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School Washrooms ~ Melaiyuur, India

 

The children at Melaiyuur School in Tamil Nadu state, India, had no functioning washroom facilities. Curt Degler of SAVE Int'l, Peter Coughlan and Gail Tsukiyama of WaterBridge Outreach visited the school on several occasions to meet with the principal, the staff, and the students to see if they could work with the school to provide new facilities. With plans, budgets and the necessary permissions in place work took place to provide a facility that provides four stalls for the girls and two stalls for the boys. It is particularly important in India, where many schools have no functioning washrooms, to provide the necessary facilities. This is especially the case for girls who, at the time of puberty, sometimes drop out of education or are withdrawn from education by their parents due to the lack of facilities.   

 

The construction of the washrooms, financed by WaterBridge Outreach, is a long process. A great deal of clearing and preparation has been necessary before building work could begin. The photos in the slideshow illustrate various stages of the work – including Curt Degler of SAVE Int’l with paint pot and paint brush in hand – and they show many of the boys and girls who attend the school in this remote rural area.

 

The United Nations has deemed November 19th to be World Toilet Day. In the words of the UN, World Toilet Day is a day to take action. 2.5 billion people of the world’s 7 billion do not have access to a toilet – despite the human right to water and sanitation. One billion people still defecate in the open. This has dramatic consequences on human health, dignity and security, the environment, and social and economic development. Having to defecate openly infringes on human safety and dignity. This holds particularly true for women and girls, who lose privacy and face shame having to defecate in public, or – after painfully holding their bladder and bowels all day – risk attack by waiting until night falls.

 

Join the global campaign to raise awareness about World Toilet Day and learn how you can take action by clicking here.

COVID-19 Support

COVID-19 Support

Working with Curt Degler of South Asian Village Empowerment International, we helped to fund a rice distribution in Tamil Nadu in some of the villages we've both visited and have books and water projects in. Good quality rice was provided for 100 families during this difficult time of the pandemic.

Mobile Library

Mobile Library

This motorbike mobile library serves villages in a remote rural area south of Chennai. Mr. Venkatesan is the librarian-teacher who takes the books from one village to another on his 100cc motorbike

Tuition Center Roof

Tuition Center Roof

A second initiative that was enabled by JosephJoseph participation in the London Color Run (see Anna Nagar water project) was a partial reconstruction of the Kazhanipakkam Assembly Hall to include a steel sheet pitched roof over the whole building and the installation of lighting and security gates. This area provides additional space for children attending the free tuition (tutoring) school located on the main floor.

Free Tuition Tutoring Center

Free Tuition Tutoring Center

WaterBridge Outreach provides books + literacy materials to after-school (free) tuition centers run by Save INT'L near Mamallapuram, India. These centres play a vital role not only in helping the children learn English, but also in preparing them for their national 10th grade exams and future life.

Bore Well and Hand Pump Repairs

Bore Well and Hand Pump Repairs

Our 2nd water project in Anna Nagar saw us working with Save Int'l again to overhaul an old government installed bore well with non-functioning hand pump that has not worked for many years. The well required a deep cleaning to be reactivated and working with Save Int'l we hope to convert the well into a electric powered submersible pump with water holding tank.

Dalit Toilet Complex Rehabilitation

Dalit Toilet Complex Rehabilitation

In many parts of India the Dalits – the community or caste originally referred to as the “Untouchables” – still suffer discrimination. WBO, working with Curt Degler of Save Int'l, has engaged over the years in numerous literacy and water infrastructure projects that express respect for the human dignity of the Dalits while also meeting basic needs. Much needed repairs and rehabilitation of the water system that supplies the Dalit toilet complex have now been completed.

School Washrooms

School Washrooms

Lack of sanitation facilities is a serious problem in schools in many parts of India. This lack of basic infrastructure can have a negative impact on childrens’ education, especially on the education of girls. In collaboration with Save Int’l, WaterBridge Outreach is constructed new toilet facilities at Melaiyuur School in Tamil Nadu.

School Washrooms

School Washrooms

When the elementary school in Karanai desperately needed toilets for the use of the children, WBO partnered with Curt Degler, executive director of Save Int'I, to provide basic washroom facilities for the school. Otherwise, like almost half of the population of India, the children would have to defecate in the open. The lack of basic sanitation is only too often a source of diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid.

Bore Well + Hand Pump

Bore Well + Hand Pump

The attitude and spirit of the villagers in the Irular tribal enclave at Kazhanipakkam make this project a very special one. These smiling Irular people have very little of their own and they were delighted when the new well and pump made water available in their village instead of a long walk away.

Water for 4 Schools

Water for 4 Schools

Thanks to the initiative and generosity of students at Holy Names University, Oakland, California, four schools in remote rural areas now have clean drinking water.

Reverse Osmosis System

Reverse Osmosis System

In 2012 residents in Ellandoppu had no clean water for drinking, washing pots, and general sanitation. The already toxic state of the water had deteriorated further after the infiltration of salt water from the sea following the devastating Indonesian earthquake and tsunami in 2010. The solution to the water problem was the installation of a reverse osmosis system.

Reverse Osmosis System

Reverse Osmosis System

North Mamallapuram Dalit School ~ this small school serves primary students from poor Dalit families. The two classrooms are very basic with cement floors and battered old wooden desks, yet made bright and welcoming by displays of the students' work. A reverse osmosis system has been installed to provide students and teachers with purified drinking water.

Reverse Osmosis System

Reverse Osmosis System

After 10+ years of constant use the reverse osmosis system in Salavankuppam required a complete overhaul. Working with Curt Degler of Save Int'l we provided funds for this much needed work and are happy to announce that the ro system is now providing clean, purified drinking water to the residents.

Bore Well + Hand Pump

Bore Well + Hand Pump

Funds raised by the company JosephJoseph, through their participation in the annual summer “Color Run” in London, allowed us to construct this bore well and hand pump in Anna Nagar, India.

Bore Well + Hand Pump

Bore Well + Hand Pump

Thanks to a generous grant from the Sonoma Women's Giving Circle, WBO worked with Save International to install a 150 ft well with hand pump in the rapidly expanding enclave known as Jeeva Nagar. The majority of newcomers are victims of what is known as “the illegal bonded labor segment” – the bonded laborers in this “labor segment” are perhaps best described as modern-day slaves.

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