Tamwed News March 2008

Tamwed works closely with CRUSADE and Manushi, two Gandhian NGOs that aim to improve the quality of life among some of Tamil Nadu’s poorest and most excluded communities. Last summer, Tamwed, CRUSADE and Manushi worked closely to undertake an extensive needs assessment which highlighted several important issues including the need for improved health care and for better sanitation. These issues will form the basis for Tamwed’s work in 2008. We are grateful to everyone in the UK that will help fund these projects through donations or by purchasing goods made by women in project areas. This edition of Tamwed News features contributions from our project managers in India as well as from James Bruges who describes a simple method of capturing carbon dioxide using waste organic material for cooking.

Training Field Staff in Community Health

by Jothi Ramalingam, Tamwed’s Project Co-ordinator and Secretary of CRUSADE

We arranged a four-day intensive training programme for all cluster coordinators and two middle level staff on community health earlier this month. Two homoeopathy doctors and an outside consultant who specialises in health education led the sessions which included human anatomy and physiology, personal hygiene, environmental sanitation, reproductive child health, nutrition, growth monitoring, communicable and non communicable diseases and specific women’s health problems.

Towards the end of the training, a group exercise was conducted which resulted in some positive suggestions for the improvement of community health. These included the identification of volunteers who will be trained and positioned in their respective villages to spread health education and to initiate health promotion activities including care of anti natal and post natal women, child vaccination and nutrition, collection of vital health statistics, providing health education, promoting personal hygiene and sanitation and offering referral services. Another idea was for two homoeopathy doctors to visit the villages once a month to provide symptomatic treatment for anti natal women and refer patients for special care.

As a first step, we identified at least ten volunteers who have started training. Tamwed will be helping to fund this training which will be for Community Health Workers in the CRUSADE and Manushi areas.

Counselling, Treatment and Rehabilitation in Tsunami Areas

By Rita Raj, Secretary of Manushi

Research has established that alcoholism among men is particularly high in coastal areas affected by the Tsunami – up to 80% in some communities. This is one response to the trauma caused by the disaster and one which does not receive national or international attention. Manushi and their supporters considered that there was a need for a de-addiction centre where counselling and other support and treatment could be offered. The centre was opened in 2007 with 16 beds. Families are encouraged to attend the centre and contribute to the treatment which includes yoga and meditation. At the moment, the centre is well used not only by the local population but be people from neighbouring coastal communities. 114 patients including one female have attended for treatment since the centre opened.

Cuddalore District where Manushi is based is at high risk from the changing climate, constantly suffering from cyclones, floods and high levels of rainfall. We have organised training in disaster preparedness and management which has resulted in the formation of Disaster Management Groups in 12 coastal villages. Training includes first aid and the improvement of early warning systems.

Toilets for All

The 2007 research established the lack of sanitation in most houses in poorer areas. With technical help of Sulabh International (www.sulabhinternational.org), a major Indian NGO that set up the Toilet Summit in Delhi in 2007, we will be building and evaluating two types of pit toilets to see if they would be suitable for incorporation in new self-build housing projects.

Capturing Carbon Dioxide

By James Bruges, a Tamwed supporter and author of the Big Earth Book among other publications and articles.

It’s easy. Plants, through photosynthesis, capture carbon dioxide all the time though they release it when they decompose. Cut the plants, turn them into charcoal before they decompose and bury the charcoal. It’s like coal mining in reverse.

In India, Ravi Kumar has developed what is called a pyrolysis unit that any poor family can use each day. The family collects waste plants - even grass cuttings – dries them, and puts them into the unit’s circular casing. No air can get into the casing so no oxygen can combine with the plants’ carbon. The family burns a few sticks in a central void and when the plants are hot enough they emit gases into this void through holes at low level and these gases continue to burn for about an hour, long enough to cook a meal. Finally the charcoal is raked out and has many uses.

But that’s only a part of the story; the best part is to follow. Charcoal in the ground attracts nutrients and the soil’s fertility is increased spectacularly. And, what’s more, the soil’s subsequent ability to capture carbon dioxide increases.

There is one small problem. To start with the charcoal attracts nutrients from the surrounding soil so its fertility might drop for a time. The solution is to prime it with nutrients before distribution. They have ‘eco-san’ toilets in India that guide faeces into two chambers that can be emptied in turn after six months, and separate the urine for more immediate use. Both urine and faeces, together with farm manure, can be added to a charcoal pit before it is distributed onto the land. If this system were widely used, India would need no chemical fertilisers. It captures carbon, increases soil fertility, then captures more carbon and revolutionises the sewerage system. A win-win-win-win solution. The technique is not new. Large areas of ‘terra preta’ – rich dark fertile soil – have been found in the Amazon rainforest where surrounding areas have hardly any topsoil. Pre-Columbian pottery shards were also found indicating that a civilisation had thrived on soil enhanced with charcoal, and fungal activity has perpetuated the fertility of the soil even to this day.

Forget about important people meeting at important conferences, emitting hot air from their mouths and greenhouse gases from their flights. Forget about mega-scale technofixes. Think small-scale multiplied by billions of ordinary people throughout the world. If rural India can do it we can also have small pyrolysis units for our back gardens or allotments using waste plant material and wood from skips. Perhaps we could convert our garages into workshops and build the units ourselves. This is a technology in its infancy so there is plenty of scope for experiment, community cooperation and small-scale businesses start-ups.

Big farms might need more sophisticated units but these are bogged down in problems with investment, and may take several years to come on stream. We can’t wait for them. Eventually the sequestration of carbon using charcoal should be standard farming practice throughout the world. If you want to know more look up ‘bio-char’ on the web – fashionable innovators are not happy with the simple English word ‘charcoal’.

The importance of this technique cannot be overstated. Excess emissions of greenhouse gases have created a global emergency. We must drastically reduce emissions. But the Charcoal Revolution is the best way to get us back to stable pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

EVENTS

FAIR TRADE DAY

Parish Rooms, Tavistock
Saturday 8th March, 10 to 4

GARDEN PARTY

Saturday 9th August 2008
Near Callington 2 to late

Our second summer garden party with music, food and sales.
Email us for information.

QUIZ

September 12th 7.30
Parish Rooms Tavistock

Another of our famous light-hearted quizzes.
£8 for a team of 4 Email us to book

ParkLife

Tavistock College
Sunday 6th July 12.00pm til 6.30pm
Music, Stalls, Food