Our group of ten Rotarians are here in Chahalka as part of Rotary's mandate to rid the world of polio. This begins with clean water. Three years ago when this particular project began the group built washing platforms for the women to use. Before this, they had been washing the water buffalo next to the well and all of the water runoff containing fecal coliforms would drain back into the well. The following year, a computer center and daycare were built and money was raised to outfit the center with about 20 computers. This year we are building toilets and showers at the edge of town.
When we arrived only the ditch was dug for the footing. In Chahalka there are no cement trucks that pull up to the structure and start pouring. Instead, a fifty year old, gaily painted tractor with a wagon full of bricks arrives and is unloaded by hand. The bricks are then passed, assembly line style to the ditches where they are mortared together one by one. The cement is mixed by hand and also passed, in bowls, person to person until it reaches the brick layers. Then, one by one, brick by brick, the footing is built. In this way the walls are put together piece by piece. We are constructing four walls for our part in the project. When the following group arrives, the next stage will begin. The whole project will be completed using manuel labour. There are no machines involved. A plumb bob is the most complicated tool we have!
in one of my classes we are studying how the west imposes their model of developement on the third world. such as building a multi billion dollar hospital and training doctors to reduce the death rate whereas if that money was spent on projects such as yours to provide clean water it would prevent disease saving more lives then any hospital ever could.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, tho if the bloody horrible muslim men will even let their women use it!
ReplyDelete