India Romeo 6 News

We thought we would keep you updated about out time in Tamil Nadu.

Its nearly the middle of our Raleigh ICS expedition and we are back in Hossaty, the village where we are living and working in for the majority of our time here. Our first impression of Hossaty was that it was a very small town considering the amount of people living here although we were surprised at how small the houses were which sometimes have two families living under one roof.

At first the villagers seemed nervous or shy but over time they seemed to have gotten used to us being here. The kids especially like to come to the house where we are staying and play with the balls, the colouring books or skipping rope that we brought along.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been carrying our PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) in the village which have included doing household surveys, social mapping and time lines. We were shocked at one or two things we have seen e.g. we met a man suffering form HIV and he had lost two children to this disease. We were also shocked to find that every house has a satellite TV (government issued) while none have a toilet.

The main development need that we have identified from doing the PRA was the need for water and all the villagers share a single tank which is often not on due to the severe electricity shortage. We also identified the need for health awareness as most of the villagers were unaware of the need to boil their water to purify it for drinking.

Over the next few weeks we are looking forward to building the rain water harvesting system to provide the villagers with clean drinkable water. We will also be building eco-sanitation toilets and running health camps to provide the villagers with free health care and education in health and sanitation.

In our free time we have enjoyed getting to know the villagers over a cup of chai. The village is a farming community so we are getting used to being surrounded by buffaloes and cows.

 The village is also up in the mountains so we have spectacular views and the mist that comes from the mountains envelopes the village each time it rains. It’s the monsoon season here so this happens quite often but we have had some sun and sunburn for some of the group.

A highlight for the group was when we took a hike into the mountains and found ourselves at a rock above the clouds which provided a breathtaking view. Other experiences that we have had are bathing in a river, learning how to build, watching a Bollywood movie, making a new handshake and using an Indian toilet.

There are 11 of us in the group. We are having a good time getting to know each other and sharing each other’s cultures.

Deva, Paru, Sadiq, Mohan, 

Luke admiring his new artwork

We are all missing our friends and families but wanted to let you know that we are all happy and healthy.

We hope to have another message for you soon.

From

Jo, Rachel, Ash, Jake, Luke, Sadiq, Deva, Mohan, Paru, Roz and Vishnu.

India Romeo 6