Saturday 16th January.
Dominic is an enthusiast for networking. PVDP invited many NGOs involved in the Thar area to come together to discuss water issues there. A university professor and 3 other knowledgeable speakers addressed around 45 attendees and we had an interesting discussion about rainwater harvesting, spate irrigation, sand dams and the like. We may even make the local newspapers... wonder how CED reads in Urdu script?
Met leaders of several local NGOs; some interesting initiatives are taking place. Afterwards we celebrated with tea and ice cream and got back to Mirpurkhas after dark but happy to be still alive. Roads are quite busy here, with fast cars, slow lorries and very slow chinichinis, small motorcycle rickshaws loaded with whole families.
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Nagar Parkar
Today we reached Nagar Parker, the area where the CED project will take place... wonderful scenery, travelling from the Thar Desert into Nagar Parker where it's much more rocky, then down to the Indian border on the Raman Kutch (*need to check the spelling!!). We visited several dam sites; although these are not part of the current briefing, we'll explore whether there are possibilities for doing something. Initial impressions of the area are that people are vulnerable because of lack of water but otherwise most have a lifestyle, albeit one with no financial opportunity. They are poor but not totally impoverished. They keep animals for status rather than keeping money and the women are said to love their animals more than their children. Animals generally look really healthy... lots of camels and donkeys... I'l hope to get my act together and publish some pix.
We had a late lunch at the PVDP Nagar Parkar office, followed by a visit to the local army post, then took tea with the Colonel at his home as he'd got fed up waiting for us at the check-point. A strict Muslim from the North, he was concerned about our motives. As PVDP is very mixed faith, I think he was satisfied that we're concerned to help people rather than to preach at them.
Afternoon spent looking at more dams and dam sites then back to Islamkot for the night. Some of the schemes have problems... PVDP are very much into the idea of small NGOs good; large organisation schemes poor, as they often fail to consult properly at community level. One village without even a proper road to it had a state-of-the-art reverse osmosis plant to take the salt out of the water; it lies rusting away, never having been fully commissioned. The village lost interest when they realised it would take a lot of diesel to run the generator for it.
Having a great time... it's a real privilege to be able to travel and get so much support and information. At the Islamkot guest house we have chapatis morning and evening and cups of tea appear at just the right moment.. Lots of chicken biryani and various other curry dishes. Tomorrow we hope to visit a Jain temple, though first we need to visit quite a few villages where the project will take place. (it didn't happen; by the time we got back from the last dam site it took us until dark to get back to Islamkot).
We had a late lunch at the PVDP Nagar Parkar office, followed by a visit to the local army post, then took tea with the Colonel at his home as he'd got fed up waiting for us at the check-point. A strict Muslim from the North, he was concerned about our motives. As PVDP is very mixed faith, I think he was satisfied that we're concerned to help people rather than to preach at them.
Afternoon spent looking at more dams and dam sites then back to Islamkot for the night. Some of the schemes have problems... PVDP are very much into the idea of small NGOs good; large organisation schemes poor, as they often fail to consult properly at community level. One village without even a proper road to it had a state-of-the-art reverse osmosis plant to take the salt out of the water; it lies rusting away, never having been fully commissioned. The village lost interest when they realised it would take a lot of diesel to run the generator for it.
Having a great time... it's a real privilege to be able to travel and get so much support and information. At the Islamkot guest house we have chapatis morning and evening and cups of tea appear at just the right moment.. Lots of chicken biryani and various other curry dishes. Tomorrow we hope to visit a Jain temple, though first we need to visit quite a few villages where the project will take place. (it didn't happen; by the time we got back from the last dam site it took us until dark to get back to Islamkot).
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Packing
just checking the password works... always a struggle... need new specs. Oh, and I'll try out some tweets on CED033... we have 3 followers, counting myself!!
Monday, 3 January 2011
PAKISTAN
Hey, the Scottish Government has awarded CED money to help people in Pakistan. We've been supporting PVDP ( www.pvdpsindh.org ) for a long time but this will be the first large project we've done with them for about a decade. Details of the project can be found under "Pakistan" in the CED website (www.ced.org.uk).
Ian Rankin and Jonathan Appleby leave on 7th January to discuss the project in its early stages. PVDP is an experienced NGO so we hope they'll be able to manage the project closely without a lot of support from ourselves. We've only budgeted a few overseas trips; this means more funds will go to meeting a very demanding list of targets on the ground; again see Pakistan for information.
Below: CED's Eddie Thomas and a
PVDP engineer testing a water sample, 2000.
Ian Rankin and Jonathan Appleby leave on 7th January to discuss the project in its early stages. PVDP is an experienced NGO so we hope they'll be able to manage the project closely without a lot of support from ourselves. We've only budgeted a few overseas trips; this means more funds will go to meeting a very demanding list of targets on the ground; again see Pakistan for information.
Below: CED's Eddie Thomas and a
PVDP engineer testing a water sample, 2000.
To Iringa and home
Well, the bus journey wasn't so bad; the following day, having overdosed on wormwood for the guts, I was feeling strangely euphoric and we had a really good trip visiting the water pipeline. I was suitably impressed with all the simple technology stages, from the intake dam to the settlement tank to the traditional steel reinforced blockwork storage tanks.
After that Rob and I had time to discuss the project and get to know the rest of the team at the Diocese HQ. Sunday was a big day with the consecration and inauguration of a new Bishop.
Good to catch up with Reuben again in Dar before flying home.
After that Rob and I had time to discuss the project and get to know the rest of the team at the Diocese HQ. Sunday was a big day with the consecration and inauguration of a new Bishop.
Good to catch up with Reuben again in Dar before flying home.
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