“Getting drinking water to households is the biggest challenge around this area. If you look around you will see water everywhere as rivers and streams. And it rains all the time in this area. But due to the difficult cliffs, it is hard to get that water to the taps. And that is where my concern lies. The little girls who go to fetch water to the river bank have to go through cliffs and slippery rocks and carrying all that weight up the hill, especially during monsoon is really dangerous. Many girls and boys, the age of my daughter have lost their lives. So all of us locals sat down and decided we needed to do something about this. We installed pipes to get the water from the source to a common tap in the village. And life has become easier. Recently, the water stopped and I hiked up to the source to see what had happened and I saw that there was a landslide which had blocked the water. I managed to clear it and the water is back in the village to everyone’s relief. And to see all the women, men and children of the village happy is what makes me happy.” (Syangla Bhote, Barun, Sankhuwasabha)