Information of the project

With all the excitement I don’t think I remembered to tell you what this project is all about, so now is as good time for that as any.

In 2006 the North Karelian Development Association launched a Water- and Environment project in Thiruvalla and its surrounding villages. Each year one operative coordinator has been sent along with 3-6 volunteer workers, that were usually students of different fields in the North Karelian University of Applied Sciences, to plan the targets and the implementation of the development aid. At first the focus was set on the problems in sanitation and water supplies; ground- and surface waters were severely polluted by poorly managed sanitation, especially in the poor areas like the countryside. The NKDA representatives have financed the building of safer sanitation systems in public sectors like schools and orphanages. The models and labour was bought from the local NGO (non governmental organization), the Socio Economic Unit Foundation. The other cooperator, TMM hospital, was a good connection beetween the target areas and the NKDA.

Next the focus was turned into the waste management problem, that is effective in all of India. Although landfills do exist, it costs money to have the waste picked up and naturally only a few people can afford that luxury. So the waste is usually burned in piles, unsegregated. In many cases the piles attract animals (rodents, and further on venomous snakes, that are a common cause of deaths in India) or act as a breeding ground for mosquitos (that spread deadly epidemics like malaria and chigungunya), not to mention the water- and air pollutants. NKDA funded a 4-day workshop to be held for the TMM hospital staff and students on waste management. This was a start for the TMM to become the pioneer hospital in India when it comes to hygiene. Soon enough all the waste that is produced in the hospital will be either incinerated, used in the bio-gas plant (funded by the NKDA), or other ways properly recycled or disposed.

Along with this progress the Health Educator system (see dates 23. march or 31. march) was born, that spreads the knowledge to the community and the countryside. The TMM hospital is now working as an effective example to the surrounding community and other facilites have already adopted their ways for the better future. It’s no wonder, if this particular NKDA project is thought to be one of the most successful ones ever made in India and will serve as an example to up-coming projects.

Us, the volunteers of this particular year, have been given the responsibility of documenting all of the projects targets; all the success and failures. There will also be some video documenting and a portfolio, which I hope you all will have a chance to glance at. If enough interest is shown, I might even have it for you in the internet. After all, what I have explained here, has been only a small portion of the whole adventure.