ABDF

Pushpakaran’s great-aunt, one of the few family members to stay behind in Shalampailkerny after the massacre in 1985.

Project Director, Bennett Hinkley, was taken to Shalampailkerny by his friend Pushpakaran, as it was his friend's birthplace as well as the location of a minor massacre in the mid-80s, Pushpakaran’s father having been one of the victims. But in addition to showing the Project Director his ancestral home, and the place from which his family fled during the height of the violence, Pushpakaran also wanted to help his village. He wanted to know if ABDF could build the village a water tank.

Downtown Shalampailkerny.

Shalampailkerny is only one or two kilometers from our other water tank sites at Navatkadu, Mangikkadu, and Pallakadu. Incidentally “kadu” in Tamil means “wood” as in the way we would call a town Greenwood, or Lakewood. Which is ironic, because except for a few trees in each town, they are all located on a virtually treeless sun baked plain.

Perhaps more ironic is “kerny.” “Kerny” indicates plentiful underground water, a phrase that doesn’t translate elegantly into English. Or perhaps it’s optimistic thinking, because Shalampailkerny has a serious lack of water under its surface. A peek down the communal well which, while not as big around as the well in Pallakadu is probably ten feet deeper, revealed about three feet of water. The water can only be used for washing or water plants; deep water in this area tends to be brackish and undrinkable.

Shalampailkerny’s communal well. It’s very deep, but almost dry.

More striking was the lack of trees. The Project Manager counted maybe three or four for the entire village in addition to a half dozen palm trees.

But perhaps most ironic of all is the gigantic water station being built on the edge of Shalampailkerny. The Chinese are building an enormous new water distribution project designed to bring water from the deep interior of the island to the coastal strip of Batti District. An extensive series of pipelines are being laid, and water towers sprouting up along the coast. But none of the small villages on the land-side of the lagoon will receive a drop. Nor, it might be added, has any resident of Shalampailkerny, or any of the other nearby villages, managed to get any job related to this project. Shameful, isn’t it?

This tiny one-room school house is on kovil land; the water tank will be between the school and the kovil across the lane.

The local Zonal Secretary has agreed to fill the new tank with as much water as needed. The tank will be built next door to the tiny schoolhouse, on land donated for the purpose by the local kovil (Hindu temple); the kovil committee has promised to maintain the tank, keeping it clean and in good repair. ABDF has agreed to prioritize the water tank, as there are still months of dry season ahead.

Project Update - September 3, 2010

(Project Director Bennett Hinkley is extremely embarrassed that he never posted an update when the tank was built, back in August 2009. He hangs his head in shame, but offers the following as restitution):

I just happend to arrive when they were filling the tank

"As I mentioned in an earlier letter, we have discovered a design flaw in our water tanks; the plastic piping and faucets are too weak and subject to breakage from all manner of daily-life events. These problems have been fixed, with the exception of one tank, which is currently in use. In fact, when I was in Shalapailkerny, the site of this particular tank, I happened to arrive right at the time the water truck came to fill it. It was gratifying to see the tank being filled and used; once the tank not being used, we’ll fix the pipes and faucets."