Asha for Education – Water, health and education for women and children in Thar
October 2010 – March 2011
The second half of year 2010 was unpredictable for people living in western part of Rajasthan. After four years of sever and continuous droughts they received shower of rain. It was late July and early August of last year when all have almost lost the hope of rain, the drizzle happened. In last week of August rain-fed Blocks like Osian, Bap and Shergarh of Jodhpur were received sufficient amount of rain for agriculture. Though the reason of sowing was about to end but some drought resistant crops like Guar and moth along with watermelon and kachar (local fruit) were sown by farmers. Project villages of Water, health and education for women and children in Thar were not discarded from this natural phenomenon. Here long term impact of any program was visualized by inhabitants. All villagers received good amount of rain and filled their taankas with rain water even those were constructed earlier.
People harvested fruits of their hardship till late November. But this was right time to remind them the relevance of rainwater harvesting and its long term impact. This phenomenon is not regular of rain-fed region like Thar. Many group meeting and discussions held that time and best practices were shared with villagers. In December, a dissemination workshop was organized by GRAVIS at Gagadi in which participants from Osian block including Asha supported villages came and discussed with Agriculture scientist and Social Activists.
As integration of various developmental programs and initiatives is the core part of GRAVIS work methodology and it creates ownership and extend attachment of villagers with programs. SHG women were motivated to preserve seeds for next year sowing. Though it is not a project activity but Nav Durga SHG running in MinnokiDhni took initiatives and established seed bank. The seed bank is traditional method of preserving seeds with dry Neem leaves; dry ash and calcium carbonate (Chuna).
Mobilization of left-out community of villages towards project objectives is continuing and women are organizing themselves in SHGs. This year three new SHGs were formed in Cherai, Ekalkhori and Khabra Kala named as Baba ram dev SHG, Jai MaajiSa SHG and Jai JogmayaSHG respectively. Women from Minnokidhani participated in a Micro-finance symposium in Jaipur and shared her views on credit and saving with experts and activists.
Constructions of rainwater harvesting taankas are under construction. All materials related to taankashave been purchased and it is planned to construct all 10 taanks till May so that rainwater could be collected in June or July on rain. To keep the severe heat in summer and prevalence of malaria in rainy season in mind, it is planned to organize all medical camps in period of May to August. It will provide immediate relief to people suffering with Sunstroke, malaria and various skin diseases like itching. Similarly, capacity building and vocational trainings will be organized in May when women have less work to do in their houses.
Spreading the message the primary education to all both schools has their own significance in villages. 102 and 50 children are enrolled in schools running in MinnokiDhani and Dabri villages respectively. Most of families who have observed the direct benefits of taankas during rain promised to send their young girl child to school in coming session staring from July because taanka has reduced their drudgery of fetching water from a long distance.
List of taanka beneficiaries for 2011
- Koyali w/o Keshu Ram – Ekalkhori
- Rashida w/o Mehar Khan – MinnokiDhani
- PappuKanwar w/o Khuman Singh – MinnokiDhani
- Santu w/o Sukharam – Cherai
- Surjo w/o Bhanwruram – MinnokiDhani
- Umli w/o Ugma Ram – Khabrakhurd
- Sua w/o Mohanram – Dabri
- Shanti w/o Hmira ram – Khabrakala
- Elchi w/o Mohanram- Minnokidhani
- Kalu w/o Asuram – Cherai