Published Tue, Feb 28, 17. Written by Shannon Smith.
This week, we are excited to be in India. We are spending time with our partners here seeing the work that you all have helped us do, planning for future projects, and discussing how to improve our partnership.
On Monday, we visited a few villages where clean water projects have already been implemented. We spoke with women in the village to hear directly from them about the impact the clean water project is having. In the video below, we talk with Udian Nag.
Before our project was implemented, Udian was walking twice per day to the nearby river for water, in the morning and again in the evening. She and others would take the 2km trek down to the river and carry back one canister on their heads and another on their hips. This process of walking those 4km to collect just four gallons of water would take nearly two hours hours each time.
Udian was forced to walk to the river for water. She was denied access to the local well, which had been drilled by the government, because of her caste. Now, she can get clean water close to her home. Our well is universally accessible.
Having local access to clean water is saving Udian and others hours every day. This extra time is helping their families financially.
We learned that many women and men work in the fields for day labor. This work begins at 8AM. If those wanting work show up later, they are often denied work for that day. Having to walk to the river for water caused many women to miss working opportunities. With water close by, they can now more consistently be available for the daily work.
We saw firsthand how water can change lives. Families are healthier and more financially stable as a result of having local access to clean water.