In honor of World Water Day, The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) initiated a campaign to raise US$25,000 in matching funds to support The Adventure Project (TAP) effort to provide sustainable water services to almost a million people in West Bengal and the District of Sheohar in Bihar, India.

The TAP vision is to train mechanics to repair wells in rural India, where over one third of wells drilled in the past 20 years are in disrepair. TAP set an ambitious goal to fund the training and initial supplying of 186 mechanics who could help sustain a clean water source for close to a million people.

Like any machinery with moving parts, wells with pumps need maintenance every few months to avoid costly breakdowns. Each mechanic can service up to 50 wells, providing water for an estimated 5,000 people. In the end, TPRF exceeded its goal, raising $27,643, an amount that will train and supply 50 mechanics and help an estimated quarter of a million people.

TPRF helped to fund a similar TAP project last year in the state of Bihar. “These mechanics are now operating in a self-sustaining mode,” said Linda Pascotto, President of TPRF. “The goal of this year’s campaign is similar, but on a wider scale,” Pascotto continued. “The aim is to help provide jobs, training and tools to hire mechanics, each of whom works as an entrepreneur to maintain and fix wells. In addition, TAP provides a one-year stipend to help each mechanic launch his or her business.”

Training mechanics to service wells is part of TAP’s goal to create a million jobs over 10 years in developing countries worldwide. TAP was established to increase investments in positive social enterprises around the world, according to founders Becky Straw and Jody Landers.

“I cannot thank TPRF enough,” Straw said, “for all their support, inspiration and shared belief in investing with dignity.”

About The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF)
The Prem Rawat Foundation promotes Prem Rawat’s message of peace and his vision of addressing fundamental human needs so that people everywhere can live with dignity, peace and prosperity. For more information, visit: www.tprf.org.

Image Courtesy of  Pal Teravagimov / Shutterstock.com

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Rescue efforts are well underway in the Himalayan state of Sikkim, the epicenter of an earthquake that shook parts of Tibet, Nepal and Bangladesh on Sunday, September 17. The quake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, has taken the lives of 118 people and injured many more.

Helicopters are being used to deliver food as well as relief material to affected areas within Sikkim. At least 5,000 people are being sheltered in government camps. The Teesta Hydro Electro Project employees feared dead have mostly been counted for and 400 tourists stranded in the remote North have been rescued.

“Rescue workers have now reached most of the villages that had been inaccessible since the quake on Sunday, “ said government spokesman K.S. Topgay. Power in quake epicenter Mangan (district capital of North Sikkim) has been restored, but roads beyond that have been badly affected making it difficult to reach the interior.

Medical teams are being flown in with food and medical supplies, but nine villages still remain completely cut off. Sikkim falls within Zone IV, a high damage risk zone, of the seismological map of the Indian subcontinent.

State finance minister Badal Choudhury said, “Central government should set up at least one station in each of the capitals of all the eight northeastern states with an adequate number of NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) personnel.” Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram also visited the quake-hit areas on Thursday to review the situation.

He said that the prime motive was to provide relief to the 5,000 – 6,000 survivors in camps, and to restore connectivity and water supply. The overall death toll has risen to 118, including 75 in the Himalayan state, while West Bengal has reported 15 deaths, nine in Bihar, 11 in Nepal, seven in Tibet and one in Bhutan.

Tibetan Spiritual leader, H.H. The Dalai Lama has donated 500,000 rupees to affected areas. “I was saddened to learn about the loss of life and damage to property that the recent earthquake has caused across isolated Himalayan regions, particularly in Sikkim.

I offer my sympathy and condolences to all those families, who have been directly affected by what I understand is one of the worst earthquakes in recent memory,” His Holiness said in his letter dated September 20, 2011. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and repairs to the area will cost an estimated $22 billion.

Sikkim is the least populous area in India. Many tourists are drawn to the area for it’s Buddhist monasteries and adventure activities. Sikkim experienced a 3.8 tremor around 10:15 pm Thursday night. East Sikkim district collector D Anandan said, “People came out on the roads and were afraid to go back inside their homes.”

Unfortunately, monsoon weather continues to interfere with rescue efforts to the mountainous region.

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