Elephants and visitors

Last night we had some visitors to field base. Two of our project partners came along to talk to the team about the projects for 09I and how project partners work with Raleigh in India.

Echo 5 and 6 will be working with project partners WWF in one of the most densely populated areas for the Asian elephant in India. Boominathan from WWF came along and talked to us about elephants. He was really passionate about the work he does WWF and gave loads of great tips for working on the project sites like…do not wear bright colours, keep quite quiet when you are in elephant territory, observe from a distance of at least 100 metres and keep your ears open for snapping branches and trumpeting at all times.

We also had a talk from Ravi Kumar from MYKAPS. MYKAPS have worked in the local area for 25 years and Raleigh India has been working with them for two years now. Together we’ve had some real successes making a huge impact on lots of communities and villages. Some of the projects undertaken so far with MYKAPS have been eco sanitation units, like the work Charlie 4 for will be doing for 09I. We’ve also worked on sustainable agriculture projects and rainwater harvesting projects. For Raleigh India 09I Charlie 2, 3 and 4 will all be working with MYKAPS as project partners. The talk that Ravi gave about the impact the work we do has on local communities was really inspiring, he talked about not only making a difference in terms of providing new facilities but also talked about how the cultural exchange on projects adds so much value to those who are involved, both in the local communities and the Raleigh participants.

Above: Ravi Kumar talking to our PMs

Vijay, our Host Country Venturer Co-ordinator, gave a talk about our project partner Centre for Tribal and Rural Development Trust (CTRD). CTRD currently work on projects and programmes aimed at promoting and strengthening the livelihood, welfare and development of the poor tribal and rural communities in the Gudalur Block of the Nilgiri Hills. Charlie 1 will be working with CTRD to provide tribal housing in the mountainous Nilgiri district, Tamil Nadu.Vijay talked about the culture of the different tribes and the challenges they face at the moment.

After having a chance to quiz the project partners and a bit of yoga...

...all the PMs left field base this morning to go on their planning visits.

Everyone has arrived safely at their project sites now and we’ve already has a report back from Echo 5 and 6 that they ran in to some elephants on the way in to the project site so hopefully we’ll have some evidence to post up on the blog when they are back on Sunday, watch this space...