For eight months each year, the families of Jogad Village brave the harsh conditions of the Kutch desert to labor as salt farmers. There, villagers confront the desert's dangers including poisonous animals and the effects of the scorching sun. However, the most pressing issue facing Jogad's migrant workers is their struggle for sufficient water.

In the desert, Jogad’s villagers do not have consistent access to a safe drinking water. Families depend on the water supplied to the region by government tankards; unfortunately, these tankards cannot reach the commune of tents where Jogad’s villagers live. Instead, the community must pay for private vehicles to deliver their water. This expense represents a serious sacrifice for all of Jogad’s families, 95% of whom live below the poverty line.

Even their limited water supply presents issues for Jogad’s families as they lack a means of safely storing the little they receive. Women and children are forced to journey every day between 10-15 km to gather water for their survival. When there is none available, villagers resort to drinking anything they have, contributing to health problems and a loss of productivity.

This project will ensure that 50 of Jogad’s families are supplied with a 200-liter water tank with which they can safely store and distribute water. The funded tanks will be durable, light weight, and rust proof. They will not require serious maintenance and villagers will be able to easily transport them back and forth from the desert. Become the Citizen Philanthropist for this project and partner with Jogad’s salt farmers to ensure 50 families are able to safely store the water they need to meet their basic needs.

The impoverished village of Jogad is situated along the Kutch desert in Gujarat’s Surendranagar District. Life for Jogad’s 1,350 residents is centered on earning a limited income as salt farmers. Every year, 95% of the village’s residents migrate to the nearby desert where they remain for eight months to labor in the saltpans.

During these eight months, families are protected from the desert’s harsh conditions by little else than makeshift, burlap tents; they do not have access to the resources to meet their most basic needs, including electricity and a stable, safe water source. To gather fuel and water, villagers must walk between 10-15 km every day. Long-term exposure to this bleak environment results in serious health issues for many of Jogad’s villagers, forcing many to lose precious hours of labor while recovering from illnesses.

In return for these sacrifices, Jogad’s families receive limited pay. Even during the four months a year when they are not living in the desert, villagers face constant financial struggles as a result of the limited opportunities available for unskilled labor. Few can afford two meals a day and 95% of Jogad's families are left living below the poverty line.

Meet your partner community, and read their messages and profiles.

Savitaben Karsanbhai

My name is Savitaben Karsanbhai. I live in Jogad village. At my parents house we used to do agriculture work and now here at my in-laws we are into salt farming. I had never seen the work of salt farming and did not what to do and how to do it. When I came to my in-laws I lived in Jogad village for a month and then my husband told me that let u8s go we will now stay in the desert for 8 months. I thought that it must be like a village only. However, when I went to the desert, I could not stop crying. It was a barren land with nobody surrounding us and no facility for buying milk, vegetables or water. For water, my husband used to go to the village and get 20 ltrs of water everyday. I have to manage the entire day with that 20 ltrs of water – drinking, cooking, cleaning utensils. I could not even think of washing clothes or having a bath with so little water. In the desert, a water tanker comes every 3 days. Those who have utensils can store the water. People like us can only store 20 ltrs of water. If someone comes to see the salt that we are making and we have to offer drinking water to them then also we feel that we lost a glass full of water. Under such circumstances, if we get water tanks then a lot of our problems will be reduced and our health will also remain good.

Direct Impact of Your Project

• Ensures 50 families have access to safe, clean drinking water every day
• Improves the health of Jogad’s villagers by decreasing the incidence of water-borne diseases
• Enables salt farming families to dedicate their time to earning an income rather than gathering water or recovering from preventable illnesses
• Allows 300 people to more easily endure the harsh conditions of the Kutch desert

Extended Impact on Your Partner Community

• Improves the income-earning potential of the Jogad community
• Encourages communal harmony by providing the means of families sharing rather than competing for resources
• Demonstrates the importance of cleanliness in maintaining the health and productivity of the community