2000 Progress Report
During 1999, we have completed Phase I of our new three-year drinking water program with eleven systems constructed to benefit 186 households and a population of 1,374. The water systems included in Phase II of the program are currently under construction and should be completed in the latter part of this year. The second phase will provide a safe drinking water benefit to 251 households and a population of 2,116. The villagers in all communities that have benefited from the drinking water program have also shown a tremendous interest in our sanitation component. By the end of 1999, we have received more than 1200 requests for assistance with sanitation. Since the start of the current three-year program, we have already assisted more than four hundred families with permanent latrine construction. In addition to the environmental benefits, the sanitation activity has also provided an employment opportunity for many of our former graduate apprentices.
During the current year, we have assisted two more communities with primary school construction, one in Bhimsen Dhoka in Ward No.7 of Phalametar VDC, the other in Daple in Ward No.4 of Milche VDC. Both VDCs are located in the western part of southern Mahabharat. Furthermore, we have provided assistance with the construction of a new health post facility that has been established in Ward No.1 of Phalametar VDC. As part of our school construction program, we also continue to provide additional facilities, such as sanitation and kitchens for the teaching staff to previously constructed schools. These facilities are now part of any new school project.
The 1993 natural disaster created more damage than we were able to rehabilitate during the subsequent two years. Apart from the damage to the foot trails, the fields of many families had also been affected. In a region, where all of the population subsists on the produce of their own land, the loss of, or major damage to fields had an adverse effect on the food security of many families. This year, we have again resumed the field and trail rehabilitation activity to meet the most urgent needs of the local people. The above picture shows villagers transporting cement for the village drinking water system.
Although the population of southern Mahabharat has no problem to communicate or to transport commodities during the dry season, during the annual monsoon rains the communication in many parts of the region becomes difficult and sometimes even impossible. The region's rivers can be easily forded during the dry season, but not during the rainy season. To build suspension bridges across the region's rivers would be a very costly proposition, and for a small NGO such as NSP not be possible to fund such major projects. One Kathmandu based local entrepreneur manufactures components of a low cost alternative to a suspension bridge - wire-rope bridges. Although only two people or a load equivalent to a weight of 300 kilograms can be transported at a time, it does facilitate the movement of people and commodities throughout the year. This year, we have assisted with the construction of three wire bridges. One across the Bankhu Khola in Ward No.4 of Bankhu VDC, and two across the Kokhajor Khola, one in Ward No.3 of Gokule VDC, the other illustrated above in Ward No.3 of Bankhu VDC. All three bridges have been completed before the start of the monsoon season.
Michael R. Rojik, Executive Director
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