'Umbru'

I recently discovered the perks of working in hydro power. You get to travel to amazing locations with beautiful streams and waterfalls while 'working'.

Last week I visited a couple of remote villages towards the Western Ghats to view the home use pico-hydro systems of around 300W that are changing the lives of the villagers who use them.

An old woman (pictured) talked of how she was literally crying with joy when she first saw a bulb illuminating the house in which she had lived for 25 years without power.

Following this moving event, we walked up the stream which provides this life changing energy and came to a beautiful waterfall which demonstrated the natural power of the earth and the way it can be harnessed to change peoples lives.

I made the mistake of wearing shoes rather than flip flops and following a short walk took them off to reveal a nasty 'Umbru' or leach which had swelled to the size of a ping pong ball with my fresh blood. Eugh!!

Friday was filled with a visit to the local Dharmastala temple with some visiting students from Singapore. The temple caters for 40,000 visitors in peak season who travel from across the country to assemble here.

The men were all required to remove their tops and wear a small piece of cloth before seeing the wonders that lay inside. The temples trust are responsible for so much work in the area including the college I am working in and many of the local development projects. I myself am not religious but it appears that the temples in this region have a huge importance in advancing the living conditions of a huge percentage of the population.

On saturday, us interns travelled up to another remote village to view an improved stove demonstration. This is the stove which previous EWB volunteers had been contributing towards. It was fabulous to see some of the work of past volunteers being put into practice.

Tonight we leave on the night train for a short trip to Bangalore and Mysore although I cant say that my trips to the waterfalls, temple and stove demonstration have felt too much like hard work.