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Moriam Bewa is a poor woman lives in the village Narkeli under Kendua Union of Jamalpur Sadar Upazila where SIPP works. Husband Akbar Ali is a day laborer and works for landed elites. Moriam and Akbar have two sons of working age. They also work as day laborer. Generally day laboring in this area is sporadically available and in an average they get highest 6-8 months employment opportunity in a year in this area. Rest of the period, they remain unemployed. Wages of the laborers is also poor which ranges from Tk.30 to Tk.100 depending on season and demand. Therefore, Moriam’s family has to live in scarcity of food, shelter, clothes, etc. basic needs for most part of the year. To assist the family, Moriam also makes various efforts for earning such as working in elite house as domestic help, stitching Nakshi Khantha, rearing small poultry, etc. But still though the family could not meet many of their basic needs of which safe drinking water is one of the most desired unmet need. But the livelihood situation of Moriam Bewa and her family started to change slowly after inception of SIPP in the Narkeli village. Like ten other families of this village, Moriam Bewa and her family members started to believe that they could materialize many of their unmet needs through SIPP as the project provides basic services for the poor villagers, especially for the hardcore poor with affordable terms and conditions.  

Being the Narkeli village was selected under SIPP, the opportunities came for Moriam Bewa. In this regard, she first decided to solve her long-standing problem of safe drinking water. Moriam and her neighboring eight families, who are also hardcore poor, wouldn’t have access to safe drinking water in close proximity. If they wanted to drink safe water then they had to travel 150-200 meter to approach to a shallow tube-well. But it was not always possible for them to travel such distance after daylong hard work to fetch safe water. So they often compelled to drink pond water. But by heart Moriam was dreaming to have a deep-set tube well as a source of permanent safe drinking water. 

Moriom Bewa along with eight other poor neighboring families formed a group and approached to the VDC/PMC of the Narkeli village for sanctioning a tube well from SIPP. According to rule of SIPP, they collected and deposited Tk.900 to the VDC/PMC as community contribution for installation of tube well.  Since Moriam and other families in her group were hardcore poor, it was really difficult for them to manage part of their community contribution but still then they managed the contribution to fulfill their dream of a deep-set tube-well.    

Unfortunately, in the mid-way the dream of Moriam Bewa was about to lose being their group’s name was excluded from the final list of tube well by some influential members of the VDC. The VDC when sending the final list of groups to SDF for approval of tube well they dropped the name of Moriam’s group along with other four groups. Since Moriom Bewa and other members in her group are from lower strata so they wouldn’t have any voice to protest against the decision of VDC.   

When that was the situation, the Jamalpur PMA team visited the Narkeli village as per their regular visit plan and came to inform about the matter from Moriam Bewa. She informed the PMA team that the VDC unduly excluded her group’s name from the list. The group with the leadership of Moriam Bewa organized and raised their voice to the VDC and other project partners to establish their right in this regard. 

To find out a solution, PMA team arises the issue in the monthly coordination meeting and described the real facts behind the issue. Hearing everything from PMA team and others, GM Program, SDF gave a decision to the VDC/PMC of Narkeli village to follow the first list they prepared where the name of Moriam Bewa’s group was included. He also asked the PAST to follow-up the matter. 

Following the decision, installation of a tube well in the home yard of Moriam Bewa was completed on 9th March 2005 – after waiting one year after submission of community contribution in March 2004. This is a day of remembrance for Moriam and other poor women in her group being one of their heart-felt dreams came to fulfil on that day through SIPP. Moriam almost burst into tears to express her joy and gratitude to SIPP for making a permanent source of safe drinking water available for poor women. She says, “I am really grateful to SDF and partner organizations for giving us entitlement to a tube well – a permanent source of safe drinking water. We expect more poor will be benefited in this way through SIPP.”