The village is occupied by a formally nomadic tribe, similar to our tinkers, who do as little as possible. The village land is rented out as that is easyer than tilling it them selves.
The most interesting part of the project at this stage, is the provision of toilets. Evidently to begin with the elders did not see the need for them,but the women did. The main problem was to supply the facilities and maintain a good standard of hygiene. One of the Soroptomists husband is a retired engineer and using some of his contacts, that he had built up over the years, he came up with a design that fulfilled all the criteria.
There is a three stage filtration system producing a nutrient rich, safe, liquid that can be used on the land and the filters only need cleaning out about every two years. The first stage is brick rubble and the final stage is sand.
It was insisted that they would be installed away from the dwelling houses. After the first one was installed and it was found not to be smelly etc. they asked to have them nearer the homes. Now they are integrating them in their houses.
The next desire was to have a washing area with the toilet. This was reasonably easy but care had to be taken not to contaminate the faecal matter with the soapy water.
After heavy lobbying a bus service was organised, twice a day to take people to and from the nearest town, children to school, etc.
Village women doing the laundry
The school for the youngest children
Some of the Villagers with, Far left Raj, the toilet designer and back row third from the right Matilda our guide.
This is a general view of the village and the children, the concrete road is some thing the villagers have done for them selves.
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