Secretary’s note: 010408

Rura People Development Society (RPDS)
of Tamil Nadu, India

We received an unsolicited proposal from this organization in December of 2005requesting $4,830 for one bore well and hand pump in each of seven villages ($690 per well). At convention 2006, the WFH Committee approved a grant of $1,380 for two of the seven wells. They carried out the project competently and reported in a timely manner (excerpted below). The remaining five wells still await funding.

“On getting the information of sanction of grant by WFH Fund (for only two of seven wells requested), the beneficiary group members convened in a meeting and discussed the issue with priority… the target beneficiaries agreed and identified two villages, Karipatti and Minnampalli. These two villages are worst hit by the problem of drinking water for their requirements. As planned as the first step of the project, the survey was made in the above two target villages and identified two spots for hand pump installation. The identified spots were declared as good water yielding points. The drilling was made by a local bore well driller. Each bore well was drilled up to a depth of 300 feet. The yield of drinking water was good in all the two points. It was a great fortune for the village people who enjoyed with exchange of their joy with others. After casing, the next step was installation of the hand pump. In the above two points, the India Mark II Hand Pump was installed with other accessories. The community involvement was good for construction of the platform around the newly installed hand pumps. The beneficiary people contributed their share as unskilled labor in installation of the two hand pumps. As follow up, in each village a Village Water Committee was formed among the beneficiary groups. The leaders from SHGs and Youth Clubs came to enroll in the above committee. In each committee there are 15 members, who are supposed to undertake the care and maintenance of the hand pump. The Caretaker Trainings were held for three days for 10 Committee members from the two target villages. It was for teaching the people to mend, repair and maintain the hand pumps whenever they go defunct. Likewise, in each village a one-day orientation camp was organized for the beneficiary groups. An average of 90 persons attended in each camp where the need for protected drinking water was stressed with the promotional approach of hygienic behavior and contact with others. The two hand pumps are supplying protected drinking water for about 350 village people in each village, who were living in a distressed condition without quality water for drinking in their living. This has addressed the year long problems by providing good quality water for drinking purposes. The newly installed two hand pumps have been drilled in the common places of the village and handed over to the local Panchayat authorities. As this was very useful in providing water for drinking, the villagers in the adjacent areas come and ask for such facilities in their villages also. We are planning to design future programs as per the needs of the people in our working area.”

“We would like to convey our sincere thanks for your generous support for installing two hand pumps in our target villages. This has proved very successful by providing a supply of quality and protected drinking water for the people who were in distress so far.”

Secretary’s P.S.   Please note that the village people surrounding the well are holding a sign that reads, “RPDS supported by WFHF – USA” and the well pump itself bears the letters “WFHF”.