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Our History Since 1987 Wells for India has been working with the poorest people in the Rajasthan desert. From 1983 onwards, rainfalls decreased progressively to a third of their normal levels. This together with the high summer temperatures (up to 50°C) led to increasingly bad drought conditions. Then during 1987/8 millions of livestock died in Rajasthan. Mary and Nicholas Grey and Ramsahai Purohit from Dudu in the centre of Rajasthan talked with the villagers. It was always the same story - a desperate need for water - for themselves, their animals and the parched lands on which 80% of the people depended for their livelihood. Wells for India was born. In 1988 working through a local organisation GSMI in the Dudu area the first wells were built for irrigating the land. £10,000 was paid into a revolving fund which lead to over 3000 acres of desert yielding two crops a year from more than 40 wells. Wells for India then financed more wells with the Rajasthan government providing pipes and the villagers giving their labour free to dig the trenches and lay the pipes. In this way some 50 miles of pipe were laid linking 15 sources of water to some 45 villages. The next logical stage was to protect and supplement the sources of water - through water harvesting in specific watersheds, building check dams in the river beds and large dams (anicuts). The first water harvesting scheme covered 8 villages in the Ringhi and Korsina areas near the great Sambhar salt lake. In 1997 Wells established links with another local organisation GRAVIS and initiated a major watershed development involving 3000 villagers in the Bhalu area of the desert. This was jointly funded with DfiD (UK Government department for International Development) and grants from the European Union and the Clothworkers foundation. Following this attention moved to the Bap area which was found to suffer from even more acute conditions. 1998 saw a further development when Wells for India, assisted by AFPRO (a Christian Indian technical service) linked to initially four, and later ten, small organisations working in the Udaipur area in southern Rajasthan. A drought mitigation programme with the emphasis on water harvesting is now well under way in this area. As the projects have grown and the range of activities has expanded in India, so has the support team increased. What started with Mary and Nicholas Grey in Wokingham spread through Berkshire, then to Hampshire and elsewhere. There is now in the UK a strong team of committed technical experts and supporters who give their time free, and pay for their visits to India. This commitment is the backbone of Wells for India. Representatives of the trustees visit our partners in India every year. Every other year a group of wider supporters visit the projects. Nobody can visit the villages of Rajasthan and fail to be moved, by the problems of the people, what is being done and what has been achieved. |
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Please contact us by phone: +44(0)1962 848 043 or by email: office@wellsforindia.org or write to us at: Wells for India, The Winchester Centre, 68 St George's Street, Winchester SO23 8AH, UK |
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Nicholas Grey founder of Wells for India |