Ali Hasan Mangi Trust

Newsletter February 2011

Dear donors, supporters and friends,

You will be happy to hear that we have successfully completed the construction of our second sewerage treatment unit in the village of Khairo Dero, district Larkana, Pakistan, and it is now fully operational.

You may recall from our earlier communication, that we had planned to build two such units to handle wastewater that for decades has collected in two open ponds in the village. Since there was no outlet, during the rainy season, these ponds would overflow, flooding the roads and nearby homes and entering the village graveyards. Additionally, the open ponds attracted mosquitoes and were a source of all kinds of diseases, especially among children.

In 2009, we built the first treatment unit, to handle wastewater from 60 percent of the households in the village that collected in the bigger of the two ponds. The second unit handles waste from the rest of the households and was collecting in the smaller pond.

Since we wanted to create a sanitation system that wasn’t reliant on energy that is already scarce in our project village, our engineer designed these units so that water flows from drains via gravity into the treatment plants where it passed through a natural filter created out of stone, gravel and brick, and then flows again by gravity, via underground pipes we laid down, into irrigation canals. These models, which cost approximately 500,000 rupees ($5,800) each to build, are virtually cost and maintenance free. They have given the villagers two immediate benefits. First, the levels in the open ponds have declined considerably since our units began operating and will eventually dry up, ending the spread of disease from stagnant sewerage water. Second, water is a scarce resource in the area, and this process of recycling allows farmers to use it for fruit and vegetable farming which they were otherwise were unable to do due to a lack of irrigation water. The filtered wastewater is rich in nutrients, making farmers’ work even easier. These two treatment units also set the stage for our plan to build a comprehensive sanitation system in the village and now that they are functioning properly, our engineer is working on designs for the next stage, which we will share with you in due course.

We plan to request the government to donate us the land near our second treatment unit on which one of the sewerage ponds lies, so that we can convert it into a community park for children. We also hope to build a community hall in the park premises, where we can begin providing adult education, computer classes for the youth and vocational training for women. We are in the process of preparing a budget for this project which we will send to you soon.

Please take a look at the photographs which show both our sewerage treatment units. The photographs are numbered and include captions to show you how the units work.

We are now in the process of creating a comprehensive budget document that will outline our planned projects for the next five years and the funds we need to raise for them. This, too, we will share with you once it is ready.

Our primary school, that you helped us build, is functioning wonderfully. Since our first batch of 120 children were enrolled in kindergarten and class/grade one in April 2010, there has been great demand from parents in the village for us to increase enrollment. Because of this, our partner, The Citizens Foundation, which runs the school, plans to start an afternoon shift from April 1, 2011. A second batch of 120 children will be enrolled for this next month and five new teachers have been hired for the purpose.

Sewerage Treatment Unit # 1

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The pipes end in the irrigation canal from where the water can be used for farming.

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The treated water then flows through underground pipes toward the irrigation canal

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Sewerage water flows into one end of the treatment unit, passes through the natural filter and into the other side from where it flows by gravity into underground pipes.

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Sewerage water flowing by gravity into the treatment unit.

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Sewerage drains were connected to this drain which was constructed to flow by gravity into the treatment plant

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This open pond was collecting wastewater from 60{2bdeb34eb3e7d210d0159005068302e5e142202dc0f10646bb500ffe27badd00} of the village’s household

Sewerage Treatment Unit # 2

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The irrigation canal.

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Treated water flowing into the irrigation canal.

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The underground pipes have a length of 1,400 feet until the irrigation canal.

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Treated water flow then flows through underground pipes toward the irrigation canal.

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The treatment unit with a filter made of gravel, stones and brick

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Sewerage drains from a second neighborhood also flow by gravity to meet at a connector before flowing into the treatment unit

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Sewerage drains were constructed to flow by gravity toward a treatment unit.

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This second open pond was collecting wastewater from the remaining 40{2bdeb34eb3e7d210d0159005068302e5e142202dc0f10646bb500ffe27badd00} of the village’s households.

We have also made great progress in 2010 on our central goal of community participation. We asked each of the 18 communities in the village to nominate one person who would represent their interests on a panel of volunteers. That panel has held two meetings in which they contributed their ideas for village development and conveyed the aspirations of their communities. We also talked at length with these representatives about how we can get their communities involved in our projects so that they are able to build ownership and make our projects self sustaining on a long term basis.

Since the government/municipal authorities don’t carry out any regular cleaning or provide a garbage disposal system to the village, there are open rubbish dumps in every neighborhood and lanes are littered with trash. In this month’s meeting, our panel of community representatives decided to carry out a major one-time cleaning by hiring a team of sweepers on contract. For this, they plan to collect contributions from every household and our trust pledged to match what they collect for the one-time cleaning. Each community representative will ensure that his neighborhood has been adequately cleaned, while also involving members of his area to increase awareness about the need for maintaining cleanliness.

Once the major clean up has been done, the community representatives will collect monthly contributions from each household in their area and the panel will pool the funds to hire two sweepers who will receive a monthly salary to sweep the village lanes and streets on a daily basis. Since the funds for their salaries will come entirely from the community itself, they will hold the workers responsible for proper cleaning. We will keep you posted on the progress this community participation program makes.

Our main project for this year is the construction of 20 low-cost homes for families who are living in the open. We have surveyed the village and compiled a list of these families, all of whom live below the poverty line. We have also worked for several months to motivate them to participate by providing the labor needed in construction while our trust provides the materials for construction. Prominent architect and urban planner Arif Hasan has very generously donated his time and effort to design a low cost home for us, with two rooms, a kitchen and a toilet. The materials will cost approximately 175,000 rupees ($2,000) for each house and so we have a target to raise 3.5 million rupees or $40,000. We look forward to your support to help give 20 families homes before the intensity of the summer heat begins. As always, please donate whatever you can. No amount is too small and every rupee counts.

Please send us your thoughts, suggestions or feedback to mt@alihasanmangitrust.org. We would love to hear from you.
With deepest gratitude from all of us and blessings from the people of Khairo Dero,

Sincerely,

Naween A. Mangi
Managing Trustee

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