Rekha Buragohain lives in Baligaon village under Maithong Gaon Panchayat in Kakopathar Block, Tinsukia district. She’s always had a way with plants. Baideo and Dada spent years looking after a small nursery next to their house, nothing fancy, just enough saplings for a few neighbours and some local farmers who knew they could be trusted. It was good, honest work. But it stayed small. Nobody really paid much attention.
People would walk past without a second glance, not knowing how much love and effort went into that little corner of green. But Baideo and Dada? They just kept at it. Watering, pruning, planting, day after day, quietly building something.
Then SeSTA came along. Not to take over or change everything, but to help them do what they were already doing, just better. Baideo already had the skill and the dedication. What she needed was someone to help her organize things, show her a few new techniques, and connect her with people who could buy her saplings.
SeSTA gave her that. Training sessions on soil prep, disease control, market linkages, the kind of practical help that makes a real difference. Baideo started trying new things. She improved how the nursery was set up, learned better practices, and before long, she could see the results. The saplings looked healthier. More uniform. And farmers started showing up more often.
Word got around. What started as a quiet setup behind the house became the go-to place for saplings in the entire block. Then beyond the block.
And then something happened that she never saw coming.
MLAs, PRI members, local leaders, they started visiting her nursery. They’d heard about this woman who’d turned a backyard operation into something people talked about. They wanted to see it for themselves, to hear her story, to tell her they were impressed. For Baideo, it was almost too much to take in.
Here she was, in the same small space where she’d worked for years with hardly anyone noticing, now shaking hands with public representatives and being asked how she did it.
If you ask her what changed, she won’t make a big speech. She’ll just smile and say: “We kept working. SeSTA helped us. That’s all.”
Her nursery is proof that you don’t need to start big to end up somewhere meaningful. You just need to care enough to keep going, and maybe a little help when it counts. Baideo’s story is still growing, one sapling at a time.
