2nd Water Project ~ Anna Nagar, India
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Anna Nagar, located about 15 miles west of Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu, consists of mostly huts with packed dirt floors and palm frond roofs. There are several new concrete homes built by Curt Degler and his organization Save Int'l. as well as a concrete floor, metal roof structure with open walls that serves a school/tuition center for resident children and youth. The residents in Anna Nagar, around 60 in number, all belong to the Irula scheduled tribal people. These people, who have long experienced discrimination, live isolated lives on the edge of communities of the scheduled castes and for the most part, they are desperately poor. The men make their living as occasional agricultural laborers, for example cutting down the thorn trees which are a blight on the land, or working on the casuarina trees that provide commercial wood used for wooden posts, the construction of huts, wood pulp, and so on.
The Irula people are for the most part semi-nomadic, but their presence in Anna Nagar goes back about fifty years due to an Irula man who agreed to work as a bonded labourer for a local landowner in exchange for permission to live on half an acre of land. In the course of time he and his descendants managed to purchase this land, something that is not at all easy to achieve for these tribal people.
The infrastructure in Anna Nagar is minimal and up until several years ago the residents depended for water from a municipal water source some distance away that provided, when all was functioning properly, water for half an hour a day. When that water failed, as often happened, they relied on a local community with whom, however, there has been a degree of antagonism and therefore there was uncertainty regarding water supplies. Among their greatest needs was an independent water source.
In 2016, thanks to funding provided by staff of the JosephJoseph company in collaboration with WaterBridge Outreach, SAVE Int’l installed a bore well and a hand pump in this hamlet. (Click here to learn about this project).
In the Fall of 2018, Save Int'l, with funding from WaterBridge Outreach, oversaw the overhaul of an old government installed bore well with non-functioning hand pump that was installed in Anna Nagar and has not worked for many years. The well required a deep cleaning to be reactivated and working with Save Int'l we hope to convert the well into a electric powered submersible pump with water holding tank. Curt Degler reports that "after cleaning it looks to be a good candidate with lots of clean water and there is functioning electric metered stanchion nearby with plenty of tested voltage to power the pump."
 COVID-19 SupportWorking with Curt Degler of South Asian Village Empowerment International, we helped to fund a rice distribution in Tamil Nadu in some of the villages we've both visited and have books and water projects in. Good quality rice was provided for 100 families during this difficult time of the pandemic. |  Mobile LibraryThis motorbike mobile library serves villages in a remote rural area south of Chennai. Mr. Venkatesan is the librarian-teacher who takes the books from one village to another on his 100cc motorbike |  Tuition Center RoofA second initiative that was enabled by JosephJoseph participation in the London Color Run (see Anna Nagar water project) was a partial reconstruction of the Kazhanipakkam Assembly Hall to include a steel sheet pitched roof over the whole building and the installation of lighting and security gates. This area provides additional space for children attending the free tuition (tutoring) school located on the main floor. |
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 Free Tuition Tutoring CenterWaterBridge Outreach provides books + literacy materials to after-school (free) tuition centers run by Save INT'L near Mamallapuram, India. These centres play a vital role not only in helping the children learn English, but also in preparing them for their national 10th grade exams and future life. |  Bore Well and Hand Pump RepairsOur 2nd water project in Anna Nagar saw us working with Save Int'l again to overhaul an old government installed bore well with non-functioning hand pump that has not worked for many years. The well required a deep cleaning to be reactivated and working with Save Int'l we hope to convert the well into a electric powered submersible pump with water holding tank. |  Dalit Toilet Complex RehabilitationIn many parts of India the Dalits – the community or caste originally referred to as the “Untouchables” – still suffer discrimination. WBO, working with Curt Degler of Save Int'l, has engaged over the years in numerous literacy and water infrastructure projects that express respect for the human dignity of the Dalits while also meeting basic needs. Much needed repairs and rehabilitation of the water system that supplies the Dalit toilet complex have now been completed. |
 School WashroomsLack of sanitation facilities is a serious problem in schools in many parts of India. This lack of basic infrastructure can have a negative impact on childrens’ education, especially on the education of girls. In collaboration with Save Int’l, WaterBridge Outreach is constructed new toilet facilities at Melaiyuur School in Tamil Nadu. |  School WashroomsWhen the elementary school in Karanai desperately needed toilets for the use of the children, WBO partnered with Curt Degler, executive director of Save Int'I, to provide basic washroom facilities for the school. Otherwise, like almost half of the population of India, the children would have to defecate in the open. The lack of basic sanitation is only too often a source of diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid. |  Bore Well + Hand PumpThe attitude and spirit of the villagers in the Irular tribal enclave at Kazhanipakkam make this project a very special one. These smiling Irular people have very little of their own and they were delighted when the new well and pump made water available in their village instead of a long walk away. |
 Water for 4 SchoolsThanks to the initiative and generosity of students at Holy Names University, Oakland, California, four schools in remote rural areas now have clean drinking water. |  Reverse Osmosis SystemIn 2012 residents in Ellandoppu had no clean water for drinking, washing pots, and general sanitation. The already toxic state of the water had deteriorated further after the infiltration of salt water from the sea following the devastating Indonesian earthquake and tsunami in 2010. The solution to the water problem was the installation of a reverse osmosis system. |  Reverse Osmosis SystemNorth Mamallapuram Dalit School ~ this small school serves primary students from poor Dalit families. The two classrooms are very basic with cement floors and battered old wooden desks, yet made bright and welcoming by displays of the students' work. A reverse osmosis system has been installed to provide students and teachers with purified drinking water. |
 Reverse Osmosis SystemAfter 10+ years of constant use the reverse osmosis system in Salavankuppam required a complete overhaul. Working with Curt Degler of Save Int'l we provided funds for this much needed work and are happy to announce that the ro system is now providing clean, purified drinking water to the residents. |  Bore Well + Hand PumpFunds raised by the company JosephJoseph, through their participation in the annual summer “Color Run” in London, allowed us to construct this bore well and hand pump in Anna Nagar, India. |  Bore Well + Hand PumpThanks to a generous grant from the Sonoma Women's Giving Circle, WBO worked with Save International to install a 150 ft well with hand pump in the rapidly expanding enclave known as Jeeva Nagar. The majority of newcomers are victims of what is known as “the illegal bonded labor segment” – the bonded laborers in this “labor segment” are perhaps best described as modern-day slaves. |