WATER CHANGES EVERYTHING

By SHAGORIKA EASWAR with files from JEFF LEVY

Siri lives in a village called Cheruvula Palem in Andhra Pradesh in India. After her father passed away in an electrical accident, her mother both works and takes care of her.

They would travel long distances and dangerous roads to get water, limiting Siri’s education. Thanks to a water well they are now able to access water safely and quickly. Siri is now continuing her education and hopes to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor.

Hyma takes care of the elderly in her family. As a child, she travelled nine miles to get to her school. After a certain age, due to the long distance and lack of finances, she couldn’t continue her education even though she loved school and learning.

Now with a school just 1.5 miles from her home and 50 per cent off tuition for all female students that is offered at the school, Hyma is immensely happy to see her daughter attend school and prays that her daughter’s dream of becoming a police officer would become a reality.

“Water changes everything,” says Matthew Oh, who founded Forefront in 2015 to support underdeveloped communities in India and around the globe achieve sustainable development.  

The well that Siri and her mother draw water from is the 29th well provided by Forefront. And that school Hyma’s daughter goes to? The Forefront School.

Clean water and proper sanitation have been the foundation of Forefront’s work. The not-for-profit focuses on developing innovation in water technology to serve more villagers efficiently and with the highest quality. 

But back in 2015, little did Matthew Oh imagine that two of the pillars that Forefront is founded on – clean water and education – would become crucial in the fight against COVID-19.

On his first visit to India in 2012, he’d witnessed firsthand the need for accessible clean water. Children and women would walk up to six one-hour trips to get water and the water they did obtain is the cause of diarrhea-related deaths of almost one million children in India each year. This prevented children from attending school. Education was also considered a luxury and unaffordable by many. This is when he realized development requires more than one solution.

The engineer who had worked in the research and development sector wanted to bring new creative ideas to help others through a holistic four-phase approach that engages in long-term partnerships with communities.

The non-profit has a four-pillar approach to empowering future leaders. Empowerment starts with clean water, because without it, girls and women spend up to six hours a day, every day, fetching water, instead of getting an education or pursuing a career. The next step is education; over 50 per cent of girls in India fail to enroll in school, and most girls drop out by the age of 12 to help their families. Medical care forms the third pillar – over 60 per cent of people in India do not have adequate healthcare. The final step is empowerment. India is 102nd out of 144 in the United Nations Gender Equality Index.

They began their work in Kolluru in Andhra Pradesh by building wells in each village centre. Now a trip to fetch water takes no more than five minutes.

Although the pillars were not established to combat the impact  of COVID-19, each pillar has had a transformational effect on people’s livelihood, well-being, and future of the villages while the virus spread and upturned people’s lives.

“Clean water is the basis of all life and 163 million in India do not have access to safe drinking water,” says Oh. “The clean water undertaking significantly reduces water-borne illnesses, results in 73 million workdays saved, and results in 443 million school days saved, according to estimates for all of India. This became especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Access to clean drinking water saves lives, reduces the risk of exposure, and impacts villagers positively in many other ways. Education also provides the necessary skills and confidence for children to strive for their dreams and become local change makers.”

To fulfill their commitment to education, they began work on Forefront International School with a view to engaging parents who would work with teachers to ensure that primary school students develop rigorous critical thinking skills, core values, and acquire enduring understandings on how to exercise appropriate self-care. Affordable tuition, a vital factor in who can access education and who is left out, was ensured through being income-based for all, and half-priced for girls. The staff salaries are competitive and include housing and means for professional development. Teachers are trained to teach students the ICSE curriculum, technology enhanced learning through student laptops, character training, fine arts, sports, health, and ecosystem education.

There’s an on-campus water well, a community centre and garden and the school grounds will also be used to conduct adult education programs.

Built with villagers pitching in, the school opened its doors last November with 40 students in upper Kindergarten and Grade 1 and a teacher to student ratio of 1:20. 

What makes the school different?

“We set the highest academic standard – 80% or higher passing grades for all students,” says Oh, who recalls meeting a third-grader who couldn’t write her name. “Our school will teach our first graders to recite simple poems, use English in conversations, describe people, places, and things per their interpretation, and much more.”

Private primary schools in the region average over 200,000  rupees annual tuition. This astounding figure is arrived at incrementally.

Annual tuition: 40,000 rupees.

Additional infrastructure development fee: 62,500 rupees.

Additional admission fee: 5,800 rupees.

Additional extracurricular activities: 8,00 rupees.

Additional school maintenance fee: 10,000 rupees.

Additional arts and craft fee: 2,000 rupees.

And many more, totaling over 200,000 rupees.

Forefront School charges 16,000 INR (less than eight per cent of average) annual tuition. This includes uniforms, workbooks, supplies, and all basic necessities.

COVID-19-specific strategies instituted by Forefront at the school included:

Conducting classes at the Forefront School according to government guidelines with thermometer checks at the entrance, a maximum 20 students per classroom, distanced seating, mandatory masks for all persons on campus, soap and antibacterial handwash on every hand washing station. In addition, faculty and staff hired from outside the village have a mandatory 14-day quarantine in an isolated room, and there are two COVID-19 tests that each person takes before arriving in the village.

They also provided relief packages containing masks, soap, detergent soap, and shampoo, rice, vegetables, biscuits and daily essentials to over 3000 families. To aid with reducing COVID-19 exposure an additional 10,000 masks were distributed and six more water wells dug to provide safe drinking water to more villagers. 

The numbers reveal the extent of reach of these projects.

With 36 water wells – 37th in construction – at the time of this interview, nearly 57,500 people now have access to clean drinking water.

Approximately 25 per cent of the people served are children. 

But did these measures help prevent the spread of infection?

As of September 24, 2020, the rate of spread of infection at their school area was low and thus the government declared their village a “green” or safe area. Additionally, measuring the entire district, 80 per cent of those who were infected have recovered.

To increase effectiveness and serve more people, they are working on getting a medical vehicle that reaches remote areas to provide basic medical care and for awareness, detection, and prevention of diabetes – India has the second highest diabetic population globally.

There are nine people on the Forefront India team and though team members in the US were working remotely even before the outbreak as they are spread across the country, a few would visit India regularly. Now, with  travel restrictions in place, trips to India are postponed as they continue to communicate with the local team in India via phone and video conferencing. Their quarterly  in-person meetings have been virtual and hybrid as some people met up (in New Jersey and New York City).

Future plans include launching the changemakers initiative for sustainability, completing all four pillars as envisioned at inception in full force, maintaining the school and keep growing all pillars. And begin work in a new country

Forefront is funded by generous private donors, including philanthropic foundations and individuals. It raises funds from these individuals through events, commerce, corporate outreach, and college chapters. The vast majority, 94 per cent, of funds raised go towards running the water, sanitation, education and medical programs.

“Our minimal overhead means you can count on your giving to directly impact our communities in India,” says Oh.

• To donate or to become involved in Forefront’s programs, follow @goforefront on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also donate to a specific cause depending on your passion, whether it is funding a water well or providing a child’s monthly tuition.

           THE EDUCATION GAP BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS IN INDIA

 Due to a lack of access, affordability, and awareness, children in rural India are unable to receive education to escape poverty.

Unfortunately, this has a disproportionate impact on women and girls, as culturally, education is valued less for women who are expected to focus on raising children. According to the World Bank, female literacy is 83% globally, but only 59% in India, and 32% in the area of Forefront’s school. Most girls in rural India drop out of school by age 12 due to lack of proper toilet facilities and financial constraints.

12 million Indian children not in school are female.

26% of girls completed secondary education, compared to 50% of boys.

82% of boys are literate while only 65% of girls can read and write, according to the Census of India.

Education is a sustainable solution to breaking cycles of poverty. Most importantly, it gives women the knowledge and freedom to makes their own decisions in a culture where their opinions are often considered of less value than those of men. Women with education know how to care for their physical and emotional well being. They are happier and healthier. UNICEF found that an educated woman has the skills, information and self-confidence that she needs to be a better parent, worker and citizen. She is, for instance, likely to marry at a later age and have fewer children. Cross-country studies show that an extra year of schooling for girls reduces fertility rates by 5 to 10 per cent. And the children of an educated mother are more likely to survive.

In India, the infant mortality rate of babies whose mothers have received primary education is half that of children whose mothers are illiterate. An educated woman will also be more productive at work – and better paid. Indeed, the dividend for educational investment is often higher for women than men. Studies from a number of countries suggest that an extra year of schooling will increase a woman’s future earnings by about 15 per cent, compared with 11 per cent for a man.