TravelStream™ news feed for member cemoore on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/cemoore en-us Copyright ©2012 TravelPod.com Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:49:09 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173360960/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173360960/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173360960/tpod.html Tue, 03 Apr 2007 18:49:09 +0000 Water for Life - An emotional journey with WaterAid looking at their work in 3 states of India.

Taj fantastic - Agra, India

Agra, India

Words (or my photos) will never do the Taj Mahal justice. This is the second time I have been fortunate to visit this wonder of the world, and yet I still watched in awe as the sun rose and bathed the white marble in brilliant light, which flickered in the sun. Having been assured by our guide that all the stories about killing the architect's wife or chopping off the hands of the masons, were all untrue, went spent a couple of hours marveling at the beauty and romance of the place. It is truly a remarkable place and even more magical than i remembered. It was especially nice to share the experience with such an amazing group of people, that I've become so close too. 100 photos later (only a few of which are attached :) ) we left to visit the Agra fort. Quickly dropping a very poorly Princess Sarah back at the hotel, to keep an equally poorly Rian company, we arrived at the red sandstone palace on the opposite river bank. We spent a hour or so learning about the beautiful structure, although I was very concerned about the guides interest in the symbolic fertility of the architecture! We even had a little time to shop before boarding the "panikers" bus, eating lunch in the revolving hotel restaurant (still not sure how we missed the Taj last night!) and boarding the bus for the 6 hour journey back to Delhi. For me the journey was very mixed, one minute laughing amazed at Dan and Vinny's ability to create an entire language from the Decan Air logo; and crying the next. Today has felt like a day of holiday, (probably a deserved one at the end of the two weeks) but also a real reminder that tomorrow I am going back to my life in England and leaving behind what I have seen. We have seen first hand the differences that WaterAid (with their hugely dedicated and professional staff) can make to peoples lives. The challenge for me is now to return to Leeds and find the right words to explain what we have seen and paint pictures for people who will never see the real India. Tonight we had a last meal in Delhi, and i finally got to wear my Sari (thank you Vinny) which was a gift from Maria and the West office team. Although I needed Chetna to help dress me, getting in a rickshaw to have a last drink in Delhi was definitely a once in a life time experience!
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1175624220/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1175624220/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1175624220/tpod.html Tue, 03 Apr 2007 18:30:45 +0000 Water for Life - An emotional journey with WaterAid looking at their work in 3 states of India.

Thank you and Good Bye - Delhi and London, India

Delhi and London, India

This morning we said a very sad goodbye to; its all about "Dave", Dan L (with a song) and Dan B (with my favourite kangaroo impression) and set of on a final scary taxi ride to the airport, for the flight back to London. I'd like to end with a few thank yous: Thank you to Arup and WaterAid for giving me a place on the trip and allowing me to experience the highs and lows of the last two weeks, and see first hand that we can make a difference to peoples lives. Thank you to everyone who has kept reading this far through the blog. I hope you have found it informative and learnt a little about the vital work of WaterAid in India and how they are changing and saving lives. By continuing to support WaterAid we can give women like Champa hope for a healthier and better future. If you have a minute please check out the WaterAid website www.wateraid.org and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions on the trip or becoming involved. Thank you Due South for the laughs, smiles, songs, hugs and tears - its been "emotional" and hopefully there's not a dry eye in the house! Lots of Love Claire x
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1175171640/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1175171640/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1175171640/tpod.html Tue, 03 Apr 2007 18:16:53 +0000 Water for Life - An emotional journey with WaterAid looking at their work in 3 states of India.

Debriefing in Dehli - Delhi, India

Delhi, India

After a delayed flight we arrived back in Delhi last night, dumped our stuff in the hostel and went to meet the other group for a drink. The hotel where we ended up was a huge and very expensive tourist complex. Personally I felt more than a little uncomfortable drinking overpriced beer in such over the top and luxury surroundings, when we had spent the morning in the slum, and seen the appalling conditions which people were living in. Again proving that the gap between rich and poor, and tourist and real India is shockingly large! This morning the two groups (East and Due South) came back together to discuss our experiences at a debriefing session with the WaterAid India Delhi staff. It was really good to hear about other peoples experiences and share our impressions of the projects and the differences that they are making. For me it was also a chance to reflect on what i have learnt over the last two weeks and begin to think about how to I can share this with others when i return. Previously when i have spoken about WaterAid I have always focused on the provision of Water and Sanitation and added the hygiene education on at the end. But through this visit I've really been able to see how the hygiene education and community participation are really the cement that binds the water and sanitation together and make the projects work sustainably. Comparing life in the non intervention village to life in the communities where WaterAid are working, is really hard. Its almost impossible to believe that the vibrant, clean, healthy and happy people we met ever had as little hope for the future as Champa. I don't think I will ever forget the look on her face as she explained her fears for her health and therefore her ability to provide for her children and their future. But I am filled with hope that once WaterAid begin work in the village, Champa will regain her lost spirit and that she helps drive the changes in the community in a similar way to the lady I met in the slum, who reminded me so much of her. Also inspiring was the confidence of the hygiene trained children, and their ability to engage other members of their communities. Its really reassuring to know that their futures are brighter not just because of their improved health but also because they now have hopes and dreams for the future. After the debriefing session, we packed up our stuff and prepared ourselves for the long bus journey to Agra. We said our farewells to Depinder and the Delhi office team, thanking them for all their preparations and for such an amazing experience. As a final request Due South gave an "emotional" performance of Chorengay - Manita even phoned in for an audio performance! The bus journey to Agra was somewhat eventful after an hour and a half (during which the bus was fixed a number of times) we finally left Delhi!! 6 hours and numerous visits to the toilets (I have finally scummed to the Due South lurgy) later we finally arrived at our hotel for the night. The journey however was not all bad! Dan and Dan discovered that the bus had a mic on board and therefore felt compelled to (with the rest of Due South) to entertain the bus for at least 2 hours! My personal highlights were: "Winter Spring Summer or Fall" - thank you Andrea, buddy!; Belle's beautiful (and very brave) solo; Sarah D's impressive Hakuna Matarta and of course the group anthem, lead once again by Vinny "the wheels on the bus". Christina - Like a prayer was just for you :) Sunrise at the Taj tomorrow!
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173187081/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173187081/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173187081/tpod.html Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:06:34 +0000 Water for Life - An emotional journey with WaterAid looking at their work in 3 states of India.

Sanitation in the Slums - New Merhera Colony, Gwalior, India

New Merhera Colony, Gwalior, India

Our last visit of the trip was to another slum in Gwalior. The New Mehera Colony is part of the SESI project which we learnt about yesterday with Dr Singh. The slum was very different to yesterday's and seemed to be much less crowded and a bit cleaner. We were welcomed by children at the school, and a Belle opened the new school latrine block. After a lovely speech she asked one of the girls to help her cut the ribbon and we all celebrating by singing the Har Doh song. The children had prepared a display of their posters depicting hygiene messages. The care and attention to detail of the posters was great (sometimes a little too graphic!). I can't imagine children in the UK being quite so excited about drawing latrines, or how to make your own re-hydration drink (4 pinches of sugar to one of salt - in case you are interested!). After singing our thanks to the school children, with Johnson leading the performance of his favourite song (the wheels!) we went to meet the rest of the community and learn about the project. The project has been running in this area for a year and a half, there are 4 areas in the slum and this one has 45-50 households. Before there were no toilets and very little water, the only hand pump was at the school. The women stayed in doors most of the time and collected water from muddy open wells, which dried in the summer. Earlier, I had watched a water taken deliver water to a neighboring area of the slum, it seems quite ridiculous that in some areas of the city a few people have lots of water and in others, who communities have to rely on a couple of tankers a day for all their water needs! The first part of the project addressed the urgent need for water, and the new water supply is from a deep borehole and a submersible pump supplies two more hand pumps. As the pump requires electricity, they only have water when the electricity is running at certain times of the day, but this is still a really big improvement. One of the women explained that now all the houses have access to toilets and clean water and that it started with the formation of the self help groups and the setting up of a credit/saving scheme. Before they had to go to the money lenders who charged high interest rates. Now they collect 20 or 50 rupees a month and are able help each other to build toilets and are much more independent. We were told that life is more organised and all the children attend school because they don't have to collect water. The project is now just starting to work in another cluster of the slum and the self help groups are being formed. Our visit marked a huge celebration in the community, we were presented with gifts from the self help groups, which again is a really overwhelming experience, when they have so little to spare. Before we were taken on a tour of the slum we were treated to a musical performance i will never forget. Lead by a young boy, full of confidence and with a brilliant voice, the men performed local folk songs. One of the instruments is probably best described as a giant pair of sharp metal tweezers, and watching was quite terrifying! During our tour of the homes we each planted trees in honor of our visit and were shown the newly constructed latrines. The homes were better than yesterday, with the main sources of income being livestock (lots of baby goats) and making carpets. Some of the houses had even painted beautiful welcome flowers and messages on the floor to welcome us, and it was lovely to see people celebrating the changes, but just to the edge of the old well there was still open sewerage flowing and rubbish surrounding the community, and it was heart breaking to imagine life before WaterAid started work. We reluctantly left the community to return to the hotel and say our goodbyes to Dr Singh. Dan and Dan gave a fantastic performance of the Gwalior version of "I've been around the world", which Johnson followed with a song he had written especially for the occasion! Saying our good byes to Johnson, Maria, Suresh and the rest of the team was really sad. We have been looked after and treated like friends since we arrived, and the experience has been all the more special for getting to meet such dedicated and fantastic people. Dan and I shared a final drive to the airport with Useff, who's smile and camel impressions i will never forget! After a last Due South hug photo we waved good bye (gave away the Vegemite - horrible!) and commenced the rather complicated checking in process!
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173147960/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173147960/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173147960/tpod.html Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:51:32 +0000 Water for Life - An emotional journey with WaterAid looking at their work in 3 states of India.

Formal Presentation - Gwalior, India

Gwalior, India

This evening we helped WaterAid India launch two research documents to a gathering of local dignitaries (including the commissioner) and Representatives from local NGOs and the communities. The evening started a little late (we were waiting for the commissioner who had promised to attend) with a formal welcome from Dr Singh. Myself, Dan C and Andrea then gave a short presentation on behalf of the supporters visit. Translated by Dr Singh, we discussed our impressions of WaterAid India and the fantastic work which we have been privileged to see. We also talked the important role of hygiene education - probably the element of WaterAid's work, which I have learnt the most about during the visit. Its really easy to measure progress by the installation of hand pumps and latrines, and especially easy to tell donors that this is how their money is been spent. Measuring the successes and showing donors the benefits of the hygiene education is much harder. Yet, the simple act of teaching people about the importance of hand washing, can cut diarrhoea by 40% which is incredible. After our presentation we gave the WaterAid India team a scroll; on which we all promised to take home the messages we had learned and continue to raise funds to support the projects, and a signed WaterAid T shirt as a reminder of the trip and a small token of our thanks. They had also prepared gifts for us, and we each received a beautiful traditional ornament, which will always remind me of the warmth and kindness with with they have treated us all. The presentation continued with the table of dignitaries each receiving a wrapped copy of the documents, which were well received by the audience. Finally, a video about the slums of Gwalior was shown to the group. The video was fantastic and really showed the slums as we had seen them earlier in the day. At the end of the meeting it was time for our final surprise, WaterAid asked if we would sing, expecting a performance of our signature turn (heads shoulders). Little did they know that we had secretly been rehearsing a new number. Conducted (brilliantly) by Dan B, we sang a Hindi friendship song "Chorengay", which i suspect received more marks for effort, enthusiasm and entertainment than quality or musical ability! But it was great to be able to show our appreciation. The evening was a real success, both documents were well received and the commissioner gave an interview to the papers and a TV crew. But for me it was great to be able to actually help WaterAid India spread their message and use what we have seen over the last 10 days to start to help communities like Mudheka on the first day where their seemed no hope. After the presentation concluded dinner was served and we had the opportunity to talk to audience. The highlight for me was getting to talk to the leader of the womens group from the slum we visited earlier today. In the slums she commanded respect from everyone around her and I was impressed by the enthusiasm she had for her role and the changes she was driving. But tonight she spoke, to an important and highly educated audience, as an equal, it was truly amazing to see the wider impacts of WaterAid's work. By setting up self help groups they are educating people about how they can change their own lives and help themselves, and it is really working. On a much lighter note, the most entertaining part of the evening was definitely part taking of a local custom. We had organised a thank you cake and it seems that the Indian tradition is not to eat the cake yourself but to feed (small pieces) of it to other people; which with a cake topped with cream had endless possibilities for silliness! Enjoy the photos, Claire x
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173106380/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173106380/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173106380/tpod.html Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:54:31 +0000 Water for Life - An emotional journey with WaterAid looking at their work in 3 states of India.

Slum City - Gwalior, India

Gwalior, India

We spent this morning at the Sambhav offices in Gwalior where Dr Singh gave a presentation about Partnerships in Poverty Reduction in Madhya Pradesh (MP), which has the highest tribal population of any state. It was really good to discuss what we've seen and begin to put things into context with a lot more background knowledge. About 40% of the MP population are either tribal or from scheduled castes, and are marginalized, poor and very vulnerable. Of the 45 districts in MP, WaterAid are working in 13, which highlighted just how much more is needed. Over the last few days we have visited many communities where WaterAid projects are making huge differences to people's lives; but for every village we drive to, we pass hundreds where WaterAid don't have the resources or funds to work. One of the most shocking things I learned this morning was about female infanticide. I naively assumed this didn't happen anymore, but seeing posters with the tag line "A girl child is just as valuable and a boy" and the birth statistics proved that it is still very much a problem. In some communities the population is now so unbalanced that villages have resorted to buying women and girls in markets. We then listened to another presentation on the Slum Environment Sanitation Initiative (SESI), a joint programme with WaterAid, Sambhav, United Nations Habitats, and the local government. WaterAid have carried out a major excerise to map the 32 Gwalior slums and identified poverty pockets. All of this information has been complied in GIS and is being used to plan future work. During the 2 month survey they identified more poverty pockets than the government had previously recognised. 37% of Gwalior is living in slums and of these slums82% have no access to piped water supply. The SESI project initially included 5 poverty pockets but this has been extended to 16 and will benefit 3857 homes and 5021 families. After lunch we traveled to the Awadapura Slum to see the challenges of working in the urban communities. We received a very loud and excitable welcome (including loud drums and dancing paper horses) from this predominately Muslim community. A group of girls sang Shipra's Har Doh song, which we can now all sing along with. We were also addressed by the womens group who explained how before they didn't care about hygiene, but then Sambhav helped them form self help groups for each lane. We were given gifts of beautiful cards prepared by the children and hand made note books in honor of our visit. It was really humbling to be accepting gifts from people living in such appalling conditions who really had nothing but their warmth to be giving away. We were taken on a tour of the slum, and followed by an increasingly large and volatile crowd, and literally forced through the streets. At this point I have to mention Johnson and his superior bouncer skills, at one point he seemed to hold back the whole crowd! We later discovered that there had been a political meeting in the slum and we arrived as this broke up, which is why the crowd were so worked up and intimidating. The leader of the womens groups, an amazingly enthusiastic and engaging woman, showed us around the slums. The women were really keen to show us their clean homes and new latrines. Before they used dry toilets and disposed of the waste in the streets; this really reminded me of learning about England in the middle ages, with people chucking chamber pots out of upstairs windows on to passers by in the street. Through the project sewers are being installed in the street and household latrines constructed and connected to the sewers. It is amazing how enthusiastic the women were, one lady, who was desperate to show Rian her home explained that just by visiting her, we had shown our interest and now others would listen to her and build latrines. I chatted (Hindi is slowly getting better) to some of the members of one of the womens group and they showed me the minutes of their meetings and asked that we sign to record our visit and what we thought of their work. We sat and talked to some school children and were presented with a model of what they wanted there slum to look like - CLEAN with little gardens and even a few animals (though I'm not sure about a pet tiger). Leaving the slum was really hard, it was fantastic to see the changes happening and the motivation within the community to help themselves, but the level of poverty was extreme. Apparently the slums of Gwalior are some of the better slums in India, but leaving people living in such filth, as we got back into our cars was really difficult and made us all question the huge gap between rich and poor.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173039000/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173039000/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173039000/tpod.html Sun, 18 Mar 2007 13:51:24 +0000 Water for Life - An emotional journey with WaterAid looking at their work in 3 states of India.

Holi Holi Holi Holi - Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India

Today we were confined to the hotel because it is Holi, a Hindu religious festival of colour and paint. For the last week we have been receiving colours as we left villages in the lead up to Holi, so we were very excited about going out and playing Holi in Gwalior. Apparently things can get a bit out of hand, last night as we returned home there were riot police heading into town, so Maria and Johnson were concerned that as westerns we would be an obvious target and things could be dangerous. Instead we had our own Holi festival at the hotel, with WaterAid, Sambhav and the hotel staff. The aim of the "game" seems to be to cover everybody that you see in as much brightly coloured paint as possible! Brilliant!!!!! Is the best description and I can't remember when i last had so much fun. For about 2 hours we all went completely mad, smearing paint on everyone, singing, dancing and running around. I think after the last 5 or 6 days and the intensity of what we have seen we all needed to release a lot of energy and emotion, and Holi was the perfect way to do this. The photos are attached for your entertainment value!
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1174034760/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1174034760/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1174034760/tpod.html Sun, 18 Mar 2007 13:03:32 +0000 Water for Life - An emotional journey with WaterAid looking at their work in 3 states of India.

We can make a difference ! - Morenaa District, Madhya Pradesh, India

Morenaa District, Madhya Pradesh, India

It is a great realisation that what we are doing really does make a difference. Since the first day in Mudhkheda I have been struggling to see how anything and everything we've seen could even begin to help Champa and the others like her in the village. Today I finally began to see how the small simple steps that WaterAid and its partners, in this case Darty, make really do lead to massive changes in attitude and bring hope to communities where there seemed none. We visited two rural community projects in Morena district. The first village Mahadev Ka Pura is a real success story. We were told that out of all of the villages we have seen this village was the most similar to Mudhkheda, where we spent our first day and saw no hope. I will have to trust Maria and Johnson on this because its impossible to believe that the vibrant, clean, healthy community where we received one of our warmest welcomes so far, was ever anything like Mudhkheda. After welcome speeches, flowers and more colours we were given a tour of this now, Open Defecation free village. Everywhere was clean and all the households were keen to show us their latrines and good hygiene practise. The school latrine, which I frequented, was cleaner and more pleasant to use that most UK public toilets. The progress being made in the community, through the self help groups and education within the school is amazing. Two families have invested in bio gas technology, and we were given a demonstration of how 20kg of cow dung a day can produce enough methane to supply a large family for a day. I pity the small boy in the family who's job it is to hand mix the 20kg of cow dung each day - but it was brilliant to see such progress and innovation. The village is still very poor and especially isolated, but they are planning for the future. Their land is of poor quality and un-irrigated, but they are asking and saving for an electricity connection, which will allow them to use pumps to irrigate the land. Once they have irrigation they will be able to grow more and better crops and work their way out of poverty. The solutions adopted by WaterAid and Darty are so simple, but the groups within the village are now so empowered they are asking the local government for more and getting the help they are entitled to. After a lovely lunch prepared by the village during which we were fanned as a sign of respect, (it is still very humbling to be treated as special guests everywhere), we celebrated the village's success with frantic music and dancing and were given the honor of signing a register of our visit which had been painted on the wall. It is brilliant to know that Darty will soon be able to withdraw from this village and work elsewhere, safe in the knowledge that the work will continue and that this village is driving changes in neighboring villages which have been to look at the progress. In the second village, Sarpanch Pura, it was hoped that our progress would be a catalyst for the changes. Work in this village is not so advanced and progress on latrine construction and usage has been slower. We divided into teams and helped with different construction duties. Vin, Angie, Dan and I were tasked with latrine painting (painting a Dunny, for any Aussie's reading). Using locally made brushes and natural paint we attempted to show our enthusiasm for latrines by painting two within the village. The success of this is difficult to measure! We certainly drew a crowd, the painting standards varied within the team and we found out a lot about each other (Dan is apparently a starter but not a finisher!), but much to the amusement of the locals (Vin was sure they didn't like the colour) we painted both latrines and all really enjoyed giving back something to a community which had welcomed us go warmly. The We ended our time here with more singing and dancing and joining the community when they jointly made a pledge not to open defecate any more and to all use latrines. Being part of the pledge was a very strange experience, firstly to the casual observer it must have looked like a Hitler youth rally, with lots of people holding their hands out and chanting. More unexpectedly it was a strangely emotional moment, this community of individuals joining together and pledging to change, what for them is a perfectly acceptable way of life and making a huge commitment in the presence of 12 westerners who have come to visit them for just a few hours. It was also really satisfying to know that just by being here, helping and talking to people we have shown our support for the work in the village and been able to give something back to the community. We stopped at the Darty office on the way and learnt about their other projects which include working to end the horrible (but increasing) practise of female infanticide, and AIDS awareness work. Having eaten our way through the fantastic local snacks prepared by the partners wives and discussed the day we started out Holi celebrations early and ended on a real high. The rest of the journey back to Gwalior was filled with animal noises and Useff attempted to teach Dan more Hindi, I think the Camel was my personal highlight! :)
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1174030260/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1174030260/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1174030260/tpod.html Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:07:30 +0000 Water for Life - An emotional journey with WaterAid looking at their work in 3 states of India.

In my engineering element ! - Sihgrawan Khurd village, Chhatapur District, Madhya Pradesh, India

Sihgrawan Khurd village, Chhatapur District, Madhya Pradesh, India

Today we got to see real, simple engineering schemes making enormous differences to people's lives. We travelled to look at the work in Sihgrawan Khurd village where WaterAid and its partner Haritika have been helping the 1276 people in the village for 3 years. The village now has an electric pump which pumps the water from the source (1.5km away from the village) to 3 water tanks within the village. Before the women and children spent a large part of the day walking to the source to collect water, now they have a short walk to the water taps at the tanks. The water is dosed with chlorine to ensure its safety, interestingly there wasn't a single health and safety sign around the chlorination, and quality is tested regularly. A simple open drainage system has been constructed alongside the road to drain all the run off water and this is used to irrigate land. I discussed the drainage with one of the partners engineers, as it was actually quite silted up due to the high sediment load, and was assured that it was regularly cleaned out by the villages. The villages pay 30 Rupees a month per family for the water supply (a small number with a connection to their homes pay 60 rupees for the better service). This money is used for the operating costs (electricity for the pump and chlorine) and for maintenance and continued improvements. A huge part of the work in the village has been the construction of the irrigation wells, these open wells store water from the monsoons, help to recharge the aquifers and are deep enough to supply water even at the end of the dry season. Each of the 17 wells cost 1 lak to and took 4 months to construct by hand. We then returned to the village and listened while the villages discussed the improvements and how it affected their lives. The women were hugely interactive in the discussion asking us questions about our lives and explaining how they saved up to 5 hours a day by not collecting water and how everyone was now cleaner with clean clothes. Before every house hold had someone ill with stomach problems and Diarrhea, now Diarrhea and malaria have now almost disappeared from the village. Every person in the village owns some land and with the irrigation systems even the poorest farmer can earn and extra 10,000 rupees a month from selling crops at market. With a certain supply of water they can now grow different crops which include, chilies, wheat, sugar cane and ground nut. The wealth of the village has increased 4 fold since the project began and there are now more tractors in the village and 60% of people have upgraded their homes, as a real sign of our times they were keen to tell us that 40 families even have a mobile phone! We the obliged by singing a couple of numbers from our rapidly expanding repattoir which now includes 'you are my sunshine' and 'Holi Holi' and the women joined us to dance and celebrate the success of the village. For me though, the highlight of today was the visit to the check dam structures. Designed by the partners engineers (there are 3 who cover 47 villages between them) these simple but impressive 2m high reinforced concrete gravity dams store flood water from the monsoons, which is then used to irrigate the land in the dry season. There are 5 check dams in series with a catchment area of 15km2, each dam supplies 500 acres of previously un farm-able land with water, and the resulting crops were flourishing, including the carrots and radishes, which we got to taste! The dams and "River Dhasan" were dry, as region is drought declared and has had no rain since July 2006, when the monsoon finished 3 months early, but the flood water was enough to supply the crops in the crucial growing periods. In this project the partners are really helping by providing the technical solutions and helping the community request the funds and assistance from the local government.Each dam cost 476500 rupees and took 20-25 people 3-4 months to construct by hand. 90% of the cost was supplied by the government with the community providing the rest and the labour. It is amazing to see how much effect simple engineering (yes i do know I'm sad) can have on a community. Life in the village is still rural and hard work, but people are making a good living and the improved health, wealth and happiness was overwhelming. After a late lunch in a service station on route we set off on the 4 hour drive back to Gwalior. The journey with Useff (now mine and Dan's best friend) was interesting and after ridding the world of mosquito's and wasps we discovered that giraffes would have very sore throats but look great in mini skirts! :)
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173984300/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173984300/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cemoore/wateraid_2007/1173984300/tpod.html Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:06:24 +0000 Water for Life - An emotional journey with WaterAid looking at their work in 3 states of India.

Sanitation Celebration - Theh Village - Shivpuri District - Madhya Prahesh, India

Theh Village - Shivpuri District - Madhya Prahesh, India

As we expected today was completely different to yesterday. We traveled to Theh village, again in Shivpuri district. Theh is much large than Mudhkheda (yesterday's village) and consists 3 hamlets and 241 households. WaterAid have been working in the village for 4 years, Sambhav for 12 years. The village now has 15 hand pumps instead of 3, and 95% of families have a household latrine. After an amazing celebratory welcome, which couldn't have been more different from yesterday, we listened to members of the village Water and Sanitation Committee talk about their role in the work and their pride in the changes was abundant. We were presented with a beautiful scroll, which thanked WaterAid India, from the left and right of their heart for their work in the village, and promises that they will spread the messages taught to them. After discussing the changes with the community we divided into smaller groups and I spent some time with the Youth Group. This is a group of 15 young (15-20 year old) men, who are all students, some are even studding at degree level. They represent all the castes and hamlets and promote the sanitation and hygiene messages through out the village through performance. Ajmar the leader explained that before WaterAid started work in the village their were no community groups and how through the different groups now in place the communication in the village has improved. We discussed how they use songs and plays to teach people about the importance of using latrines and good hygiene practice. The group also provides a pool of labour to help with maintaining the hand pumps and constructing latrines. They explained that each hand pump had a user group which contributed to the upkeep and maintenance of the pump. It was amazing to see the pride with which these young men described their duties and explained how the incidents of malaria and diarrhoea in the village have reduced. The most telling bit of the discussion was the group explaining how before they liked going outside to open defecate because they thought that having a latrine inside your house was dirty. To then listen to the same group perform a song about a woman trying to persuade her husband to build her a latrine, and her list of reasons, just shows how far the community has come and how much of a change WaterAid have made in the village. We left the group to give them time to prepare for the cultural performance, and went to visit the primary school (up to 14yrs). Again the school was so much nicer than yesterday, the children were all clean and wearing clean clothes. They took it in turns to perform lessons, songs and even a little in English for us. We returned the welcome, with our own performances of "Heads, shoulders, knees and toes" and a little later the "wheels on the bus". The teachers explained that the number of children attending school has doubled and over 80% now continue to the high school, which is great. We had our first brush with the hand washing song, "Har do, Har do" (more about that in later entries). Finally it was time for the big cultural performance! The youth group performed a street play about a boy who gets ill from drinking water because his Dad is washing a cow at the hand pump. When the child doesn't get better he is taken firstly to a witch doctor (who charges 3 chickens and a bottle of wine) and finally to a real doctor for a scary injection! It was fantastic to see the group having so much fun, whilst the whole village watched on and learnt from them. Watching them laugh and make jokes about their previous poor hygiene practice, you begin to realise just how far this community has come! The big surprise came at the end of the play when the boy actually dies because his Mother (played by a young man in a lovely sari with nail varnish and lipstick!) doesn't listen to the doctor and gives him all the medicine at once, this really shocked me, but I guess the aim is to shock people to educate them. We ended our visit singing and dancing with the village and we decorated with Holi paint in a rather frantic celebration, which for us was a very welcome release of all the emotion of the last two days. Later back at the hotel after debriefing and dinner we put on our own "cultural performance", Johnson seems to like "the wheels on the bus", but other than that the least said and remember the better (but i do have video footage of " I still call Australia home") :)
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