Edition #33
December 2023
Hear it from the Water Mentor Hari Haran
WHAT’S WITH US ALL?!
One of the WOW members — of the few we have-, writes recently about how we should ‘follow our inclination’ if all the others in the group have to ‘learn, benefit and explore adoption in thinking and action’.
He says further on, that we have to keep it simple if common folk and users (who do not know deep science) are to get clear actionable messages.
Not one so far among those we have sent Water Voices to, has responded with even a bare acknowledgment. Over forty years I’ve realized writing anything is rife with the primary risk of no one reading. Or those who read being so indifferent and callous that they don’t bother to write back. Or they’re not capable of writing back.
What’s with us all that we want to stay aloof when it comes to action. And we want to get sanctimonious about how ‘there is no action’.
We are all lesser mortals. We all need to get to understand ‘concepts’ and deliver on the ground — if we want to, as someone in the group said, ‘further the imagination and action of people’.
You who’s reading this now, dear reader, should start the process. You set down what you think are ‘transformative ideas’. Then look for others in the group to develop and build further steps to deliver and to address issues, challenges and work on opportunities.
As the old trite saying goes, when you point a finger at someone, there are four other fingers that point at you!
Engage. Involve. Write back — if you got this far into reading this message.
- Hari Haran
Trustee, AltTech Foundation
Make World of Water Your Cause!
Water Voices December 2023 is here. This is your monthly source of news and updates on all things at AltTech.. Send us your thoughts? We need to learn from you in a way that resonates with the good sense and sensibility of all readers – concerned citizens, dedicated volunteers, generous donors, and potential supporters.
Your Calendar of WOW AF meetings in December 2023
01st December- WOW #147 Global
Make a Difference
Harvesting Rain for Resilient School
By: Mary Eggert, Ambassador, Global Water Works
07th December - WOW #148 National
Soil moisture and farm output
Best Practices
By: Dr. Ganesh Ramamurthy, CEO, Auriga Research, New Delhi
Water Voices keeps you informed and engaged on the lively conversations at WOW Action Forum, and the inspiring effort at RainReach in schools for the underrepresented. This edition brings you compelling stories, excellent initiatives, and the impact of your contributions. Together, we can make a meaningful difference and address the water-related challenges that lie ahead.
Rich Insights From Water Leaders
Watch Now: Key Highlights from November WOW Meetings
Follow us on :
WOW_AF
1. Case Study On Site Generated Reagent for the Removal of Arsenic | Rick Bacon
2. Comparison of Arsenic Removal Treatment Processes | Rick Bacon
3. Advance Intelligent Treatment Solution | Patrick Franklin
4. Bihar Region has high percentage of chromium | Watson Chandra
5. PH Controls is the Key to Remove Arsenic | Upendra Raval
1. Neknampur Lake Restoration Journey | Madhulika Choudhary
2. Biodiversity Scenarios of Neknampur Lake | Madhulika Choudhary
3. Lake System and Its Advantages | Madhulika Choudhary
4. Identifying Catchment Areas are Key Role of Designing Lakes | Dipen Mehta
5. Best Solution to Treat STP's | Madhulika, Upendra Raval & Dipen Mehta
RainReach : Inspires Children and Teachers into Water Action
What is RainReach?
Rain Reach is a program of eco-education for school-going children.
Our Mission is Education of children through RainReach to ensure water conservation becomes a habit and solves the water problem by the next generation. We have here in this edition - and every month — lots of picture stories to present the story that’s unfolding every month.
Our mission is also to take Education on water for children, for adults, for technical people, in water and
in technologies for treating water or harnessing water…
How can children learn how to save sensibly, how to recycle, harvest and manage the water cycle. How can we build a generation of water-wise young Indians?
How can our schools and children inspire other neighboring buildings, homes and offices. RainReach guides with constant contact and help for the children.
We take to schools simple measures that help them understand how we need to treasure this precious liquid. As children move into their lives as adults, water will need to be entirely differently addressed.
It encourages learning-by-doing for kids of age 12-16 years with support from teachers and water industry volunteers or Water Mentors.
We aim to reach 50 schools in Bangalore. That is a start. But that is a large and formidable initiative and will depend on how we all work together – water mentors, faculty, and children.
Check this fascinating set of pictures and caption stories... You will then want to view the videos -- helpfully subtitled -- of what teachers and students say of RainReach and our interventions... Inspiring a new way...
10 Nov
Training people is a regular and repetitive task… At RainReach the team realizes that. Here is a session in progress at the Vidyaranyapura Gov. School, on the Importance of Rainwater harvesting. Science Teacher Mrs Jyothi makes notes [above] as Mission Director Vijay Kanda shares thoughts, and she share notes with the children [below] with the kids, while Vijay looks on.
It’s always heartwarming to see kids listening to their teachers [left and bottom]… They may not speak up often. But at that age of 13-16, their retentive minds soak in a deal of learning.
Student Keerthana from Class 8 and Manoj [below] at Vidyaranyapura Govt. School speak to the science teacher, while addressing her classmates. Listening, interacting is central to these Contact Sessions of RainReach at every school. Helping them learn the linkage between rains, rainwater harvest, and how such water can serve our needs is central to the learning.
14 Nov
Principal, Mr Sridhar of the BBMP High School at Hebbal, again to the north of Bangalore, is in discussion with Mahesh. This school hosts about 550 boys and girls, in Grades 8, 9 and 10. Mr Sridhar has also offered consent for adopting the RainReach programme to make the school Net Zero Water. Work is set to start soon, with the RainReach team moving in with the spectrum of solutions.
With the nod of assent from the Hebbal school, Team RainReach galvanized action.
The rooftop area had to be inspected for evaluating Rainwater capture and the drawings that will now emerge for installing the Harvesting System.
The school staff joined RainReach team to measure the storage tanks at the ground level and the rooftops. More work will follow in December.
17 Nov
Team Project Tarang talks to children on Health, Hygiene and Puberty
This time the highlight is the inspiring set of aspirant medical doctors who visited two of the RainReach schools. Deeksha and her team of 11 bright young doctors-to-be spent a thoroughly enjoyable day at Kempapura and Vidyaranyapura schools… Look at the series of pictures below. Peer closely at the faces of the bright young children, and at the passion and involvement of the Project Tarang teamsters.
Project Tarang is a Bangalore-based NGO working in Menstrual Health Management. Their mission is to raise awareness about menstrual, sexual, and reproductive health. Deeksha and Sharanya are final-year medical students, and the team includes many students from different backgrounds passionate about this cause. Tarang conducts interactive online/offline sessions using modules designed to educate people comprehensively and inclusively about adolescence, menstrual health, sexual and reproductive health.
In some of our sessions, we organize period product distribution drives, offering our audiences a choice between disposable pads, menstrual cups, and cloth pads.
“We believe in facilitating an informed choice, as everyone's needs are unique,” says Deeksha. So far, the team has conducted over 35 sessions, reaching out to about 950 students and underrepresented women.
They are seeking new audiences and exploring funding opportunities to continue their vital work. They are looking for money. You could donate from Rs 100 a month on a subscription to whatever you want to on a one-time basis… Funds are used to procure ‘period products’ for distributing among school children. On average, the cost is Rs. 500 per person.
We are actively reaching out to schools, colleges, offices, and apartments, hoping to collaborate and expand our outreach. You could check them out at https://projecttarang2023.wixsite.com/mysite and https://www.ketto.org/fundraiser/the-carmine-project
In a unique departure and as part of RainReach’s effort to bring education beyond water to the children in schools, we invited Deeksha, a doctor-to-be and her team of medical students to share insights with students of Class 5 and onward. The detailed session on puberty, health and hygiene was acclaimed by the teachers and the students. Below, Supriya and Sakshi explain the nuances of menstruation to the girls at Vidyaranyapura School.
The Medical Hygiene team drives home some abiding messages for these young students at Kempapure Govt School while below Vedanth and his colleagues taking small survey with students regarding health hygiene.
Priyamvada and other medical students talking to students at Kempapura Gov. School. The team had almost a half-dozen volunteers. Inspiring to see young aspirant doctors making such deep commitment to take personal health literacy to school children. This was a programme held for the first time in the city for school students, and was unique in every aspect – the simplicity with which the topics were explained, the empathy they brought, the attention they gave the children and the deep message that was driven home with interactive learning. [Below] Period product kits to be used by children were distributed by the team. .
Deeksha with her colleagues talking to students at Kempapura High School. Issues they addressed were for the tiny tots, too, as you can see here, while girls gained most from the insights shared on menstruation [below].
“It was exciting and scary for us, this being our first session after being trained; and exhausting for the kids, but they learnt a lot!” said Priyamvada. She’s seen here explaining the science behind a period and how the kids can understand their body and track their cycles. At Kempapura Gov. School. The school kids were delighted [below]. The Adolescent Health programme ensured that both boys and girls learnt from the little tips and ideas the Tarang team offered.
The session from the team included the understanding of the male anatomy as well, and the changes of puberty in boys. This is at Kempapura Gov. School.
Girish, Sreejani and Supriya talk and listen to the students. The eager enquiring faces of the kids is testimony to the interest the chat generated in the children. “It was a unique experience even for us,” said one teacher at this school in Kempapura.
Enrapt! The faces of the children, their fascination, Kaustubh’s little huddle with a couple of young girls at the far end…. This picture tells more than words can, of what the Project Tarang team had to offer the kids, engrossed as they were. This is at Vidyaranyapuram Gov. School.
Deeksha (seen here) taking students names and listing the product they chose, so that they can follow up with students about ease of use and any difficulties with the product they chose (especially for cloth pads and the menstrual cup). The kids participated, learnt, enjoyed the hours spent. At Kempapura Gov. School.
Students asking doubts about the uterus and cloth pads (below).
Adithya engages a couple of boys on an exchange. The air of fun and bonhomie is evident on the faces of the girls looking on, and those listening to another Tarang member [out of pic].
Children posing with the team [left] and engaged with the team [bottom left] …
At Kempapura Gov. School.
22 Nov
Students waiting in anticipation of the start of a Rainwater harvest programme… at Kempapura Gov. School.
The big smile on her face is worth the time and effort made during the day at the schools. This session on rainwater harvesting had NS Mahesh from RainReach presiding over [clad in a yellow T-Shirt in pic above]. The airy well-lit rooms, clean floors show how inviting these schools and classrooms are…
It is sad to see parents spending tons of money hankering after ‘private’ schools. BBMP schools are a great example of motivation, cheer, great learning, and discipline.
The following page offers more pictures of the half-day long session that covered a spectrum of solutions that the school has secured from RainReach.
It’s great to have Cohort Africa!
Foundation Green launched a new Cohort in Africa to much enthusiasm and zest for learning
It is appropriate that I write this even as the COP 28 is on in Dubai. Mainland Africa is full of hope and young aspirants as the continent’s 54 nations gears up to meet the challenge of water, energy and climate change over the next decade.
From Africa’s current population of 1.4 billion – about the same as India’s – it is bracing up to another one billion people being added in the next 25 years to 2050. Africa needs management of energy resources and water critically if it has to ‘survive’ this generation and next.
How can Africa’s new generation of trained professionals make the effort to enlarge the green footprint across the continent? When Dubai-based Caroline ‘Care’ Fernandes of The Krusallis heard of what Foundation Green offers as hands-on learning, she expressed interest in driving and shaping a Cohort Africa, for she saw the potential the series of Online Courses hold for mainland Africa. Little did I realise the speed at which she could influence Nigeria-based Ibiso Ikiroma-Owiye and others at The Krusallis to galvanise young African students and working professionals to join Cohort Africa, in less than month!
Ibiso is a Radio Presenter, heads as Executive Director ‘Grassroots to Global Sustainable Development Network’, a youth-led organization in Niger Delta, Nigeria, providing solar lamps for students in marginalized coastal communities in her region. Ibiso is also a marine researcher and mangrove conservationist, and has galvanised young Nigerians to plant over 10,000 mangrove seedlings in the deforested coastal communities of Rivers State with the Save Nigeria Mangroves Foundation and Centre for Environment Human Right Development since 2020.
Caroline herself brings a multitude of talents. She is a self-styled ‘Learning Architect’, an ‘Ecosystems Gardener’, a ‘Quantum Coach’ among many other things. She is also the brand ambassador for several diversity & inclusion initiatives including being the founder of a 5-year-old inclusive community #VibhaforInclusion that offers 2500+ people globally, a safe space for human beings to connect, learn and grow through the ecosystem.
Caroline and Ibiso quickly got into the act, to invite young professionals across mainland Africa and other parts of the world, and excited them to see the powerful narrative they could build with many vibrant youngsters across the vast continent, who are full of aspirations, who are trained to be a variety of things from financial inclusion managers running microfinance, to those who have studied Ecology or History or International Studies, among many other things.
As the idea of creating this first of many cohorts evolved rapidly over recent weeks, Caroline reached out to Ibiso. They both agreed to work on it. And so was born this programme that now spans Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana, India and Dubai. There will be many more young Africans from a host of other countries who will join the programme as we ring in 2024.
It took Ibiso and the team, with Cephas Amoaior and other passionate members a couple of weeks to cobble together this team of excellent young Africans for this first Cohort. In the meetings and chats we have had on the Cohort, I see they are full of hope, and eager to learn. As Caroline said, “This is not conceptual. Concepts can be got from the web world.”
As many as 45 people have signed up for this programme – students and working professionals. You can see that it takes time and effort to stitch a programme like this, with an eye to advancing solutions of this kind and scaling impact in each of these countries with these members of Cohort Africa. Says Caroline, “If we can take these solutions into our homes, offices, and into policy at city and state levels, it will inspire Africa, for it touches our lives, and the learning helps us address things that impact us every day – like water or energy. We understand solutions, and we bring our own inventive thinking to problem-solving.”
Beyond these sessions, the modules of Foundation Green will offer a deeper dive into approaches, solutions. And those are available at Foundation Green.
One of the students who is part of the Cohort [and their many responses are listed in the section that follows this one], said “Until I got to participate myself in the Water MDP I did not realise the full importance of the hands-on, practical, learn-by-doing approaches that Foundation Green offers. There is no ‘boring’ stuff on the bad news around us, or the complex language that the UN or COP employs without actually telling us what we should do on ground, in our homes and workplaces!”
Well, yes, it is about leveraging sustainability and driving long-term growth for a company, or a community, in the post-pandemic world. But it is more than that. This Cohort Africa, one hopes, is the first of a series of 3-week programmes and a collaborative mission with Dubai-based Krusallis. It is evolving even as we speak. I see that it brings creative, innovative and sustainable solutions that offer enormous business potential for anyone wanting to work as a water entrepreneur or water manager.
Foundation Green is a coming together of framework designers, course visionaries, facilitators, content designers and community leaders. What I like most about it, is that the user-friendly online modules, intense interactions, and live assignments, all combine to give every participant the chance to solve real-life situations around the crippling challenge of water.
The entire cohort of nearly 50 young professionals [see the thumb sketch that follows, of each of the participants and the inspiring aspirations they articulate!
As they listen to the facilitators who share their experience of decades of work on water and watershed management, each of these participants is beginning to see that water is not about water at all, but that is about water management. It is startling to realise that the water crisis is exactly the same everywhere—from coastal Freetown in Sierra Leone, to Lagos in Nigeria on the Gulf of Guinea, to Harare at 5000 feet above sea level or Kadoma [3000 ft] in Zimbabwe or Nairobi [6000 feet] in Kenya or Mombasa [at sea level] to the Southeastern tip of Kenya. You and I know, dear reader, it is much the same across India and her hundreds of cities.
Foundation Green is about developing a nuanced understanding of the three dimensions of sustainability: society, environment and economy. It is about building a vocabulary, and a vision that explains how to create a ‘business culture’ of sustainability.
Come. Join us. Discover how to demonstrate the value of impactful investments of time, passion and of the invaluable gains you can bring to your community, to your housing neighbourhood, to the commercial building or IT park you work in, or a hotel you can help save water and money!
Foundation Green helps you plot and implement with a step-by-step approach a sustainable business model, with every solution backed up by Strategies that help students and working professionals of planning, finance, ecology, environment action with these online programmes that are ideal for those seeking a future-conscious approach to doing good and doing well for themselves.
The programme will help every participant gain strategies that will help achieve business goals while it deepens our commitment to sustainability. Anyone aspiring to be a Sustainability or Green manager, will learn to relate to the stories of such green initiatives. Now with Foundation Green, I realise what I myself really wanted is such practical solutions. Looking forward to more of the fantastic sessions of learning that Foundation Green offers.
Hari Haran Chandra.
Trustee, AltTech Foundation & Curator of Foundation Green.
What Cohort Africa says of the Programme
There is nothing more encouraging than warm testimonials from students for any mentor. Here are some of the young professionals offering their take on their learning. Top row from left: Sahr John Koroma from Sierra Leone, Hari Haran from AltTech India, Adebisi Edon Funke from Nigeria, Benneth Oyinna from Nigeria, Cephas Amoaior from Dubai. Bottom row is Vijay Kanda from AltTech India, Calvin Mewarire from Zimbabwe, Tej Gowda from AltTech and Caroline Care Fernandes from Krusallis, Dubai.
I have been in many discussions and understand a little on climate change and how it impacts us. Back in my childhood, in my village, we used rainwater with open wells. I see the programme reminds us of solutions that lie in such traditional knowledge, instead of relying on these borewells. The simplicity of solutions is deeply impacting.
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— Adebisi Ebun Funke, Nigeria
Amazing. It’s practical. Interactive. Soil, water, ecology is the key comes through. Drilling the earth is dreadful. Now I know there are other exciting solutions…
— Cephas Amoaior, Nigeria
To know there are solutions that we can design and implement beyond depending on the government or local administration is deeply insightful. To know that these solutions are sustainable is very promising. The impact on costs, and on income is real. To me it is an eye-opener. I am really, really impressed with the clear prospect of becoming a Sustainability Manager.
— Benneth Oyinna, Nigeria
Consuming 1000 litres and using as much electricity with bore holes – with all the power shutdowns we have in Sierra Leone – I can now imagine how much we are bringing as hurt and damage. I will surely implement whatever I learn in my home, my community, my neighbourhood.
— Sahr John Kodoma, Zimbabwe
I am glad to be in this forum of Climate Ambassadors. It is amazing to see the connect between water and climate change. We experience a lot of droughts. Learning here shows me what I can implement in things I do around where I live. The damage bore holes wreak is revealing.
— Calvin Mawarire, Zimbabwe
I loved the dynamic learning methods as well as the content. It was a great mix of office hours, webinars and self-led learning that suited me perfectly.
— Ibiso Ikiroma-Owiye, Nigeria
Participants of Cohort Africa and their Thumb Sketch Profiles
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Name
City
Area of Interest
Sahr John Koroma
Kenema, Zimbabwe
Comp. Science & IT. Want to bring change in environment.
Adebisi Ebun
Ado Odo, Nigeria
Leveraging digital technologies to collect, analyze, and manage water data, enabling more efficient water management and conservation.
Calvin Mawarire
Masvingo, Nigeria
Passion in tackling SDGs . Currently working on a programme on renewable energy in the rural areas of Zimbabwe
Benneth Oyinna
Jos South, Nigeria
Sustainability management for small hydro power resources; water management for power generation
Obro Moses Edem
Dodowa/ Tanzania
I saw an advert on it and am interested
Cephas Amoaior
Benue/Nigeria
Taking practicable actions to reverse the negative impact of climate change through education and community development programs.
Idea Architect
Nigeria
We can only be safe, when our planet is safe. That's why i am taking action.
Zakari A A
Yola / Eastern Nigeria
Climate change, I have strong believe in climate change reforms.
NASH
Nigeria
Climate Change is real and must not be ignored
Blanco
Nigeria
Taking part in reversing climate change will help enable a safe environment for the next generations.
Ichor
Nigeria
An unhealthy planet can only beeed an unhealthy species, climate change must be tackled.
Bilali Abdulkarim
Accra/ Ghana
To gain an in-depth understanding of climate.
Adasage
Sango-Ota /Nigeria
Making a change requires the effort of everyone and I am passionate to contribute my time and resources to tackle climate change
Mayowa Oniosun
Oyo/ Nigeria
The thirst for environmental conservation especially water and its resources management
Tim Prestige
Abuja / Nigeria
Climate change is a subtle pandemic that must not be ignored.
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Alt. Tech Foundation is a not-for-profit, for-industry Foundation for
(i) Hosting city-wide campaigns for citizen collective action to save water & energy,
(ii) Producing green managers and leaders
(iii) Arming and equipping schoolchildren with water practices of the future.
WOW Action Forum is a globally pioneering effort for bringing collective private action to save very large quantities of water at apartments, at Industry, at tech parks, or hotels and hospitals or malls and other such buildings. The 2021 mission is set to save 1000 Cr lites with community-led action. This alone will bring a saving of 236 Cr in electricity bills for the city, and a reduction in carbon emission of nearly 300,000 tonnes equivalent.
WOW is a vibrant community of concerned citizens, volunteers, and supporters who share a common goal – to safeguard our precious water resources for future generations. By becoming a WOW member, you can actively participate in our initiatives, engage in meaningful discussions, and contribute to practical solutions for water-related challenges.
Don't miss this opportunity to be part of a movement that can truly change the world!
Visit our website today and sign up for WOW membership : https://www.alttech.foundation/