Basha Day
Sheik Basha had spoken to me previously about wanting to take us out to the watershed area. We had needed to rearrange the date a couple of times to accommodate things that arose which required his attention, but today we got to have a Basha day.
We had already been shown the Sanipalli watershed area by Ronny, who had also given us a presentation about the management techniques used and so on. However, I was keen to show gratitude to Basha for his interest in teaching us something, and to show him respect. I also thought it could be valuable to hear a different perspective and to see what the project meant to someone who lived locally, and who probably had a different background in environmental attitudes compared to a European person.
I really enjoyed the morning with Basha. He enthusiastically told us about the ground constructions that had been carried out, what it had been like to work on the project, the physical labour of it all, and his admiration for Rajan's vision was palpable.
Although we arrived at the area in the jeep with Ramanji driving, unlike most of our trips out, this time we walked a lot which felt invigorating and freeing. Basha pointed out to us the different types of constructions used to slow the flow of water, encouraging it to seep into the ground rather than run off quickly causing erosion along the way. He showed us how trees were planted on the soil bunds so that their roots would bind the soil and protect the bunds. He showed us where the soil was too thin to make bunds, so they had needed to use rocks instead. He showed us trenches that had been dug to catch the water and let it sit. The scale of this manual labour was immense.
We saw men quarrying rock for building by hand. I was curious how they made the blocks so even, so one of the men demonstrated to me how they use pins to crack the rock, and the nature of the rock makes it split quite neatly. Basha told the men about the impact of all their noise on the wildlife, but then he explained to us that if you need to build a house and you don't have enough money but you are prepared to work hard, then gathering your own stones for the foundations can be the difference between getting a house or not.
We moved on to a different area which was a small look out spot. Despite being being so much lower than the surrounding hills, the lookout's location in amongst the plantings gave a much better view of the scale of the reforestation than you got from the tops of the hills. It was incredible to think that the whole had been deforested and become arid and barren before the SEDS watershed management.
We also went for a walk to see if we could find a particular water tank that Basha knew of that almost always contained water. We didn't manage to find any water - until it started raining - but we saw a few different animals, including a peacock that we startled off her nest. I didn't manage to get a picture of the bird itself, but I took a photo of the eggs in the nest that was built inside one of the trenches dug to slow the flow of water, which are all currently entirely dry.
We headed back to the farm for lunch, and then later on in the afternoon we went back out again. This time we went to Sanipalli village and met with Bushana as well. We talked first with a family, the purpose of this chat was for Alex to learn more for his ecotourism project. I therefore stayed in the background a bit for this bit, although I did try to help a young boy from the family to fix the chain on his bike, so he he spent the rest of the time grinning at me :)
Next we went to another house, where we had a bit of a meeting. Mats were laid out to sit on on the floor, and I was invited to sit on a charpoy on which another mat was laid. The mats were beautiful, hand woven from dried grasses that had been dyed different colours. Alex asked some questions about the animals that had been seen in the area, and we learned about how - like everywhere - poverty begets greater poverty while wealth begets greater wealth. An example here is that the wild animals, especially boars, monkeys, and deer, can come and damage crops, reducing the income a farmer can earn. A wealthier farmer can afford to fence and protect his crops, allowing a greater yield and so a greater income. A poorer farmer cannot afford to fence his crops, and so he loses more crops to animal damage and consequently loses income.
When we got back to the farm again, I once again helped out with Venkatrammadu's dressing. His wound is beginning to look better instead of getting increasingly worse, so there is finally some hope that he can recover from this awful injury. It is incredible that such a tiny initial injury can lead to such an awful wound, but it is so good that it is on the mend at last.
I have included a picture of Manil working on the wound. It's not too graphic, but I have left a gap here so you can choose not to scroll down to it if you want. There isn't anything else in this post after the picture, so you won't miss anything if you don't scroll down :)
We had already been shown the Sanipalli watershed area by Ronny, who had also given us a presentation about the management techniques used and so on. However, I was keen to show gratitude to Basha for his interest in teaching us something, and to show him respect. I also thought it could be valuable to hear a different perspective and to see what the project meant to someone who lived locally, and who probably had a different background in environmental attitudes compared to a European person.
 |
| A painting of the watershed management area on the nearest bus shelter |
I really enjoyed the morning with Basha. He enthusiastically told us about the ground constructions that had been carried out, what it had been like to work on the project, the physical labour of it all, and his admiration for Rajan's vision was palpable.
 |
| Basha pointing out the SEDS sign in the rock |
 |
| We climbed up to the sign |
Although we arrived at the area in the jeep with Ramanji driving, unlike most of our trips out, this time we walked a lot which felt invigorating and freeing. Basha pointed out to us the different types of constructions used to slow the flow of water, encouraging it to seep into the ground rather than run off quickly causing erosion along the way. He showed us how trees were planted on the soil bunds so that their roots would bind the soil and protect the bunds. He showed us where the soil was too thin to make bunds, so they had needed to use rocks instead. He showed us trenches that had been dug to catch the water and let it sit. The scale of this manual labour was immense.
We saw men quarrying rock for building by hand. I was curious how they made the blocks so even, so one of the men demonstrated to me how they use pins to crack the rock, and the nature of the rock makes it split quite neatly. Basha told the men about the impact of all their noise on the wildlife, but then he explained to us that if you need to build a house and you don't have enough money but you are prepared to work hard, then gathering your own stones for the foundations can be the difference between getting a house or not.
We moved on to a different area which was a small look out spot. Despite being being so much lower than the surrounding hills, the lookout's location in amongst the plantings gave a much better view of the scale of the reforestation than you got from the tops of the hills. It was incredible to think that the whole had been deforested and become arid and barren before the SEDS watershed management.
 |
| The lookout |
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| The view from the lookout, all of the green is thanks to the watershed management |
We also went for a walk to see if we could find a particular water tank that Basha knew of that almost always contained water. We didn't manage to find any water - until it started raining - but we saw a few different animals, including a peacock that we startled off her nest. I didn't manage to get a picture of the bird itself, but I took a photo of the eggs in the nest that was built inside one of the trenches dug to slow the flow of water, which are all currently entirely dry.
We headed back to the farm for lunch, and then later on in the afternoon we went back out again. This time we went to Sanipalli village and met with Bushana as well. We talked first with a family, the purpose of this chat was for Alex to learn more for his ecotourism project. I therefore stayed in the background a bit for this bit, although I did try to help a young boy from the family to fix the chain on his bike, so he he spent the rest of the time grinning at me :)
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| The women gave us some sugar cane to chew |
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| Little one with his bike |
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| Big grins! |
Next we went to another house, where we had a bit of a meeting. Mats were laid out to sit on on the floor, and I was invited to sit on a charpoy on which another mat was laid. The mats were beautiful, hand woven from dried grasses that had been dyed different colours. Alex asked some questions about the animals that had been seen in the area, and we learned about how - like everywhere - poverty begets greater poverty while wealth begets greater wealth. An example here is that the wild animals, especially boars, monkeys, and deer, can come and damage crops, reducing the income a farmer can earn. A wealthier farmer can afford to fence and protect his crops, allowing a greater yield and so a greater income. A poorer farmer cannot afford to fence his crops, and so he loses more crops to animal damage and consequently loses income.
 |
| Beautifully woven, colourful mats |
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| Sitting at the meeting |
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| More people kept coming along |
When we got back to the farm again, I once again helped out with Venkatrammadu's dressing. His wound is beginning to look better instead of getting increasingly worse, so there is finally some hope that he can recover from this awful injury. It is incredible that such a tiny initial injury can lead to such an awful wound, but it is so good that it is on the mend at last.
I have included a picture of Manil working on the wound. It's not too graphic, but I have left a gap here so you can choose not to scroll down to it if you want. There isn't anything else in this post after the picture, so you won't miss anything if you don't scroll down :)
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| Manil cleaning the wound with iodine |
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