Safe-Drinking-Water

Water distribution systems in Nepal are mostly focused on the urban centers. The water distribution systems beyond these urban centers are managed by the local communities, private sectors, local water user groups, etc. The quality of the water supply is always the matter of questioning for safety due to lack of filtration system, no use of disinfection and no proper maintenance.

The conditions in the hilly and mountainous regions are even worse compared to the plain areas of Nepal with limited sources of water. Even though the source is found, it remains hard to make the pipeline distribution system, often becomes long and tedious task to accomplish. Hence the people have to collect water from the far sources and spend hours for the daily need of water. The tragedy behind water use in Nepal is that, the water collected from this much of hardship is also not safe for drinking purpose due to the pollution in the source or due to bad storage vessels. The fact sheet released by Water Partners International depicts that 88% of the whole diseases are the waterborne diseases. 4,900 children are dying every day due to diarrhea. According to Asian Development Bank (ADB) report sanitation-related diseases account for 72 per cent of total ailments and diarrhea continues to be one of the leading causes of childhood deaths in Nepal. Other common illnesses are dysentery, coughs and skin diseases.

Therefore an instant action for the safe drinking water supply is the must in the present context of Nepal. Among various techniques developed for the safe drinking water, the use of Chlorine solution (or sodium hypochlorite) - a chemical compound that destroys and inactivates micro-organisms and pathogens in water - is a powerful disinfectant widely used.

Objective

The general objective of the campaign is to provide the communities with safe drinking water and improved sanitation of the surrounding. The specific objectives of the campaign are :

• To promote the safe supply of drinking water in schools to prevent children from water borne diseases.
• To increase the school attendance and students enrollment.
• To aware communities in safe drinking water and sanitation through school child.

Key intervention

ECCA has initiated the campaign by using chlorine solution – which is locally produced from concentrated common salt solution, through an electrolysis process. It is simple to use, robust and sustainable technology. The device requires only DC source or solar panel, a clean plastic container (not metallic), common salt and clear water.

The necessary quantity of active chlorine concentrate (sodium hypochlorite) for water treatment depends on the initial water quality. For an average water quality, 1 litre of concentrated salt solution can treat about 52,000 litres of water. Once treated water is used, health condition will improve; thereby enhancing the livelihood of the general populace.

Web page information with acknowledgement to Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness

http://www.ecca.org.np/campaigns/safe_water.php

Evidence of empowerment and change of attitude

During June, I returned to Nepal and visited Mirge to personally check out the progress of the 'Herbal Garden' at Kalidhunga Higher Secondary School and the volunteer accommodation, catch up with teachers, community members, and meet and plan the next activities with the staff at ECCA.

The start to our journey to Mirge was an amusing and somewhat frantic beginning. Angel had organised micro-bus tickets for our party, which included Sean who was to be our first volunteer in this program. We arrived early but unsuccessfully searched for our bus at the Bus Park. We eventually heard that there was no bus to Mainapokhari because it had developed mechanical problems. We frantically went from bus ticket seller to ticket seller trying to get on another bus which would be heading in the same direction. The situation was getting desperate and it looked like the trip was going to be cancelled. However, I was insistent and determined to get to Mirge because I was eager to see the progress of the program and talk to teachers about its impacts. Constant monitoring is an important part of my involvement in the program. So with a quick call to a reliable travel agent we had within a few minutes reorganized the transport and contracted a 4-wheel drive and driver to get us on our way. In the end this was by far the better solution as we could get directly to the schools and avoid a 3 hour walk which we would have had to have done if we had taken the bus. So determination won out and 6.5 hours later we arrived at KHSS.

We were greeted by a beaming and animated principal, Bombari Dahal. Dragging me by the arm to look at a group of men and women who were sifting soil at a new building site, he displayed the  broadest smile I had seen for a long time and with broken English that translated roughly as "look, look. Community!", he pointed at the beginnings of a new passive solar classroom in construction. I could sense that something had significantly changed in the attitude of Bombari, the community and other school staff. 

Herbal Garden

As Angel showed me the new 'Herbal Garden' which had been initiated by the student's Nature Club as a result of the Reformation and Management Training back in May, he told me that since this training Bombari had observed a radical change of attitude in his students. He attributed this to the emerging success of the Nature Club. I immediately felt like jumping up and 'punching in the air' like so many sportspeople do now after winning a hard earned victory on the tennis court or football pitch. However, I contained this and internally and silently yelled to myself "YES! They get it! It's working!"

New look KHSS Library

In regard to tangible results I could see and celebrate the efforts of the community who had come together to establish the Herbal Gardens, the water fountains and 7000 litre storage tank, but my absolute joy was in response to the subtle evidence of empowerment, ownership and responsibility within the teachers, community members and students. At last I had confirmation that this process was working and I contemplated at the time that we must support this enthusiasm until it is permanently embedded in those who it will benefit. After all, this program is entirely about empowerment and the skills of self-managing change. 

Clean Water Drinking Fountain

At the time of this post, the WATASOL water purification program had just been completed and I await eagerly the report. I have added a link to the details of this program and you are invited to read about the goals and processes that will lead to a sustainable community based approach to water purification. With careful management gastroenteritis and associated health issues will be eliminated from this community while simultaneously creating an income stream for the school. I will report on the programs details in the next blog.

 Thank you again for your ongoing support and I look forward to telling you more about the latest developments.

Clean drinking water, libraries and English Medium

Since my previous blog some significant progress has been made at both schools.

Firstly, I am pleased to advise you that the drinking water project at Kalidhunga has been completed. However, the final budget exceeded the original and so we will need to raise a few more funds soon to balance the books. More discussion on fundraising later.

Underground water storage

The Water project will have a significant impact on the quality of experience and well-being of the school community, especially now that the hot summer and monsoon is only weeks away. Next winter the students and staff will benefit even further. During this time the water supply has been unreliable. The addition of a 7000 litre underground storage tank will now make clean drinking water available all the time. Also at Kalidhunga the library has experienced some improvement. Not only is it more available for students throughout the day, but the children's colourful story books are displayed so the covers can be seen and attract students to read more than ever. In addition, the colourful books bring atmosphere to the library is invigorating.

Drinking taps

Forty-five minutes walk away at Majhgaun Lower Secondary School, wonderful things have been happening.

Nursery Room

Upon arrival last October I was excited to hear that another NGO had supported MLSS in developing a room for Nursery Class. Now the little kids have a comfortable carpeted and well resourced learning/play area. Families responded positively to the new facility and the room is packed with excited kids for a few hours a day. The children interact with kinaesthetic and colourful learning materials and experience the joys of 'toys' for the very first time.

Throughout my stay I introduced the literacy program called THRASS (Teaching Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Skills), to both students at all levels and staff. This is an engaging program that incorporates phonemics into an integrated approach to reading and spelling. Thus the students learnt how to decode sounds into words and letters, and words into sounds. Improvement in both pronunciation and speaking skills were noted as an additional learning outcome.

Majhgaun teachers and Grade 7-ers

The English Language and English Medium teachers were trained to use the program to complement their teaching of the curriculum. The main emphasis was to switch from a one letter makes one sound approach to spelling and pronunciation to phonemics approach to both. The aim of this training was to prepare staff with the skills of self-improvement in their own pronunciation and able to model appropriate pronunciation to students. As an interest recent national surveying of students supported this concept. The results indicated that the number one factor that influenced successful acquisition of spoken English was the skill level and competency of the teacher. In addition, I helped the staff develop planning and delivery skills for reading in English for both English Medium and English Language classes.

English Language Room with THRASS charts

Children using THRASS method

Regarding facilities each room now has a white board and a designated English Language room with the THRASS materials displayed for use.

I am pleased to say that from a training perspective we are on track and with an idea to provide ongoing English and methodology training for MLSS and teachers and senior students over the next few years, I believe we will be able to have a sustainable impact on at least the quality of English and English Medium teaching and learning.

In my next blog I would like to update you on these training ideas and the latest developments from ECCA. Enjoy the pics too.



Phulkaj and Jack at the giving of books from Macmillan

I have been back in Nepal

Well, it has been a while since last Blog. You may have wondered where I had disappeared to?

On the 12th October last year I touched down at Kathmandu International Airport and began a wonderful 4.5 month sojourn in Nepal. Other than the obvious much longer length of stay, it has been quite a different experience than all previous visits. In brief, I spent 3 weeks volunteering as an English teacher at Kalidhunga Higher Secondary School, introduced THRASS to the students and English staff at Majhgaun Lower Secondary School and conducted a 20 hours phonemics training program for 30 teachers in Letang, Morang.

Firstly, while Phulkaji was away in Kathmandu attending Masters level examinations, I fronted his English classes; class 6, 8 and 10. Here I attempted to follow the National Curriculum with limited success. The experience provided valuable insight, into teaching English in a rural Nepalese school from the perspectives of teachers, students, and school and resources management. Unfortunately, the experience left me a little jaded and disillusioned. Teaching and resource management in Rural schools and the national education system itself presents numerous challenges that both have impeded their respective developments and created a poor standard of educational achievement. The issues are too complex to articulate in this Blog, but will be the subject of further discussion as new directions are explored for assisting the development of Mirge's educational future. However, if we consider only that is within our immediate influence and have any chance to change, then the main issues that will continue to influence the development of quality education fall into the following categories: strong, effective and visionary school leadership, teacher training in 'learning centred' direct teaching methodology, computer training, long term English Language Courses, guidance and direct support for school management and student leadership, and finally facility construction.

Overall, I did not feel I achieved much at KHSS as a classroom teacher, but at least I was able to facilitate action on the function of the library. Now the school library has a designated teacher/librarian and borrowing is available to students throughout each day. ECCA has agreed to install a clean drinking water system which is due to be completed by the end of February. In addition, we have agreed to paint the school inside and out,  but there will be conditions. The school and its leadership will need to develop and commit to a long and short term plan of action to improve the school environment and manage greenery and nature club developments before we make final approval for painting. Sadly, other than a lot of talk, nothing of significance has been achieved in establishing environmentally sustainable practices. In all a bit disappointing, but ECCA have now realised that it is necessary to support the function of the Nature Clubs because neither teachers nor, students even after the training program, have skills nor any previous experience to manage creatively the Nature Club visions.

Do not though abandon all hope!

The original vision for school environment improvement and community development has not altered. In fact I am even more determined to put more effort into the program, despite the lack of progress. The current state of affairs is an indication of the need to tackle some of these impediments to change and through ECCA's direct facilitation and guidance we can do it. Quality Education is a must and as it does appear to be, even a desire for such developments is not enough for the KHSS to embrace the changes independently. Sometimes what appears to be a lack of will is more a lack of ability and not knowing what critical questions  for change to raise in the first place. Visioning on such matters is easier for us in the west because we have centuries of development and aeons of creative solutions that have been trial. The teachers of KHSS have had none of this. The teacher training is so very limited and their personal experience is considerably narrow. How can effective progress be made if 'you do not even know what you do not know'!

In the next Blog I will feature Majhgaun Lower Secondary School and the work undertaken there.