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Water and Sanitation Projects

Orphans in Need has now embarked on a major project to provide safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education, to Jharkhand; an area of eastern India, with an acute need for these basic necessities. The aim of the project is to provide water pumps to vulnerable communities, allowing access to clean drinking water in the vicinity of their own villages. The pumps are designed to ensure safety to users as well as eliminating any potential issues of livestock contamination, by making them hygienically safe. Jarkhand is a district in the eastern state of Bihar; one of the poorest in India.

Many women and children spend many hours daily, often walking up to six kilometres, in the pursuit of bringing clean water for themselves and their family. This is an exhausting task, which takes up valuable time and energy, prevents women from carrying out other vital work, and children from going to school. In many instances even the water they eventually collect is contaminated, thus creating further demands on communities already in desperate need of assistance.
	India is a huge and diverse country, where over 170 million people do not have access to safe water and 69% of the population (690 million people, 10 times the entire UK population), lack adequate sanitation. As a result 600,000 children under five die from diarrhoeal diseases every year. According to the World Health Organisation, around 80% of all sickness and disease in the world is caused by inadequate water, Sanitation and hygiene. Not only does this problem cause sickness and death, but also increases health costs, reduces people's ability to earn a living, and reduces school enrolment rates. Shortages of water can also lead to harvest failures and even famine. All these factors combine together to contribute to the continuing stranglehold of poverty which afflicts many in nations like India.
Project Costs & Objectives Orphans in Need hope to install at least 100 pumps before the end of December 2005. These will be installed in areas where there are no water facilities available within 3 to 4 kilometres. The projected cost of installing one pump is £250.00 Sterling. This involves the actual installation of, and initial maintenance of the pump, as well as training community members to carry out basic maintenance of the pumps to ensure their sustainability. Donations of £250.00 (which over a year equates to 0.68 pence per day - the cost of a can of pop), will enable: • Communities with up to 600 people to have access to clean drinking water on a daily basis; where currently they have to walk many kilometres carrying heavy drums of water. • Ability to increase the levels of personal hygiene, through giving the villagers access to bathing water, and for cleaning clothes, utensils etc. • Communities to conduct funerals / weddings or other gatherings without needing to travel to other areas. Currently people have to go elsewhere just to fulfil these basic needs. • Communities to reverse or reduce the flow of migration from rural to urban areas. This is an issue which perpetuates poverty for the migrant and further puts a strain on the still developing cities and towns in the region. • Communities to be educated on the link between safe water, sanitation, diseases and unsafe hygiene practices. • Safe water and sanitation are now widely recognised as basic human rights. Despite this, many societies still suffer, and their growth and development severely restricted, due to a lack of access to these most basic of necessities. It has a negative impact on people's time, livelihood, education and quality of life.

Orphans in Need believe that the project will enable many communities to form the essential foundations for all other forms of development, and are vital for poverty reduction. Your donations will enable many of the world's most needy people to improve health, save time and energy, as well as improve people's income and education. We also believe the initiative will have a very effective impact on the social and cultural wellbeing of the people in the area, increase their dignity, and act as a catalyst for the communities to carry out further development work themselves, and take the vital steps towards better futures for their children. Every penny donated, no matter how small the amount, makes a huge difference to the success and viability of this project. Plaques will be placed on the pumps stating that they have been donated by Orphans In Need. Names of Donors offering to cover the full cost of a pump (£ 250.), will also be recorded on the plaque, along with their Town / Country name.