Project Trishna: meaning ‘quenching ones thirst’. This is a project to improve the lives of people living in the villages of Marybong Gaon and Gairee Gaon in the Darjeeling area of India by providing them with a new drinking water system.
As a team of ten our aim is to raise £20,000 to allow Mercy Corps to install the new drinking water system and this sum will be matched by the owners of the tea plantation where the villagers work. This project will dramatically reduce the level of water borne diseases caused by the heavily contaminated water currently used by the villagers. More information on Mercy Corps can be found at http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/countries/india/15078
At present, the women and children from the communities must walk 40 minutes and queue as early as 3am at a single tap in order to carry poor quality water back to the village. During the dry season (Dec – May) there is a massive water shortage and this not only causes a great deal of conflict between the villagers but also increases the number of work days lost due to illness.
The new water system will tap into a natural spring and will offer clean drinking water at a number of water points throughout the villages. It will take approximately 6 months to install the system and afterwards a water users association will be formed to manage a program of on-going maintenance.
This project is part of a wider effort by the CHAI corporate social responsibility project which has worked in the tea communities in Northeast India for the last 7 years providing sanitary facilities and drinking water as well as other ways of improving the lives of those in this area.
Project Trishna will:
- Reduce water borne diseases including diarrhoea and dysentery
- Improve general health
- Reduce medical costs
- Increase household incomes by reducing lost working days
- Highlight the socio-economic benefits of clean water to the plantation owners
- Increase quality of life through increased cleanliness
- Utilise individuals time by eliminating long walks for water
- Reduce conflict between villagers at existing water point
Please help make Project Trishna a success by donating at http://www.justgiving.com/Jon-Hall
