MONDAY MORNING with GREAT NEWS!!! 4 January
INCREDIBLE POSITIVE NEWS - our Global Grant #1982446 - is APPROVED and we are on our way from Delhi, to the Jaipur region of Rajasthan to a remote village not to far from Dausa, to construct a Water Catchment (check dam) dam to Paidwala Ki Dhani. Rotary Dream Teams have over the past nine years constructed an equal number of catchment dams, benefiting the villagers nearby our sites, to assist them in creating gravity-fed irrigation systems, in order to increase annual crop yield from one to three!
During this period of time, we have cooperated with the PHD-RDF (Punjab, Haryana, Delhi - Rural Development Foundation) which organization identifies the areas which would benefit considerably from our efforts, in the most arid regions of the State of Rajasthan. More than ten years ago, while looking for service work projects, I consulted with Sushil Gupta, the current President-nominee of Rotary International. Sushil is a dear friend to me, and he is also associated with the Rotary India Water Conservation Trust, and it is from that affiliation that he was able to introduce us to PHD-RDF, and the rest, as they say, is history.
We are departing from our hotel in New Delhi to drive approximately four to five hours to our DAM SITE. When we arrive, we will be greeted by some of the engineering firm (for lack of a better term) which oversees the construction of each dam. Over these years, we have worked with this group, and have come to know them well - Goberdan Sharma is the patriarch of the "company". His sons and nephews make up the rest of the hierarchy - Dinesh Sharma and his cousin Banwari Lal Chaturvedi, Dinesh's brother, Makan and another cousin, Prakash Chand Saini. Goberdan is my age and although separated by my lack of ability to speak Hindi, we have a wonderful bond which has been strengthened over a decade. The same goes for my "nephews" - each year, te bond grows stronger and the respect I have for this family has no limits. I recall, back in 2010, when we were helping to construct our first dam, I asked Dinesh "where did you study engineering to be able to build these dams?" He replied, "Sir, I am the fifth generation in my family who have been constructing Water Catch Dams!" I responded, "I am good with that!"
Upon our arrival at the dam site, we will participate in a POOJA - a prayer ceremony, led by a Hindu priest or pandit, calling upon God's benevolence and blessings to oversee this project. More about this later.
Each year we choose a new slogan or motto to be emblazoned on our work tee shirts and this year's is ROTARIANS ARE DAM CRAZY!
During this period of time, we have cooperated with the PHD-RDF (Punjab, Haryana, Delhi - Rural Development Foundation) which organization identifies the areas which would benefit considerably from our efforts, in the most arid regions of the State of Rajasthan. More than ten years ago, while looking for service work projects, I consulted with Sushil Gupta, the current President-nominee of Rotary International. Sushil is a dear friend to me, and he is also associated with the Rotary India Water Conservation Trust, and it is from that affiliation that he was able to introduce us to PHD-RDF, and the rest, as they say, is history.
We are departing from our hotel in New Delhi to drive approximately four to five hours to our DAM SITE. When we arrive, we will be greeted by some of the engineering firm (for lack of a better term) which oversees the construction of each dam. Over these years, we have worked with this group, and have come to know them well - Goberdan Sharma is the patriarch of the "company". His sons and nephews make up the rest of the hierarchy - Dinesh Sharma and his cousin Banwari Lal Chaturvedi, Dinesh's brother, Makan and another cousin, Prakash Chand Saini. Goberdan is my age and although separated by my lack of ability to speak Hindi, we have a wonderful bond which has been strengthened over a decade. The same goes for my "nephews" - each year, te bond grows stronger and the respect I have for this family has no limits. I recall, back in 2010, when we were helping to construct our first dam, I asked Dinesh "where did you study engineering to be able to build these dams?" He replied, "Sir, I am the fifth generation in my family who have been constructing Water Catch Dams!" I responded, "I am good with that!"
Upon our arrival at the dam site, we will participate in a POOJA - a prayer ceremony, led by a Hindu priest or pandit, calling upon God's benevolence and blessings to oversee this project. More about this later.
Each year we choose a new slogan or motto to be emblazoned on our work tee shirts and this year's is ROTARIANS ARE DAM CRAZY!
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