Shelam Pada Drought, 2018

In the summer of 2018, T.E.A.M. learned about a suffering village through an NGO called Anjezee, called Shelam Pada in rural Maharashtra, 30 kilometers away from Nashik. The small village of 540 families had no access to water, since their only well was infested with algae. Moreover, this well was located 2 kilometers downhill from the village, which meant that women collecting water for their families had to walk for 15 minutes to get to the well, and then carry the heavy pots of water uphill for another 2 kilometers. The village did not even have access to simple necessities that we take for granted every day, such as running water and electricity, and the children were prone to diarrhea, nausea, and dehydration. 

Using experiential learnings from the project at Devachi Urli, T.E.A.M. decided that the appropriate immediate response was to provide clean drinking water, and a truckload of fresh water cartons for the village was immediately organized to end the short term suffering. Within a week, T.E.A.M. assembled at Shelam Pada along with a group of water experts to dig a bore well in the center of the village, with the objective of providing locals with easier access to a water source that would sustain them in the long run. The experts concluded that they could build a 350 foot deep well, since the terrain suggested that there would be abundant water at that depth. However, this water had to be pumped up to the hill, which was particularly challenging because the small village didn’t even have access to the National Electricity Grid!