1 Well - Projects in Progress: Varkhadiya Village

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Projects in Progress: Varkhadiya Village
Osyrusfest Well Repair

Village women collecting water in Varkhadiya

Collecting water from the Varkhadiya well

Varkhadiya villagers

Osyrusfest Music Festival

Location:

Varkhadiya Village,
Mehsana District
Gujarat, India

Population:

3,000

Project Objective:

Give the Varkhadiya community better access to drinking water by repairing and deepening two village wells.

Citizen Philanthropist:

Osyrusfest,
Preston & Paul
(Washington, DC)

SIs Involved:

Osyrusfest music community

Investment Needed:

$2,396

Amount Raised to date:

$2,396

Fundraising Efforts:

Osyrusfest music festival
May 25-29, 2009

Location:

The Old Schoolhouse,
Coatesville, PA

Osyrusfest Partners with Varkhadiya Village

PROJECT UPDATES

AUGUST 2009
Congratulations to Paul and Preston, and the Osyrusfest community!

Fundraising is complete, and the $2,396 raised will go directly to support the repair of two village wells in Varkhadiya, Gujarat, India. 1Well has sent the funds to the Self Employed Women's Associate (SEWA), 1Well's field partner in India, to be distributed for project construction. Work on the project will begin after the monsoon season ends in mid-September.

JUNE 2009
This year's Osyrusfest took it to a whole new level. Mobias Project got everyone going on Friday night and hinted at what was to come. Fans emerged from their tents Saturday morning and wandered up to Joe's for amazing chorizo and egg burritos. After some whiffle ball and frisbee, the battle for the Kiss trophy ensued at the chili cookoff. An amazing night of music was capped off by Eclipse. It was as if Pink Floyd themselves had been airlifted into the Hoffman rock quarry – amazing!

And the lights! Wow! Paul and Preston turned it to "11" and put on a light show for the ages. The rock wall at times looked like a Miro painting and the trees across the field were alive with color. Hard to see how they will top it next year. Sunday was more of the same great food, fun and music. The Heavy Pets were delayed by a brief thunderstorm, but capped off Osyrusfest '09 with an amazing set.

As part of all the fun, 1Well hosted Happy Hours on Saturday and Sunday, bringing together the Osyrusfest community to raise over $1,000 for a well project in Varkhadiya Village, a poor rural community in Gujarat, India. Those tasty beverages you bought will help provide clean, drinking water to the community and help women start businesses, kids go to school, and the community grow and prosper. Thank you to TJ, Tom and everyone at Cape Anne Brewing Co. for donating the pint glasses and all of their support. Thank you to Alison for the vintage Pink Floyd t-shirt. And of course, a special thank you to Paul, Preston and everyone at Osyrusfest for an amazing weekend and proving we can all do good by doing what we love.

We still need some donations, so if you have $10 to spare to help provide clean water to a community in need, click here and choose "Varkhadia Villiage – Osyrusfest Well Project" from the pull down menu.

It's amazing to know that we can have an impact halfway around the world by having fun and giving a little bit of ourselves!

Learn more about Osyrusfest!

About the Osyrusfest Well Project
Varkhadiya suffers from a shortage of drinking water as the wells in Varkhadiya are in a state of disrepair and the little water available is contaminated with excess fluoride, causing joint problems for the villagers. The current wells in Varkhadiya have broken walls and no safety barriers, making it a hazard for women who must lean into the well with a pail and rope to collect water.

As water becomes more and more scarce, communities are beginning to migrate, leaving those left behind with fewer and fewer resources. Furthermore, clean water is needed for the manufacture of detergent and incense sticks to supplement the income of the poor women of the village.

This project will repair and deepen 2 wells in Varkhadiya, giving families better access to drinking and cleaning water and alleviating the strain put on existing water resources. A parapet safety barrier and a pulley system will also be constructed in order to ensure women and children are able to safely collect water from the well. A deeper well will allow for more water to be stored during the monsoon season and saved for use during the dry season.

Impact
Repair of two village wells will give more than 500 households better access to a cleaner, more reliable water supply. Women and children will be able to collect water safely and more easily with the pulley system and safety barriers.

Availability of water for drinking and washing will dramatically improve village health and sanitation.

Women will save time from traveling long distances to obtain water, and use time saved to earn extra income by pursuing soap and incense-making work.

Join Osyrusfest partner with Varkhadiya village to provide the basic water and sanitation infrastructure required to support a healthy and positive community.

Thank You to all the fans of Osyrusfest for their support of this project!