Hosekersunda revisited: The real Raleigh story

NEWSFLASH!!

Blog comments have just come in from Alpha 1 (the trekkers). Check out the comments section at the end of this blog to see if there's a reply for you...


Welcome to your Monday blog double-whammy!

Today we've posted two blogs:

The first is a special report by Dr Julia Mitchell who, among other things, is developing a monitoring and evaluation programme for Raleigh India. This means Dr Mitchell is returning to previous project sites to evaluate the long-term impact of Raleigh's projects on the lives of people living in rural and remote India. Already Dr Mitchell has discovered Raleigh is fondly remembered by those who have come into contact with our venturers and volunteer managers.

The second is your stock-standard Raleigh wrap-up from the past few days of work out in the Alpha groups, featuring such tales as the Alpha 4 love chair, the Alpha 2 goat fiasco and the finals days of walking for the trekking group.

Read on!

(above: Deputy Programme Manager Dani Esterhuysen (left) with the members of the Hosekersunda community, the location of Raleigh India's first eco-sanitation project 12 months ago. The women are pictured looking at the 08i magazine and spotting photographs from their home village.)

By volunteer manager Julia Mitchell



Hey everyone, I am very excited to be able to tell everyone what I have been up to recently....... part of my many roles here at Raleigh India is the implementation of our project monitoring and evaluation, thus investigating our project outcomes. Therefore as well as being part of the loop visit down to Alpha 2 this week, I visited a village where Raleigh previously worked in our first expedition 08C at this time last year.

I met with the small community of Hosekersunda, a rural tribal village situated on the beautiful Kabini reservoir in Karnataka, which is less than a 20-minute drive from Raleigh's current eco-sanitation project at Kalaianahalla. Raleigh constructed 30 eco-sanitation toilets at Hosekersunda as Raleigh India's debut community project in February 2008. Before Raleigh built the eco-sanitation units, the residents of the village had no access to proper sanitation.

When we arrived it looked as if the whole village had turned out to greet us and welcome us into the village school where we held our meeting. Sitting cross legged in a big circle, ladies on one side gentlemen on the other, I felt rather nervous armed with my many questions.

After going through the pleasantries of recording who was attending the meeting and being introduced – a custom fervently adhered to in India, signatures and names recorded we began. Before I could even start with my first question the community spokes person sprung to his feet and delivered a speech prepared by the community.

At first they admitted they were afraid of what it would be like having people from else where coming and living and working at Hosekersunda. However their fears were unfounded as they said once Raleigh arrived they could not believe how hard working, kind and open the Raleigh people were throughout all three phases. They said they were now using the toilets and said Raleigh had done a wonderful job in building them.

The women especially said they now had no anxieties while relieving themselves as the toilets were private. Previously when using the surrounding forest and fields, the women said exposing themselves to male residents was a constant worry. In addition all the villagers said they felt as if their village was cleaner and their health was better as a result of having the toilets.

As the meeting continued and villagers eagerly answered our questions, and one lady started crying. She said she was overwhelmed when remembering the people who had visited and worked in her village. She said she thought everyday how lucky she was to have the toilets and remembered the friendships she made. The whole village could not believe people from the other side of the world would come and want to help their community, live with them, eat their food and wear their style of dress. For them not to be looked down upon and scorned for the way they live. They said that when building the toilets, the Raleigh people became part of the community, part of their family and they would never be forgotten.

In meeting with the community of Hosekersunda I realised Raleigh had done some much more than just build toilets. They had changed the lives of people for the better, left behind memories and stories that will always be remembered and told, making the residents and the Raleigh participants global citizens.

Are you a former Raleigh venturer? Post a comment!