Sri Lanka’s ‘water champion’ proud of work initiated by Appe Lanka
Many are the gratifying memories Shaan Corea recalls after being given a UAE Embassy Award as a “Water Champion” – a title that fits her, given the crusades she has been leading with her organization Appe Lanka to secure clean water for people of our rural areas.
As we sit in her Christmas-decorated home in Nawala, Shaan harks back to days spent in the dry zone, where the dust swirls up and thorny trees stand against stark cerulean sky and burnt sienna land: little gestures like a grateful mother hugging her spontaneously; a woman who once could not cook her rice because she had no water now no longer having such concerns… All these make Shaan’s work worthwhile.
An old lady being carried across the water to join the event marking the handing over of the Naranthalvu tank to the people
The “Sri Lankan Water Champions” were recognized early December by the United Arab Emirates Embassy and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and Shaan was the awardee in the Community category, while the other categories were Research, Advocacy and Media, Arts and Creativity, Youth, and Schools.
Appe Lanka has been working to make rural lives better since 2018, but the award especially recognises their work in the North and in Poonakary. There, not only was Appe Lanka able to give a number of RO (Reverse Osmosis) plants to 12 Grama Niladhaari divisions (covering some 3600 families) ensuring clean water, but they also restored an ancient tank, which they handed over to the community last week.
The tank, called Naranthalvu, revives a large community in Matawilnadu West and not only by giving them potable water.
With water available all year round, the villagers can now harvest not just two seasons a year of peanut crops as they used to, but four to five crops, meaning they are no longer only seasonally employed. “The women especially benefit,” says Shaan, adding that the tank being restored means the community will become self-reliant gradually.
Shaan Corea receiving her award
“Also, we are trying to encourage them to cultivate their own vegetable gardens so they can supplement their income with home-grown vegetables and sell the excess. It’s a win-win situation.”
Shaan adds that with Appe Lanka initiating, a number of schools like Iranathivu and the Poonakary Central School have cultivated their own vegetable patches, thus providing nutritious meals for students and teachers. Sets of tools such as mammoties have been given to them by Appe Lanka, and by preparing the ground and cultivating, they learn respect for agriculture, says Shaan.
A ‘water exhibition’ in each school also imbibed in students the importance of clean water, and children, apart from essays, drawings and posters, also made small model wells and windmills.
The kids were drawn into the restoration of the Naranthalvu tank as well; they researched what trees are best suited to grow on the bund of the tank and went on to plant and water them.
Shaan has now set her sights on an entirely new project as well: supplying 15 schools in the North with potable water – an initiative they hope to finish by March next year, on World Water Day. In the meanwhile, continuously maintaining the RO plants providing water to thousands of families is a responsibility Appe Lanka takes very seriously.
Shaan Corea at the opening of the tank
Shaan’s dictum is “you have to care enough to dare”. Over the years she has built a relationship with the communities Appe Lanka has served. “One mother even came with her son to me and showed me a passbook-… It was what she had saved each month so she won’t have to worry about her son’s education.”
The day I met her, a week before the tank had been handed over to the community, Shaan would show me pictures on her mobile phone of the Naranthalvu tank already brimming with water – a joyful sight compared to the dry parched earth some months back.
The happiness on Shaan’s face as she gazed on the images, simply said it all.
To know more about the project, or partner with Appe Lanka, please contact 0772872056 or info@appelanka.com.
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