In the remote mountains of Kerala’s Wayanad district, amid the rolling green hills of the Western Ghats, the forest-dwelling tribal community of Vallaramkunnu has long lived in an intimate relationship with the land.
For generations, families moved through the mountain forests, harvesting wild lemongrass as a way of life. Using wood-fired distillation units, they extracted lemongrass essential oil and sold it to meet their most basic needs. The work was demanding, but it sustained families and reflected a way of life deeply rooted in the mountains.
A cry from Mother Earth
Their traditional livelihood was disrupted in the 1990s, when environmental restrictions limited tree cutting. Firewood became scarce and expensive, and traditional distillation came to a halt. With this restriction, their already meager income for food and other basic necessities vanished almost overnight.
To stave off their hunger, many families survived on betel leaves alone. With their forest-based livelihood cut off, they ventured down the mountain in search of daily wage work, but without formal skills, opportunities were scarce.
A powerful light
In 2015, a student with Amrita University arrived in Vallaramkunnu through Live-in-Labs, a unique experiential learning program where students live in impoverished rural communities to understand life’s challenges and work with the people to develop practical solutions.
The student witnessed the depth of hardship in the village while at the same time, lemongrass still grew abundantly across the mountainsides. Drawing on what he had learned, he returned with an idea: a solar-powered steam distillation unit that could produce lemongrass essential oil without firewood.
One step at a time
Amma embraced the idea, seeing its potential to restore the tribal community’s livelihood and self-reliance while remaining in harmony with the mountains. Though the university team had no prior experience building such a system, Amma guided them in bringing it into reality.
The students worked closely with the community members to design and install the solar distillation unit. Next, some young women of Vallaramkunnu became members of AmritaSREE, our initiative for women’s self-help groups. They bravely stepped forward for training to operate the machinery and manage production so they could independently earn for their families.
Seeing through their eyes
Initially, the results were promising. But after the training period ended, lemongrass essential oil production gradually came to a halt. When the university team examined the situation more closely, it became clear that the issue was not lack of effort or commitment.
Most of the women had never been to school, making it difficult for them to read or even interpret the numerical controls on the machinery. Faced with unfamiliar dials and numbers, the women hesitated to operate the system, and their lemongrass essential oil production came to a stop.
When Amma was informed, her response shifted the approach entirely. Rather than lowering expectations or simplifying the work, she mentored the students to see the process through the eyes of the women. Her vision included asking them about their favorite colors and to redesign the training and machinery accordingly. In this way, the system could be understood intuitively rather than through numbers.
Clarity
Side-by-side, the students and the young women color-coded the different parts and controls of the distillation unit based on the women’s preferences. What had once felt inaccessible became clear. Amma’s human-centered approach reoriented the system around the women, and they were able to resume production of lemongrass essential oil.
Breaking new ground
With full confidence, the young women took ownership of the process and now operate the unit independently, sustaining production over time. In doing so, they are reviving an ancestral livelihood and reclaiming their power and their roots.
108% Pure
Today, the women of Vallaramkunnu produce high-quality lemongrass essential oil, featured in premium Ayurvedic aromatherapy formulations for skin, hair, and body. Each day, they uplift themselves through their work, producing the pure, naturally sweet and uplifting fragrance of lemongrass. This fusion of empowerment, compassion, and the purity of nature touches everyone who gets to breathe it in.
East meets West
Harvested in its native mountain soil and solar-distilled by tribal women, their lemongrass essential oil is distinguished by its rare, world-class aromatic purity. Treasured in Ayurveda and aromatherapy, it refreshes body, mind, and spirit while helping to ease tension, fatigue, and nausea.
Through this initiative, Amma is showing how all women, including young tribal women in a remote area, can contribute immense value to their communities and to society at large when they are given a foundation upon which to build new lives.
They arise
Vallaramkunnu is one of over 2,800 villages adopted by Amma. Each one carries its own story, shaped by its people, land, and traditions. This is just one inspiring design in the vast tapestry of Amma’s humanitarian initiatives, where lives are uplifted, village traditions are restored, communities are strengthened, and empowerment grows through AmritaSREE.
