The Living Earth Institute (LEI) has developed a dynamic project with local villagers, women's cooperatives, and NGOs in the Eastern Hills of Nepal to provide at least five small villages with clean water access, community science education and training, and small-scale income generation projects for rural families.
Many villages in Nepal lack access to clean water, basic education, and the resources to implement small-scale income generation projects. Namje village, a community of 650 radish farmers located in the Eastern hills of Nepal, demonstrates a compelling need in all three of these sectors.
Without a treated water supply, the villagers in Namje are consuming ten thousand liters of water per day with dangerously high levels of fecal matter,. As a consequence, most villagers contract skin and G.I. diseases between 9-10 times per year. Student attendance and overall performance in school is greatly hampered by this condition. Additionally, at least three of the villages surrounding Namje are functioning without any water access at all. In these communities, over 250 people including small children expend an average of two hours per day fetching water from a distant river six months of the year. The villagers in Namje recognize that a water treatment system, a pipeline construction project for communities without water, and formal surveys of the water situation in surrounding villages would directly improve the quality of life for thousands of people.
With just 12 teachers managing over 457 students in Namje School, each teacher is currently in the classroom every period of the day. As a result of classroom crowding, students can not receive any hands-on experience in class. Still, the school board is extremely active, meeting regularly every two weeks to discuss how to stimulate improvements. In recent meetings, parents have expressed the need for a lab, library, and training center for both the school and the community to build infrastructure. Without these basic facilities, students and community members, many of whom are illiterate and without any practical training, cannot learn about technology which could be beneficial to Namje.
Most of the villagers cannot afford to start even the most basic, small-scale income generation projects. Although many families would like to raise pigs, plant more lucrative crops, or obtain professional skills training, the villagers lack the resources to begin these simple, but effective projects.
Building infrastructure in Namje village through the leadership and active participation of local individuals and NGO's is the primary objective of this project.
Expanding upon the success of Namje's existing electric water pumping project, ten local technicians and two NGO's will assess water quality and design an effective, sustainable method of water treatment. Each day, 50,000 liters of water will be treated, and over a thousand people in five villages will receive clean, uncontaminated water in their homes. It is expected that with improved water quality, hygiene will dramatically improve, water borne diseases will decline, and student attendance and performance at the local school will benefit greatly. Feasibility studies will be conducted in ten villages, determining water access and quality for over 5000 villagers living in rural areas. Based on these studies, pipelines will be connected from Namje's water supply to villages without water access, transporting thousands of liters of clean, treated water to these areas. With every $500, a hundred feet of pipe will be laid down. In addition, twenty-five cement toilets will be designed and constructed by local technicians for families living near the river to prevent water contamination. For only $120 each family will obtain a new toilet.
Local Nepali engineers and educators will collaborate to construct a Community Education and Training Center to build long-term infrastructure in Namje. This space, which will be equipped with all sorts of science learning materials, charts, books, and models, will benefit almost 500 students and thousands of community members. During school hours, students can learn, in a highly practical way, about the science behind water pumping, treatment, and distribution. The villagers in collaboration with NGO's will invite outside experts to give vocational trainings in literacy, sanitation, agriculture, carpentry, plumbing, basic veterinary care, and other important topics. Students wanting to pursue higher education will be given scholarships, which will entail a community service component, so that what they learn will benefit the community at large. The overall objective of this Community Education and Training Center is to bridge the gap between the villagers and the technology which is already in place in the village.
Individual families will be given small grants to plan, start, and complete small-scale income generation activities under the direction of Namje's Women's Cooperative and local NGOs. The successes and failures of these mini-projects will be monitored closely. It is hoped that hundreds of families will establish a sustainable income supply, augmenting their current income levels by at least 1000 rupees ($13 US) per month, and that the villagers will have better ideas for managing small projects. It is hoped that the villagers will collectively be able to create over $1000 of new funds each month internally. With $300, a family can potentially create a permanent income source for itself for years to come.
Additional information:
Rajeev Goyal
Namje Project Manager
51 Larch Drive
Manhasset Hills, NY 11040
USA
(646) 342-0232
Pam Elardo, P.E.
LEI President
info@living-earth.org
5706 43rd Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98105
USA
(206) 522-1748
Contact LEI: info@living-earth.org