SMILES ARE APPEALING -2010 JHUNI APPEAL

June 1st 2011: WE HAVE ‘TIL NOW RAISED Rs500,000 and more than fifty homes are solar lighted.

May 15th 2011: I HAVE JUST RETURNED FROM A LOVELY VISIT TO JHUNI, WHERE WE DISTRIBUTED 100 ROBUST SOLAR FLASHLIGHTS (DONATED FROM USA) AT A NOMINAL COST OF RS80 EACH. THE RESULTING RS8000 WILL BE USED TO PROVIDE ONE SOLAR LIGHTING SYSTEM FOR THE VILLAGE TEMPLE.

I AM NOW CHANGING THIS APPEAL FOR FUNDS. THOSE VILLAGERS WHO HAVE NOT SO FAR TAKEN UP OUR OFFER FOR SOLAR, WILL FROM NOW ON BE OFFERED MICRO-CREDIT THROUGH AVANI TO PURCHASE SYSTEMS FOR THEMSELVES. ALL FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THAT SCHEME GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED!

WE ARE CONTINUING TO TRAIN A SOLAR TECHNICIAN AT AVANI CAMPUS WHO WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTENANCE/INSTALLATION OF JHUNI’S SYSTEMS. WE ARE ALSO OPEN TO PROVIDING TRAINING IN SILK CULTIVATION AND SPINNING FOR A GROUP OF VILLAGERS IF THE DEMAND BECOMES APPARENT.

I AM CONTINUING MY PERSONAL SUPPORT FOR MY DEAR FRIEND KHIM SINGHS FAMILY IN JHUNI. HELPING HIM ARRANGE TREKS FOR VISITORS AND TO BUILD A GUEST HOUSE. IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN TREKKING IN THIS LITTLE-KNOW AND STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL AREA PLEASE CONTACT ME!

HOW TO DONATE:

Donations outside India will be handled and transferred to Avani (the local NGO implementing the scheme) by my sister Nichola Harrison, and she will account to Avani for all donations received.

Please email her at nharrison@freenetname.co.uk to confirm details of the donation you are making.
Via Paypal: nharrison@freenetname.co.uk
By cheque/bank transfer email Nichola Harrison at nharrison@freenetname.co.uk

Donations within India
Beneficiary : AVANI, Acct.No. 11560362960
Branch: SBI Berinag, District Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand 262531 Branch Code: 2523 IFSC – SBIN0002523

For more details of the appeal please read on.

—————————————————————————————————————

They give us their smiles – will you help give them light?
AN APPEAL FOR THE SMILING PEOPLE OF JHUNI
1. WHY WE CARE
2. AN APPEAL FOR THE SAKE OF THE PEOPLE OF JHUNI
3. AN APPEAL FOR THE SAKE OF THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE HIMALAYAS
4. WHAT JHUNI NEEDS
5. OUR PROPOSAL FOR JHUNI
6. HOW YOU CAN HELP
7. BACKGROUND: WHERE IS JHUNI? WHO ARE JHUNI’S PEOPLE? etc

1. WHY WE CARE

“Jhuni’s people found a place in my heart after I met villager Khim Singh Danu and
accepted an invitation to come to his little-visited village.

“What I found, as anyone who has seen “Smiles from Off The Road” and “Smiles 3 –
Travels With a Hat” will know, was such spontaneous joy, smiles, laughter, song and
dance, that I simply fell in love!
“But I found great need there too, and I made up my mind to try and give something back
to the smiling people of Jhuni.”

Chinmaya Dunster, May 2009

2. AN APPEAL FOR THE SAKE OF THE PEOPLE OF JHUNI

A tough life, but still they have time to smile…….
Jhuni is at the end of the path. It is three to four hours walk down to the nearest vehicle access
point; from there an hour by jeep to reach the nearest doctor. During the long winter the
village is cut off by deep snow, and during monsoon it is frequently cut off by landslides
and swollen rivers.

Jhuni’s younger children have a one-hour walk up a steep path to the bare 2-room
primary school every day; those older children lucky enough to go to school undertake a
treacherous two-hour walk each way to a neighbouring village.
Once night comes in Jhuni, the people live in near darkness, as there is no reliable electricity supply.
Children must do their homework by candle light. Activities that might earn people a few
extra rupees must stop until daylight returns.

Jhuni’s homes are full of smoke from cooking on wood-burning open fireplaces, creating
unpleasant and dangerous conditions. It is not possible to escape the smoke: kitchen,
living and sleeping area are a single room. In the harsh cold and snows of winter, when
schools are closed and the fields idle, no-one goes outside at all except for the call of
nature, or to fetch more wood for the fire. (The World Health Organisation estimates that
1.5 million people die every year from the pollution caused by indoor cooking stoves).

Jhuni’s women and girls are at the hard end of a cultural practice that will only be
changed by education. They are expected to do more than their share of the work, and
are fed less than their share of the best food. They are often run-down and anaemic and
their children’s health is weakened as a result.

3. AN APPEAL FOR THE SAKE OF THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE HIMALAYAS

One of the last true wildernesses left on Earth………

Jhuni lies at the edge of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, a UN-recognised biodiversity
hotspot of international importance. While the villagers have traditionally used the forests
and pastures of this high Himalayan range in sustainable ways, the past two decades
have seen their increasing involvement with the cash economy of the plains. The benefits
– schooling and medical care – cost them money, and cash is hard to come by. The first
result of this, twenty years ago, was the virtual extinction of the protected musk deer (its
musk pod used by the European perfume industry) by poaching.
In the last ten years, local people have pursued an intensive hunt for Cordyseps sinensis
(a strange caterpillar/fungus co-species) that occurs below ground in the high pastures
and is valued by the Chinese for its supposedly aphrodisiac properties. The villagers’
presence in this fragile ecological zone, disturbing the thin soils and burning whatever
bushes can be found to cook and keep warm with, has had serious environmental
consequences. Needless to say over-harvesting has resulted in ever-diminishing returns,
until today most Jhuni villagers say that it is no longer worth the effort.
This leaves them with a final option to raise cash locally: growing cannabis. While this
native plant has traditionally been used by them as a minor part of their diet and
medicine, it is of course illegal, and brings them into contact with some of the least
desirable elements of the plains economy. Every field planted with cannabis is a field less
for food growing, and this inevitably increases the villages demand for edible wild species
from the Reserve.

4. WHAT JHUNI NEEDS
• solar electric light. The children’s schoolwork will benefit most from it, but
everybody enjoys being able to see each other in the evening, don’t they?
• smoke free stoves. Many health issues will be solved overnight from their
introduction, plus who wants to cough the whole night?
• alternative livelihoods. The legal ways to earn cash from harvesting wild animals
and plants are now basically exhausted. No one in Jhuni actually likes the illegal ways - they’ll
give them up at the drop of a hat if given the chance!
• two solar panels to run 2 laptop computers (the latter already donated), one at the
school, the other in a room within the village. Although these computers will mainly be
used for off-line learning through CD-ROM and videos, there are one or two places near
the village where a weak mobile phone connection sometimes allows a slow connection
to the internet. These computers will literally be an opening into a wider world.

5. OUR PROPOSAL FOR JHUNI

PHASE 1
• Provide 105 families each with a system of 15 W solar power and 20 AH tubular
batteries with all accessories and two lights
Cost per family 8,500 Rupees;
Cost 892,500 Rupees
• Transportation up to the road-head at Song (three trips)
(Families to be responsible for transporting the equipment from Song to Jhuni).
Cost 20,000 Rupees
• Installation of solar lighting
Cost per family 500 Rupees
Cost 52,500 Rupees
• Maintenance Training for two Jhuni villagers at Avani: three months including
boarding and lodging.
Cost 40,000 Rupees

• Set up bank account with villagers elected/nominated by village as signatories. (To
safeguard against misappropriation, one representative from Avani will also be a
signatory, so that money is never withdrawn without our knowledge). This bank will
provide micro-finance so that each family can contribute 2000 Rupees (banked now
or via micro-credit) towards battery replacement after 7 years, plus 30 Rupees per
head per month towards a maintenance fund to pay the technicians’ honorarium and
other expenses.
This aspect of the project is important to make sure that there is money available
after the batteries start to loose their storage capacity, so that the entire investment
does not go waste after a couple of years. There will be a differential payment
system, depending on the financial situation of each family, but their contributions are
essential for the long term sustainability of the project.
Cost covered by Avani
Phase 1 Total Cost: 1,052,000 Rupees (approx £13,500)

PHASE 2

• Two 100 W solar systems for charging two laptop computers – purchase,
transportation and installation.
Cost per system 50,000 Rupees
Cost 100,000 Rupees

• Provide steel piping for cooking stove chimneys. (Families will construct stoves
from local clay, after training).
Cost per family 500 Rupees
Cost 52,500 Rupees

• Training program in alternative livelihhods at AVANI. Six young people from Juhuni to spend 6 months on the Avani campus, learning the basics of sericulture, spinning, weaving and dieing, solar, accounting, computing etc.
Cost 120,000 Rupees including transport.
This element of the project will be managed under a formal contract so that Jhuni’s
people are committed to a programme that creates self-sufficiency rather than
dependence on outside funds. Sericulture involves rearing silk moth cocoons on the
leaves of oak trees in the forests. Eventually villagers will be trained in spinning and
weaving of silk. Initial return per family involved in the rearing programme is expected
to be 5,000 – 10,000 Rupees per annum.
Phase 2 Total Cost: 272,500 Rupees (£8,500)

6. HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please make a donation now
The cost of Phase 1 is around $200 (£140) per family

How to donate:
Donations outside India will be handled and transferred to Avani by my sister Nichola Harrison,
She will account to Avani for all donations received.

Please email her at nharrison@freenetname.co.uk to confirm your details and
details of the donation you are making.
Via Paypal: nharrison@freenetname.co.uk
By cheque/bank transfer email Nichola Harrison at nharrison@freenetname.co.uk

Donations within India
Beneficiary : AVANI,
Acct.No. 11560362960
Branch: SBI Berinag, District Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand 262531
Branch Code: 2523 IFSC – SBIN0002523

7. BACKGROUND
Where is Jhuni?

Jhuni lies at an altitude of around 2,500m (9000ft) in the valley of the Sarayu river, in
Bageshwar district, State of Uttarakhand. The Sarayu is a tributary of the Kali River,
which forms the border between India and Western Nepal. Just north of Jhuni the Great
Himalaya range rises to the height of 7,800m (25,500ft) at Nanda Devi peak. Beyond is
the Tibetan border.

The nearest vehicle access has now (2010) been pushed further up the valley from Song (900m – 3000ft), leaving a three-hour walk to Jhuni. The
closest railway at Kathgodon is a ten-hour drive from Song and connects to Delhi in
seven hours.
Who lives in Jhuni?
Jhuni’s people depend on subsistence agriculture, growing a wide range of food crops
naturally without chemicals or pesticides. They keep cows, and sheep, which they
pasture in the high mountains in summer. They harvest the surrounding forest for leaves
for animal fodder. The main product from their animals is manure, their sole fertilizer for
the poor soils of their fields.

The villagers are Hindus, who retain strong local traditions outside the Hindu mainstream,
including worship of the goddess Nanda Devi and local village deities associated with
springs, notable trees and rocks etc. They are hard working, friendly and great lovers of
music and dance, with a store of folk songs and dances. They have no habit of alcohol or
drug use, are mainly vegetarian by force of circumstance, and have maintained
themselves since pre-history in a harmonious balance with their natural environment. The
dense forests around them, the pristine wilderness of the mountains above them, the
incredible diversity of bird and animal life amongst which they live, are witness to the
depths of their respect for Nature on which they depend so totally.

Sericulture for Jhuni

The remaining tracts of Kharsu Oak (Querquis semicarpofolia) unique to the
Greater Himalayas are fighting their battle for survival and it may not be
long before we lose these rich forests to climate change, over-exploitation and
sheer neglect.
We are proposing to initiate a conservation-oriented livelihood program where
people can harvest part of the foliage to rear a rare wild silk worm called
Tussar (Oak), which feeds only on this species. People can make some income
by rearing these silk worms; the unique wild silk, will then be
fashioned into hand spun, naturally dyed, hand woven textiles by the artisans
in the neighboring Himalayan region Avani is working in.

As the silk cultivation gains momentum, further training of Jhuni’s people in spinning and
weaving will ensure production of high quality textiles in this remote and
inaccessible villages, thus providing livelihoods to the villagers.
A person (family) can earn Rs. 10,000 ­ - 20,000 in a season (by working for 11
weeks) by rearing silk worms. Other families involved in spinning and
weaving will, after training, make a similar amount of money. They will be able to continue
their traditional livelihood practices as farmers. This income will allow them to pay for technology
such as solar lights, health care, education and, above all, will keep them in their village instead
of migrating to an urban slum in search of some cash income.

Who are we?
Avani is a fifteen-year old non-governmental organisation (NGO) specializing in bringing
solar power to and developing textile production in remote villages of Uttarakhand.
You can see my film about Avani and read more at http://www.avani-kumaon.org. /

(Oct 2009) First twenty-five families receiving their solar lights next week!

Feb 2010. Our Smiling People Benefit concert in Pune on 13th Feb raised Rs76,000 ($1,650). In addition Rs35,000 ($800) of Avani’s textile products were sold. THANK YOU to all who came and supported!!!

May 2010. I visited Jhuni on 6th and 7th May. The first twenty four families are enjoying their solar lights. Dhunga Singh Danu, a nineteen year old, is two months into his solar technician training at Avani. Avani has set up a micro-credit scheme for the villagers to pay their contributions into. Fifteen more solar installations will go up to the village at end of the month. A personal tragedy occurred on 9th, when my friend Khim Singh lost his 17-year old son Ramesh in an accident. The boy was collecting ‘kira gaz’ (Cordyseps sinensis) above 4000 meters when he slipped on icy snow and fell.

August 2010. I  launch my ‘Smiles Are Appealing’ video, to try to raise money for solar lights the remaining 50 or so families of Jhuni.