By Andrew Sinclair | Development Director
They have arrived at last!
I am very happy and excited to report that the first 70 WaterWheels have now been delivered to the Pilot Project location in Rajasthan, India. So it is official - we are ready to roll!
We heard on Monday that the WaterWheels had completed their journey from Mumbai and that all 70 were delivered and put into secure storage. We received some pictures confirming this today. These are the WaterWheels that your donations have enabled RED International to buy with our Indian partner. Your patience with us through this process is very much appreciated. We had hoped that the WaterWheels would have been delivered much earlier. However, there have been delays with the manufacturing and testing processes. Wello only wanted to ship the WaterWheels when they were happy with their quality, which is understandable.
Our partner in India is now working towards launching the Pilot Project in this area in around two weeks’ time. They are working on the logistics and details for this and coordinating with the Community Health Workers (CHWs) regarding the health camp and hygiene training which will happen alongside the launch of the WaterWheels into this area. The health & hygiene training will be an on-going process and the CHWs will receive further training and support at the end of May 2015.
It is summer time in India and so very hot. Women & girls often have to go much further to collect water. We have heard that at least 25 families have already expressed interest in being able to own a WaterWheel and now that they have finally arrived we hope that the interest will grow!
If there is a large demand then we will need to order more WaterWheels. Our partner will receive the initial deposits people make for the WaterWheels followed by regular monthly payments but it will take time before all the funds are completely recycled.
Thank you again to all of you who have supported the project so far, especially to those who have been with us since the beginning when we started the fundraising campaign almost one year ago. In fact the Pilot Project will be launched almost exactly one year after we began the fundraising campaign with the Gateway Challenge through GlobalGiving UK.
This is really only the beginning, seeing what we have been looking forward to finally start to happen is very exciting. Families in rural India actually having their access to water improved!
Thank you for joining us on this journey, there is still a long way to go, with much more to learn but it would be great if you would come along with us.
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