More NGOs

The picture above is actually a shot of a golf course we passed on the way with SAPID and Shekar to nine slum villages inhabited by squatters just outside of Hyderabad. I didn't take many pix because we don't know what we will be able to do and I didn't want to offend the people. Most have been here about seven years and have been taught by SAPID and HEAL (a private American LDS humanitarian group) how to improve their condition by first identifying their problems and then meeting to come up with solutions and implement them where possible. SAPID doesn't believe in straight charity. It wants people to take ownership of their lives and make them better themselves. HEAL has taught them about health measures, education, gardening and compost pits, which we saw evidence of, and both have taught them how to lobby for land rights so that the land will be theirs for more permanent improvements. They are to receive official notice September 22, 2008, and if it's in their favor, we will be able to do something to help. LDSC has already drilled a few bore wells, which produce good water, but we cannot do more until we know their legal status so that the government cannot cap the wells (they've done that previously) or take the land away from them and make our efforts wasted. What they need even more than water (since most have access to some somewhere) are latrines. Last year a woman was killed by a snake when going to the field for a restroom break and that's not the only problem as you can imagine. None of the villages have a single latrine (picture a lined hole in the ground, not chair height like our outhouses, with a privacy cover of some type, perhaps even bricks) and the women are very outspoken about the need. (LDSC would supply materials and they would build the latrines.) Urmi (SAPID) told us that working men make 150 Rs/day and women 75Rs and that the men are more interested in drowning their sorrows with alcohol than bringing home money to improve their plight. The women are the go-getters in these villages. We had an interesting day listening to Telugu and waiting for Urmi and Shekar to translate occasionally. We didn't understand the words but we understood the feelings and desires.
Shekar asked in several villages if the women would like tailoring training and laughter followed one response, "Sure we'd all like to learn how, but who's going to pay our salary." We had to wait for the translation.
We left in the morning following a fairly heavy rain, enduring one of our hottest and most humid days ever and finding the villages black with flies. These people have no electricity; they have to walk a way for water which they carry back in a jug; some have built small (size of a large shed--one room) homes to show the government their intention to stay (they pay taxes by the way), but we couldn't help but wonder how they find room to do anything inside. And the roads in their villages would make the forests roads seem like super highways. As I tried to fan off the flies I thought to myself, "Don't complain, Karen. You're going home in a while and you will be able to get a drink from your refrigerator, turn on a fan and lights and be free from the elements." We are praying that their wicked government, which lines its own pockets with the tax money, will relent and give them land rights so that we can help them.
We are so impressed with SAPID and HEAL and what they have done, briefly mentioned above. The picture below is on one side of a village where they have been constructing their homes.

Bill went with Shekar to a boys and a girls camp sponsored by MV Foundation who tries to get children out of child labor. They were having a lesson on parts of the body and the teacher asked Bill to come up and go through some of the parts of the body. He pointed to his knee and elbow and they didn't know the English word, so he wrote it on the board as well as corrected the spelling of a couple other words. They enjoyed his lesson and he was "Teacher of the Day." The children live at these camps and are fed by women who cook in the kitchen (above). MV is partnering with us on the water project so we will work at providing mats for the girls' beds as they sleep on the ground currently. There are about 150 girls and 300 boys in each of the camps.

There's more below.

Pictures above are at St. Anthony's School (for all children--350--but run by Catholics) on India's Independence Day, Aug 15. They had a flag raising ceremony and then a lengthy program which we left after two hours while it was still going. A Congresswoman attending had brought a saree for me to wear which I insisted they put over my dress. The saree itself is 5 1/2 yards wrapped and hand pleated and tucked and twisted till there's enough to hang down your back or front--whichever you choose. Children in the pic with us are dressed as leading figures in India--the bare chested is Mahatma Ghandi; Nehru and Mother Theresa aren't showing. Can't name the others. Children performed skits that taught valuable lessons and did many different dances. The modern dress one was a modern dance that was disappointing to me. They are watching too much TV or movies and losing their innocence.