Monday, and Watershed Management

Monday began with the staff meeting that had been postponed from Saturday. During the meeting, Alex and I were introduced to more staff who are field workers on sustainable agriculture and biogas projects. We had some conversations via a mixture of basic English and translations into Telagu, the local language, and we agreed when asked to come up with some Saturday workshops for the staff in conversational English. This felt like a good plan to me, as it would involve upskilling people who would remain after we left, so we will be leaving behind some benefits that will last long after we are gone (as long as our teaching is ok of course…)

Next on our to-do list was to talk with Rasool, the education coordinator. He manages the admin for the SEDS school as well the child sponsorship program which is funded by Partners in Aid (an Australian charity). Along with Rasool, Alex and I worked out a timetable for us to work at the school as assistant teachers, primarily to help with the teaching of English but also to maybe help the teachers find better ways of presenting their curriculums. SEDS cannot afford the same salaries as government or private schools, so they have some difficulty in attracting and keeping good quality teachers. An unfortunate side effect of improving the skills of the SEDS teachers is that they then often use their improved skills to leave SEDS for better-paid work, forcing SEDS to hire new and inexperienced teachers.

We will spend other days going out with the field workers to learn about the implementation of the current SEDS projects, but this will again be flexible and open to last minute changes. One last-minute thing that did happen was that a mother and daughter arrived, the mother wanting to apply for her daughter to receive sponsorship under the Partners in Aid child sponsor program. Families get referred to the program by school staff, social workers, or even word-of-mouth, and come to SEDS to apply. A form is completed, which gathers family details, caste, reported income, and asks about other indicators of financial status such as water and kitchen facilities available at home and how many cattle they have. Follow up visits to the home are also used to assess need so that the sponsorship goes to those children whose families can least afford access to education. With Rasool, the education director, translating some of our questions, Alex and I were able to have a bit of a talk with the potential sponsor child, although she was very shy talking to us adults in that context.

Photo by Ronny

In the afternoon we went out in the jeep with Ronnie to see some of the watershed work that was done by SEDS in their earlier days. Driving out to Sanipalli hill, it was difficult to reach the dirt road leading to the SEDS watershed area because of new construction work occurring. We took a break from driving at one point to have a bit of a walk instead, and we got to see some great wildlife. There were plenty of birds, although they were all too quick for me to snap with my small camera. But we did see some beautiful lizards and a really colourful ak grasshopper.

Eventually we found our way though, and Ronny took us to the first site of SEDS’ early watershed development work. The area was covered in earthworks, with every earth barrier designed to slow the flow of water off the hillside to reduce erosion, and every pit dug in the ground designed to catch the water and hold it, allowing it to either be used or to soak into the ground to join the water table. Ronny told us that all of the trees in the area were planted by SEDS, and the fact that there was greenery and agriculture here, rather than just arid ground and dust, was all due to the watershed management designed by Rajan. It was pretty incredible to see the amount of work that had been carried out, and the amazing effect it had had.

Earthworks

Earthworks

The principle behind the management is to "make the running water walk". Bunds (earth work barriers) are created around the hill to slow the flow of the water over the ground. Other works with stone and so on are used in watercourses to partially dam parts of them, allowing water to build up and sit there, thus seeping into the ground water and contributing to the water table. Water tanks (reservoirs) of different sizes are constructed to store as much water as possible, and trenched areas are dug alongside paved roads to gather the runoff. The larger pre-existing reservoirs were also de-silted, but in areas of smaller circumference than the entire reservoir. That way when the water levels get lower, there is less surface area for the water to evaporate from. All of the water that goes back into the ground water, raising the water table, means that this water is now accessible to the roots of trees which SEDS have planted everywhere possible, which provide shade to reduce evaporation and whose root systems bind the soil to reduce erosion. The water is also more available to smaller wells which do not need to be dug so deeply, which can then be used by village families in their homes, for watering livestock, and for irrigating crops.

Before watershed management

After watershed management