12/11/10
• Sam and I visited village famers where GMKS has done work and interviewed them. We Saw wells and dams constructed by GMKS to help local farmers. The biggest problem in the area is still irrigation and water management. Most of the farmers are subsistence farmers only farming for their family. Some will sell in the market only when they have good surplus. A couple families we also met migrate every couple of years.
13/11/10
• We visited more village famers to interview. GMKS installed a plaque at one of the newer well sites. We also ate a lot of custard apples.
14/11/10
• This week is Childrens week and the organization I am working with, GMKS, is celebrating it in a number of ways. Today we visited a government school with GMKS, played games with the children, watched a traditional dance, and people from my NGO gave a speech about children and their rights.
15/11/10
• Visitors from UK from a donating organization came to GMKS to see the kind of work they have been doing.
16/11/10
• I visited another school where GMKS was hosting another event celebrating child’s week. The primary school had a parade where the children sang chants about their right and girls’ right to education. There were also games and a speech.
17/11/10
• We went to the Dharamitra for a short while and husked some very poor looking corn. We were planning on spending more time there today but there was a huge rain storm that cut our day short. but the weather did remind me of Minnesota, with the rain wind thunder and lightning, so I really enjoyed it.
18/11/10
• Today Sam and I went on another field visit to some water harvesting structures and a commune that GMKS and the Indian government have made. It was mainly more check dams and family houses. I really enjoyed the motor bike ride there too, it was calming and the weather was good.
That is just a day to day overview of what I have been up too. It’s been going pretty good. However I don’t actually have a set project that I’m working on. I am hoping that I will be able to visit more local farmers and talk to them and get a small glimpse of their lifestyle. That has been the most interesting thing so far. One farmer we met had a small house that 15 members of his family lived in. They are subsistence farmers so they only grow food to eat themselves, not to sell in the marking for a profit. But the problem is that this family isn’t able to irrigate their land and can only grow one crop during the year during the monsoon season. The food they grow during this time has to last them 8 months out of the year. I’m sorry to say but from the food stores that they had it was not going to last the 15 of them 8 months. The famer said his family often goes hungry because they do not have enough food. What GMKS has done to help this family has been to install a water harvesting structure, tank and hand pump, so that the rooftop runoff from their house goes into an underground tank that can then be used by the family as drinking water. GMKS has also provided this farmer with some lentil seeds that he will be able to plant next season. This is just one example of the rural village farming families that we have seen. Hopefully I will be able to visit more villages in this area that GMKS has worked with.
Hey Luke--Molly McLean just told me about your blog. Fantastic that you were in India! I have been living in Mumbai the last three years and really love it here. I will check out more about what you were doing here. Hope all is well.
ReplyDelete-Mr. Senrick