India Bio-Sand Water Filter Project Update 11-14-2009
Please see photos in the Gallery!
From: Cathy Forsberg
November 14, 2009
Dear Friends,
We have been very busy since our last project update.
Our dear friend, Haroon Sulaiman Sait died in his sleep unexpectedly last August. He was a friend of Mikes from his Peace Corps days going back
40years and one of the leading citizens in Bangalore, India. He was instrumental in advising and guiding us from the moment we began our filter program going back to 2004. On the 9th of November we had thehonor and privilege of attending a dedication ceremony to donate water filters to the village of Jannagatta in memory of our dear friend. Thanksto donations from Friends of India, a group of Peace Corps Volunteers whoserved in India and knew Haroon, this village now has Bio-sand water filters that will provide clean drinking water to the families here for a generation to come.
The ceremony was simple and moving and we were fortunate to have Haroon's youngest daughter, Sabiha and his grandson Akbar, at the function. Ourworkshop director, RamaChandra Gowda made a tearful tribute to Haroon and Mike and Sabiha added their sentiments to the villagers assembled. It hasbeen very difficult to express how profoundly this man has affected ourlives. He was a great friend and confident. He was the rarest of persons who listened not only to what you said but understood through the conversation what you needed. He would not hesitate for a moment to provide what you needed and you would never know what inconvenience it caused to his busy lifestyle.
On November 10th we traveled to Bangalore and spent most of the day with members of the Rotary club of Bangalore Southwest. We had no inklingabout why they wanted to spend so much time with us other than the fact that they were interested in placing Bio-sand water filters in schools inBangalore. We met a group of the Club's members at a school where seven filters had been donated by their Rotary club. After a dedication ceremony presenting the filters to the school, we shared lunch with someof the members, rested in a hotel room they provided for us, and then met them again for a brainstorming session late in the afternoon.
The past president of the club told us the story of their Club's searchfor a water project for the Bangalore area. They first settled on the"life straw", a personal filter, worn around the neck which is very effective at making water potable no matter what the source. After several months of trying to procure the straws and analysis of thesituation here in India, they realized these life straws were not a sustainable way to provide potable water to a large population withcontaminated water. They then undertook a study of all the availablewater filters in India. After eight months of careful analysis and apilot study with 30 of our filters, they concluded that the Bio-sandfilter was an economic and practical solution to the water qualityproblems in Bangalore. We were handed a 25 page spiral bound colorprinted booklet that showcased the filter and a program of fundraising to supply 1,500 filters to schools in the Bangalore area providing 100,000children with clean water. We were blown away that another organization independently came to the exact same conclusion about these filters thatwe did four years ago.
We ended the meeting early in the evening and drove to attend their weekly Rotary club meeting. We gave a technical presentation of the Bio-sandwater filters to their general membership so there was a better understanding of how the filter works. Dinner followed the meeting andleft us with a glow for the long ride home to Kolar. We reached our hotel at 1:30 am, tired but totally satisfied with the day's events.
On November 12th we attended a big event that Ramachandra has been planning for months. It was a dedication ceremony at the village ofKuduvanahalli to celebrate the donation of 506 water filters to five villages in the area. The project is being funded by a Rotary matching grant between Rotary District 3190 in India and District 5950 in Minnesota. Representatives from the Minnesota club were present for theevent and the Rotarians in India wanted a grand celebration. There weremore than 700 people present, three brightly colored tents were erected,and plastic chairs set up for everyone. A huge banner was designed andhung behind the dais, miniature wooden water filters were made and distributed to all of the important guests, and roses were distributed tothe filter beneficiaries. A marching band of children with horns anddrums blaring and banging led the dignitaries along an outlined path to the dais. After the usual speeches, two different groups of children performed folk dances for the crowd. After the event a rice dish was served on paper plates from two giant pots on the back of our workshop truck. Everyone swarmed the truck and soon the pots were empty and everyone was enjoying the food, chatting in small groups under the shady tamarind trees in the village.
Our next event was two days later in the village of Pemmashettahalli. This village is nestled between the giant hills of granite and basalt thatrandomly rise several hundred feet from farmland and grazing land in Kolar district. You can see the hills from any vantage point in the village and it provided a perfect backdrop for the ceremony. It was a special day inthe village because of the "children's day" celebration across the nation.This day celebrates India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharial Nehru, the father of Indira Gandhi. Water filters are being provided under a Rotary matching grant between the Rotary Club of Bangalore East and the Rotary Club of Elk Rapids Michigan. The festivities began with a song by four of the schoolchildren and ended by passing out hand soap, school notebooksand small candies to all the children assembled.
Today we will attend two more dedication ceremonies in the Kolar Gold Field area of the State. The mines have been closed for many years, butthe unemployment and the resulting ravages of poverty have lingered. The weathered mountains of tailings from gold ore processing for 80 years have contaminated the groundwater with arsenic in this area. In all, more than 800 water filters will be distributed this month alone, a truly amazing figure for a project with such humble beginnings and much lower expectations. It shows how much can be accomplished with a coordinated effort from many good hearted people.
Cathy and Mike
South Asia Pure Water Initiative, Inc.
2832 Whitney Avenue
Hamden, CT 06518
www.sapwii.org
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