How can I sum it all up ?

What have I learnt from my time in India ?

I've only had a week in India and inside that week only a few hours in reality to talk to people living in the villages and slums, the staff supporting them from WaterAid and local organisations but this is what I've begun to understand :

Its so much more than 'taps and toilets' ...
As human beings we're in a pretty bad place when we have no control over our lives or our own destiny. If you don't have have access to safe water and sanitation then you don't have control over the most basic of human needs. The idea of having 'choices' over what you can do is very distant prospect if you can't even choose to not give your child unsafe water that you know will make them ill because its all you've got.
No matter where they live and in what conditions it was clear to me this week that having those basic needs allowed people to be happy, take pride in themselves and look to the future.

They don't need our pity ...
No-one we met was after handouts or looking for sympathy, they are keen to progress and once they have been given the right support and training they were perfectly capable of sorting out their problems and helping others to sort out theirs too.

Investing in the people is what makes the difference ...
The model that WaterAid have put together works and should be seen as a sucess that can be followed by other organisations including state/government groups. If you only spend money on the assets and not the people then ultimately the assets will fail and there won't be anyone there to mend them. Mobilising communities to be responsible for themselves and take ownership is what makes a sustainable solution.

Children will always surprise you and may be more capable than you realise ...
We may think that our children are too young to be responsible and have opinions that count but the children we met proved to us all that they are great 'agents for change', have the power to influence their elders and have a great capacity for learning. They should definitely be seen as part of the solution ...

Padli Village school pupils with James and Matt

'Slumming' it in of Bhopal

There are over 360 slums in Bhopal city, we visited two. I'm didn't really know what to expect prior to the visits and I can't really find a comparison in the UK to help explain them to you. I thought that the population here would be more transient but the slums have been around for 30 to 40 years and the people we met had been living there for around 20 years. People there either had no intention of leaving or no ability to leave. The slums have sprung up on pockets of open land which may be owned by the Bhopal Municipal Council (BMC) or by other landowners such as some of the local industrial companies.
The two slums we went to both had built houses in high density on narrow lanes and both had water provided either on standpipes in the lanes or by handpumps. There are many complications living in these 'un-authorised' towns though and there were many slums that we saw driving around Bhopal where the 'houses' were 10 ft by 10ft and made of 'wriggly tin' :

• Electricity - both slums had electricity but in Shiv Nagar everyone had an illegal connection to the supply. The pole that there were connected to had 'blown' when we visited so they had been without lighting for around 5 days. Clearly there won't be any interest from the electricity company to repair the damaged pole so I don't know how long the situation is going to last.
• Land/property ownership - all the people we spoke to had built there own houses on the land and improved them over the years. They didn't pay any rent to anyone as they were un-authorised dwellings but they and their families lived under the threat that they could be cleared out at any time. We heard some stories that on a 3 month cycle the BMC would come into the slums, remove peoples belongings from properties and destroy them without notice.
• Access to support from the authorities - we were told about ration cards that gave those living in poverty access to subsidised food but you need an ID card and an address to get one of these which isn't something that the people in the slums have - they are too poor to be poor !
• Access to water - this is generally only switched on for a couple of hours each morning and there isn't enough to provide the volumes that families actually need - if there are problems then fights can break out and people get hurt.
• Personal safety - most slums don't have toilets and open defecation happens on the outskirts of the slum often near road access points. There is often crime against women here but it seems to be perpetrated by outsiders passing by rather than people within the community. We were told that there had been 3 murders in the last few months in Shiv Nagar.

Shiv Nagar
3000 households, population of 15,000, 250 household toilets, 1 community toilet, no idividual water connections


Outskirts of Shiv Nagar, Bhopal

Babita and Kamal with Alex at their 2 roomed home



Sitting area/bedroom

kitchen

We spent a few hours talking to Babita and other familes that lived nearby. Babita has 3 children, Akash who is 14 and lives with Babita's parents as they can't afford to keep all 3 with them, Sahil who is 10 and Krishna who is 7. The children all go to a Government school which is free of charge. Kamal doesn't have a permanent job but is a 'daily wage labourer', he earns around 150 Rupees a day (8am til 6pm) doing whatever work is required such as cleaning the streets. This kind of work seemed to be all the men had access to. It seemed clear that their level of income won't really allow them to ever move out of the slums. Many of the women work as well in addition to them undertaking the water collection, food preparation and keeping the household going.



Phulwati Thakur (28)

We also spoke to Phulwati Thakur who lived alone in Shiv Nagar, she couldn't afford not to go to work as she needed the money - getting ill from the water or lack of sanitation really wasn't an option, she also thanked us for listening and hoped that something would happen this time !





Arjun Nagar
400 households, population 2000, all households have toilets, 13 public water standpipes, 3 borewells



Bramila, Sagbunisay & Ghita

We spent along time in the house of Bramila in Arjun Nagar and spoke to her, Sagbunisay and Ghita about their daily lives before and after WaterAid had supported the community and got old handpumps back in working order. Prior to this the the nearest water source was 2km away and it could take around 6 hours a day to get enough water to prvovide for the family. The place where they went to the toilet was also around 2km away but on the other side of the slum. They would only go there when it was dark to avoid the embarassement of being seen and teased/harassed.

Now all of the houses have latrines and the handpumps and standpipes are back in use. The slum has formed a Water Management Committee which collects contributions from all the households on a monthly basis to ensure they can maintain their system.

There was a real pride in their homes and you could sense how much better they felt about their lives. We were told that this slum had been targetted by the BMC as part of a scheme to make Bhopal a slum free city. The residents are going to be offered new housing elsewhere but the community is determined that they should stay exactly where they are but have better facilities provided to them.  

The children are no different to anywhere else in the world ... they like to play, are curious and of course like their photo being taken ...

I think our camerman Adam was feeling a bit worried he'd lost his job !

People, People, People

One thing I've really come to understand from visiting the villages and meeting the people is that the way to truely make a permament difference is by investing in the people just as much as the hardware. If you only work with one part of the puzzle you can't solve it all. When you do involve the people you get long lasting results that can last generations.

The people we met weren't looking for handouts and all of them had contributed to the work that had gone on in their community by either  providing the labour or contribuing financially.

The Water Management Committees, created from community members, are responsible for the maintenance and operation of the equipment and they take a monthly sum from each household to pay for its upkeep. WaterAid provide training in obvious subjects such as hygiene but they also cover topics such as accounts so they can look after the money they manage.

Kamhar Village - when we visited they'd had no external support from WaterAid for over a year but prior to that the teams had spend up to 3 years helping them develop the people as well as the plans for the village. There are women's groups and youth groups in addition to the Water Management Committee and the village has maintained the water system that has been installed which they contributed to financially.

Photo collage that the village put together to show us the work they did in advance of the completion of the project.

You probably can't read the numbers here but the total cost of the project is bottom right - 482291 Rupees and the top left figure is the amount that the Village contributed - 53000 Rupees, that's around 9% of the total project cost

Amrod Village - they thought they couldn't afford latrines until they were told how they could build them, they were supported with the costs of the materials but then did all of the construction themselves.
Now they are seeking a water service which the Public Health Engineering Department of the State Government is responsible for providing - to get the PHED to do they work, the village must contribute 3% of the cost and the State will do the rest - the work is going to happen in March 2013 !

With the continued support of WaterAid and the local organisations the village had produced a 5 year plan which goes well beyond the water and sanitation issues. Actions included in the plan are getting a metalled road to the village and also a high school so that the children don't have to do long journeys to get to school - they only currently have a primary school.

Mahadev Pura Village - the people here had been maintaining their handpump water sources and house hold latrines since 2008 when WaterAid and local partner Dharti left them to 'stand on their own'. Prior to that the teams had been working with them for 4 years. Since the village has had sole responsibility for the equipment they have had zero days when the pumps didn't work.

 

Although I can't translate the information for you, in essence it details what money from which organisation (including the village) was spent in which year and on what type of equipment. The village is now open defecation free and has a self sufficient water supply. Many of them have also improved their houses and come up with ideas for re-using water ...

 

This 'drainer' has a herb garden underneath which is watered as the washing up drains effectively using the water twice



Village life - meet some of the children who made our stories - Padli village

The school at Padli has a 10 strong school Parliament and we met a couple of them ...

This is Dipika Mewade (12) who is the Education Minister and is responsible for encouraging the pupils to read. She manages the library (pictured above) and issues the story books.

This is  Warti Mewade the Environment Minister who is responsible for watering the plants and making sure the gardens and grounds are good.

Pinki Mewade (13) is the Health & Sanitation Minister - she checks everyone's hands and nails everyday at prayers before school. She was selected by the pupils because she was the cleanest student ! They have a really thorough hand cleaning routine which they all showed us and I certainly learnt from it.

 

We spent a couple of hours with the children at the school before we took a guided tour around the classrooms. They were articulate and keen to learn. The asked us lots of questions about our lives and England such as :

• What pets did we keep ?
• What plants grew in England ?
• Were men and women equal in England ?
• What did we wear at home and did women have traditional dress ?

I think everyone had a fantastic time at this school and we'll have the fondest of memories from it, I had the great pleasure of giving our welcome speech from the group on this occasion which I really enjoyed doing.

 

 



 

Village life - meet the people who made our stories - Jonhar village

Jonhar, Datia

This village has a population of around 1150 people whose livelihood is based on farming and milk production. There are 3 dug wells in the village, none of which have suitable protection against water contamination and 1 has saline water in it so can only be used for the cattle (yes, they have to be able to fetch enough water for their cattle too!).
There are no toilets and the village has a poor drainage system so there is often stagnant water, especially during the rainy season which increases the risk of malaria.

The women told us that in the summer they and their families often get fevers and aches & pains but they don't have any choice but to drink the water as its all they have. They strain the water through cloth and use sterilising powders but it isn't enough to keep them well.

Discussions with the women of the village

Fetching water is seen as 'women's work' and there was a ripple of laughter around the women when one of them said that the men were 'work shy', but the men's defence was that they had to work in the fields all day.

Krishna (12)

Krishna (12) told us about her  daily routine of fetching water before and after school. She does 5 trips in the morning and 4 trips in the evening. She's probably carrying 10 litres of water each time and she told us that her neck gets very sore and she's often very tired. In the rainy season she has to walk through calf deep mud & water to get to the well. If a new water system to the households is installed then she wants to put the time she saves into her studies for school.





Drinking water well



Well with saline water used for cattle

We also spent time with Indra (27) who is married to Badri (41) and has 3 children, the elder son and daughter are both at school but her 3 year old Sameksamee hasn't started yet. She wants her children to succeed at school so they can get good jobs outside of the village. Her sister-in-law has a larger family of 5 children who all go to  school. Indra has a busy daily routine to look after her family starting around 5am, doing daily chores such as preparing food, fetching water for the family and the cattle and cleaning. If she does get spare time then she will go and help her husband in the fields but will be back in bed by about 10pm.

Indra's family



Sister in law & husband

Around the home

Village life - meet the people who made our stories - Amrod village

Amrod, Sehore

 

Amarsingh Viswakarma

This is Amarsingh Vishwakarma, he is 65 years old and has been instrumental in getting the village to build latrines for each household. The village has 84 households with a population of around 750 which depends on agriculture for income.

He told us that he was fearful for his wife's safety as there had been attacks on a females in a nearby villages, these attacks we were told are rife. The village had no toilets and people walked 2 or 3km to get to somewhere to go to the toilet and this would often be by a road. They walk such distances because they do not defecate in the village and often the landowners that own the field around them which they farm will not allow them to defecate in the fields. The village has had support for the cost of the materials but they have provided all the labour. Before WaterAid and the local organisation Samarthan got involved the villagers thought it would be too expensive the build latrines but with some support and assistance the village will open defecation free by the end of this month (February 2013)



Me helping to finish Amarsingh's pit latrines



Example of the finished article

 



Village Life - meet the people who've made our stories - Nayagaon village

Nayagaon, Morena



Siva and Ramniwas, Nayagaon

Siva & Ramniwas live in the remote village of Nayagaon in Madhya Pradesh and have 1 son, Prashand, who is 4. Ramniwas is 1 of 5 brothers, 3 of which are married, there are only 2 children within the extended family group.

There are 73 families in the village with an approximate population of 250. There is no opportunity for farming here as they are living in a hot, rocky desert environment.

 Her husband collects firewood for a living and sells it at a local market. This brings them an income of less than US$1 a day. He has to walk 15km to reach the area where the firewood is collected which is a 6hr walk, sometimes he stays overnight. Once he's got enough to sell, he then has to walk 3km to get to a bus that he can catch to the market. The firewood bundles sell for around 150 Rupees but it cost 50 Rupees for transport and collection and sale takes at least 2 days.



Siva at the spring

Siva looks after the household, fetches the water and prepares all meals. The spring water supply in the village, which is about a 500m walk, is of good quality most of the year but this isn't guaranteed. During the summer it dries up which means she has to walk much further to the next nearest supply, during the rainy season it gets contaminated.
To provide water to drink and prepare meals Siva has to do 3 trips to the well every day to bring back about 30 litres of water each time - each person in their family of 3 uses 30 litres a day, in the UK we're probably us 5 time that amount. I'm only 5ft 2inches and I felt like I towered over her, I suspect that the weight of water she carries over tough rocky terrain is probably half of her body weight.



Carrying water back to the village