Sanitation in the Slums
Trip Start
Feb 24, 2007
1
11
14
Trip End
Mar 09, 2007
New Merhera Colony, Gwalior,
India
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
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
A new latrine
. 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
Best friends
. 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!
