Meetings and Onam

Apologies for the long delay; we have been frantically engaged in last tasks before Andrea and Eli leave on the 31st.

With the approval of Dr. Ramasamy and Dr. Thomas, we were able to hold a Rainwater for Humanity information session for interested MGU SES students. About 30 people showed up (unfortunately a lot of the first-year M.Sc. students were off campus at a meeting) and sat through our presentation (available here) and discussion session. Despite the students’ English proficiency, it is hard to successfully conduct a presentation without resorting to Malayalam. Differences in accent and diction mean that information is not always communicated effectively, and forcing people to use a language they are not entirely comfortable with makes them far more reticent to candidly ask questions and start a conversation, especially in a formal academic context. Luckily for us, Sylas went over some of our information in a clearer manner, and fielded questions from the audience in Malayalam. Dr. Thomas also said a few motivational words, hopefully highlighting to the students the important elements of social entrepreneurship and optimistic, perhaps lofty, student leadership.

We got back about 10 informational slips and several other students expressed interest, so we now have to figure out how to begin to engage them in the project. This will have to be a gradual process, but the upcoming impact baseline survey we will be administering to the system users in Achinakom will be a good opportunity for them to get involved. We hope to have a stable group of committed students here to work with Christina and Sylas in parallel with our Providence team, keeping in touch with email and conference calls throughout the year.

The University (along with the entire rest of Kerala) is closed next week for Onam festival holidays, so festivities were held here on the 25-26. We participated in a bunch of the traditional activities and managed to get pretty much no project work done. Environmental Sciences fared very well in the inter-departmental competitions, winning both pookkalam-making and a surprisingly enthusiastically-waged men’s tug-of-war. The next day saw a variety of party games in the department, as well as a traditional Onam banana leaf feast.

We can at least rest assured that our time spent informally with the students and faculty here have helped ingratiate ourselves into the department, building the local network necessary to keep this project going. Despite the frequent tea breaks, the students here are quite serious and dedicated, and their expertise in environmental systems, water quality and safety, and GIS is very valuable to incorporate into the project work.