• Domaine :

  Water

• Région :

  Asia

• Pays :

  India

The project:


In the village of Sorakayalapeta, India, installation of a water purification system and the building that houses it. Also, in the two villages of Boinapally and Midzil also in India, drilling of two wells surmounted by hand pumps of India # 2 brand.
These facilities, at a total cost of $ 20,990.00, will provide drinking water to more than 1,425 beneficiaries.


The request:


Dear Mr. Gagnon,

Greetings to you and all the members of the Foundation Coup de Cœur. Hope you are doing well.
I am pleased to share with you the completion report of 3 projects generously supported by Marcel and Luce Baril through your Foundation. Because of your partnership, another 1425 marginalized people in rural India has gained access to clean and affordable drinking water through a Water purification system (Sorakayalapeta village) and two bore wells (Boinaplly and Midzil villages). Projects were implemented by SOPAR’s partner organization Bala Vikasa in India.
Mr. Nageshwar Muli, Village mayor (Sarpanch), from Sorakayalapeta village, Andhra Pradesh State, India, wants to share with us, what it means to them having this life changing gift in their village.
“Sorakayalapeta has 215 families. It is about 9 hours away from Bala Vikasa head office. Like many villages in our region, our village too has high levels of fluoride content (2.5PPM), causing some serious health problems. We mainly depend on neighbouring villages for our drinking water. More than 80% of the village is spending their hard-earned money in purchasing commercial water as there is no choice to protect health. Unfortunately, majority of the families cannot afford so much, and so drinking water became a luxury to us. One day I fell from my bicycle while carrying water cans. During this pandemic we faced more problems especially during the lockdowns as we cannot leave our village to get water. It became our constant struggle. Therefore, access to safe drinking water became an urgent need for our village.
We came to know from one of our neighbouring villages about SOPAR-Bala Vikasa Water purification system (sponsored by Marcel and Luce) that was installed about 4 years back. We were inspired seeing how the project was managed by the water committee and multiple benefits it is bringing to the villagers. As a newly elected Village mayor, I felt responsible and discussed with our people to do something to solve our problems. With the support of water committee from the neighbouring village,we approached Bala Vikasa with an aplication. Soon Bala Vikasa came to conduct an initial meeting in our village, explained about the project and its conditions. Our village got united and agreed to move forward. It took some time, but as required, we mobilized the local resources to build a small room to install the water system and raw water supply. Village board has provided the place to build the room. Sometimes due to Pandemic, we could not gather the entire village, but with Bala Vikasa’s motivation more than 90% of the families paid their membership fees and joined the program.
Finally, our long-time dream came true. With a water purification system in our village, we now havea ccess to affordable and clean water to drink. It brought greater joy to all of us, especially for women and girls who otherwise spend many hours fetching water. We can now focus on our health, hygiene, development activities and girls can go to school and have a bright future. We will manage the project with utmost care.” We are so grateful to Bala Vikasa and especially the generous donors in Canada for your support. Our health and hygiene will be improved, and our village will be developed step bystep.”
In these difficult pandemic times, water became more important and precious than ever, particularly for the rural communities. Providing access to water is bringing multiple benefits for the community not only during COVID times but post-COVID times as well.
On behalf of the 3 villages and SOPAR-Bala Vikasa, I thank you, all the FCC members and the dear donors Marcel and Luce for all your continued support and partnership. Together we are making a difference in the lives of the vulnerable communities in India. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Shobha Singareddy
Director
SOPAR-Bala Vikasa



Funding: