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dam-l Three Gujarati Women Create Waves at Hague WWC meet: Indian Express Story, 20.3.2K (fwd)



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Subject: Three Gujarati Women Create Waves at Hague WWC meet: Indian Express Story, 20.3.2K
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SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS, MARCH 20, 2000

When three illiterate Gujarati women talk, world stops to
                                           listen
                                      DAVINDER KUMAR


                  THE HAGUE, MARCH 19: Kunvarben, Shantaben and Poonaben
are the
                  typical rural Gujarati women. They walk miles to fetch
water for their
                  homes, they sing popular folksongs when they get
bored, and for taste
                  they like khakras and bhujiyas. This was the case till
last week.

                  But currently, the three are testing the waters at the
Hague. With a big
                  bang.

                  The three women from the parched districts of North
Gujarat have created
                  a splutter at the second World Water Forum by
narrating their long-drawn
                  struggle and eventual success with the water scarcity
problem in their
                  regions.

                  Attending the conference as project leaders of the
Self Employed
                  Women's Association (SEWA) of Gujarat, the three are
stealing the grand
                  show which has everything from mermaids swaying at the
dining hall,
                  fairies pouring carbonated water from heavens to
protestors taking bath in
                  open.

                  Taking time off from breathing, thinking and actually
fetching water back
                  home, the three are enjoying the cool environs of the
picture-perfect
                  Netherlands. Wearing new boots, guzzling canned orange
juice and
                  savouring Dutch cheese they can be spotted at the
Congress hall
                  surrounded by the participants, international media
and even children who
                  have arrived here from all over the world.
Interestingly, all three of them are
                  illiterate but are masters in their respective fields
related to the watershed
                  development projects they are running in their
villages.

                  ``I am here to tell the world that women can be the
best participants in
                  solving the water issues as they are the ones who have
to suffer the most
                  because of that,'' says Shantaben Solanki from Kamli
village in
                  Sabarkantha district.

                  Championing the cause of water woes of the womenfolk
in her village,
                  Shantaben volunteered to take a formal training in
handpump repairs last
                  year. ``Our village has got a lot of handpumps but
most of them would not
                  work due to bad maintenance. The contractor appointed
by the
                  government would never service the hand-pumps and just
take the money
                  for it. The women had no other alternative but to
fetch water from four
                  miles away. Hence I decided to take the training,''
she says.

                  This time SEWA has been given the contract for
maintenance of
                  handpumps and Shantaben is in charge of her entire
block. ``There are
                  400 handpumps in my block and every month I end up
repairing at least
                  20,'' she says. This also gives her enough income to
make both ends
                  meet.

                  ``The men are amazed when they see me repairing the
handpumps,'' she
                  says with great pride as she talks of each and every
part of the handpump
                  ranging from piston, 5-number spanner and pipe-lifter.

                  Her colleague Poonaben Bharawad from Dhokawada village
in
                  Banaskantha district is a rural specialist in
plastic-lined pond
                  management. Education has not been a barrier for
Poonaben. ``She is
                  very intelligent and full of ideas,'' say the SEWA
project coordinators
                  accompanying her.

                  Faced with saline water, abject poverty and deaths of
cattle, Poonaben
                  took up the leadership in reconstructing an old pond
in her village.
                  Poonaben brought together all the women in the village
and got the old
                  pond cleaned up and the converted into a larger one
lined lined with
                  plastic.

                  ``After the minor irrigation department turned down
our proposal labelling it
                  too small, we got the technical support from Indian
Petro Chemicals
                  Limited,'' she says. ``Now our 100-women group has
also undertaken
                  self-employment project through embroidery. This helps
us earn some
                  money, make savings and generate loans for
ourselves,'' she adds.

                  Kunverben Rajpur from the Surel village in
Surendranagar district talks of
                  survival against all odds. Her village is located
right in the middle of the
                  desert. The only source of water is the saline pond
situated two kms away
                  from the village. This too is availabale only during
winter and the
                  monsoons.

                  ``For us the biggest task in life is fetching water to
survive,'' she says.
                  After attending a workshop on roof rain water
harvesting, Kunverben was
                  determined to implement it in her own village
comprising 500 households.

                  ``Not all agreed with me. But with whatever support I
got, we constructed
                  the underground tanks for water harvesting. After lot
of persuasion and
                  persistent efforts we got the approval for the
project,'' she explains.

                  Women themselves dug the ground near their homes for
making
                  underground tanks of 10,000-litres capacity . ``The
men warned us that
                  the children would fall and die in the pits if we
stored water in them,'' she
                  says. ``But we continued and today there are 100 such
tanks in our
                  village,'' she adds.

                  Cynosure of all eyes, the three women narrate their
success stories in
                  gestures to hundreds of participants and are in great
demand. It's thirsty
                  work, but fortunately there's mineral water at hand.
``After working hard to
                  fetch a pitcher full of saline pond water at home,
this is a nice experience,''
                  they say.