as i see it

The NSS group of our college had been to a camp to a small vilage wawe - mandraj near mangaon .It was quite an experience with lots and lots of hard work and of course lots of fun.
we had actually been there to help an NGO SHARE ( hope u read about it in my last post) with a water project it had undertaken in that village.
We left mumbai by ST bus ( you can guess how comfortable our journey was ) on 20th. We change to another bus at Mangaon and then to a van at Sai to finally reach Wawe around noon.
And we were welcomed there with a hot and delicious lunch.
Our daily schedule included work from 7 to 11:30, rest and lunch until 3:30 and work again till 6.
The work was quite tedious, we were desilting a reservoir built on a river (which was now dry in december ).
The reservoir was created around a year back by building a dam on the river. But during this monsoon the reservoir was completely filled up with loose mud and rocks, which had to be removed.
The work was quite tiring ( believe me we had never worked this hard before). But being there with friends, there was no chance of being bored (especially the ever chattering girls ), and we had a great time out there.
The most amazing thing i saw was the good nature and hospitality of the village people.They were always ready to help and went to great extents to make us comfortable. They gave us room in their houses for sleeping, some came to help us with the work. .
Another development that SHARE inspired was that women in the village have formed a ' mahila samaj ' which gets the womenfolk together and its a platform for voicing their their views and aiding development.
This group actually took time out from their work ( house work, farm work etc) during our visit to cook us meals.
The food we were served over the 5 days was a typical diet of the region dal, tandlachya bhakrya ( rice flour bhakris ) , vegetables, rice (lots of it) and occasional delicacy of puran poli. And to tell you what I liked most about the place ( apart from the people ) was the food. Especially after a whole day of work when our appetite was HUGE, the food seemed five star .
The evenings at wawe very another intresting part of the camp. A cultural programme was organised each evenings where people from the village and surrounding areas came toghether for skits, dances, songs, recitations
performed by kids. And we were really impressed by the performances put up for us and ofcourse we too put songs and dances and got great support from the people. The kids ( some just 5-6 yr old) had really practised a lot and were dressed up in cute costumes, which really made my day.

The camp was a great experience and a very satisfying one. It really made a really great impression on us and convinced us that however small our effort can make a difference. Hats off to SHARE.
bye