation project of Jigaon-based NGO Zgang Depga; the weaving centre of women SHG Seinthuk; Mandala Top, Morshing village heritage walk, the Tanpe Droima museum, the Taklung gonpa, the Chillipam gonpa, Yokmuzor Buddha Park, etc,” the release stated.
“The visitors were also provided with firsthand demonstration of homestay management at the Red Berry River View Homestay, owned by Pentang Thungon and her daughter Tsomu Thungon,” it said, adding that “a farm stay management session was also conducted by Dr DK Thungon” for the visitors.
MIG manager Ibakordor Dohling expressed gratitude to Garung Thuk and the Shergaon Village Council, and expressed hope that such exchange programmes would be organised in the future too, “so that both the communities may benefit from such cross-leaning.”
Garung Thuk chairman Ledo Thungon thanked the Meghalaya government for choosing Shergaon as the destination for the visit.
On the other hand, Kongthung-based Indigenous Agro Tourism Cooperative Society Ltd secretary Rothel Khongsit apprised the locals here of how the villagers of Kongthung has a ‘whistle name’ for every individual in the village, which is also known as ‘the whistling village of Meghalaya’.
