"My experience wholeheartedly changed my global perspective. It showed me the amount of effort, time, and energy it takes to create simple, but sustainable solutions for basic human necessities like drinking water and the work that needs to be done."
- Jewel Yoko Kentilitisca, University of New Mexico, U.S.
The School of Social Work, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, and AMMACHI Labs, along with the foreign university, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, carried forward a research in a village of Ettimadai, Coimbatore.
Students from the Harvard School of Public Health worked with the Amrita School of Social Work and AmritaCREATE to conduct alcohol awareness classes and self esteem programs for children in the tribal village of Mothakara, Kerala.
With increased poverty, spiraling debt, and and an inability to find sustainable employment, many villagers turn towards alcohol to drown their sorrows. Seeing this behavior, the next generation is also succumbing to its detrimental effects with families being torn apart and children dropping out of school. Therefore, alcoholism has become a growing concern among rural communities.
"This program was particularly valuable to me because I was given an opportunity to live in the village where we were conducting research. The ability to participate in qualitative research with first-hand experience allowed me to get a sense of the everyday challenges of village life." - Nickza Dallas, Ryerson University, Canada
Access to clean drinking water is greatly hindered during any natural disaster, with the quality of the water being an additional concern. This project seeks to understand challenges faced by rural residents during a natural disaster and the structure and execution of medical camps for disaster relief.
With a lack of consistent and sustainable employment opportunities, many villagers are forced to seek employment far away from their homes, thereby temporarily requiring families to move to different states for a major part of the year.
According to WaterAid India, approximately 76 million people in the country lack access to clean drinking water and more than 60,000 children, especially under the age of 5 years, die each year from poor sanitation and diarrheal diseases caused by drinking contaminated water. Causes of water contamination also vary. High population density, chemical farming, overuse of fertilizers, the presence of minerals in the coastal beds, and run-off from factory waste provide limited access to clean drinking water. Other obstacles are distance and cost. Many villagers have to walk several kilometers to access clean water and in some villages, residents are forced to spend money to buy clean water.
“I have taken many classes at my university, but I really wanted to do something in the field. Water is something that everyone needs, especially clean drinking water. I am very happy that I was able to work as part of a team and deploy a water filter that will now give clean water to everyone in the village.”
- Hiroto Tahaku, Hosei University, Japan
“This program gave me my first experience in international health, which I am interested in pursuing. I was also able to learn about the various aspects that a village needs to become developed.”
Kavitha Bhatnagar, Johns Hopkins University, U.S.