Global Research Assembly

Chicago

July 1979

At the beginning of the E1 Bayad Human Development Project the community indicated that the three top priorities were: water, electricity and bilharzia treatment.

At that time, the only source of water for the village was the Nile River or the irrigation canal. Because the canal is closer than the river, most women drew water there. The canal is used also for bathing the water buffalo and the people, for laundry, and for watering camels, donkeys, goats, sheep, and cows. In addition to the massive pollution from these sources, the slow moving water in the canal provides an excellent residence for snails which host the bilharzia eggs which are released as worms into the water. The worms, then, penetrate the skin and enter the blood stream of anyone who sets foot into the water. A longer walk to the river meant only a reduction of the amount of pollution and bilharzia worms ­­ not the elimination of hazard.

A single bilharzia worm in the blood stream will produce thousands of eggs a day. The accumulation of eggs gathers to block blood vessels in the liver or kidneys gradually causing the deterioration of those organs. Reduced vitality is the immediate and ongoing symptom; death is the long term effect.

Other health problems of major proportion in Bayad were malnutrition and dysentery, and a variety of debilitating parasites.

Today El Bayad has probably the finest water system of any village in Egypt. It includes four wells, each 11 to 13 meters deep, located near the Nile, but far enough to allow for a fine natural filtration. Bi­weekly testing over a period of two and one­half years has confirmed a pure supply of well water, requiring no additive treatment. The first two wells were dug by village men in the face of ridicule for trying to dc what centuries if experience proved was impossible. The others were dug recently by the Government Housing Department. On work days village people laid a kilometer of pipe up to the base of the water tower which village builders­ had constructed of locally quarried limestone. On top of the tower rests a steel tank which was contributed by public sector companies in Cairo. The inkinding skill of two village men who are ICA auxiliary members ­­ and who are at this Assembly ­­ made this gift possible.

Each of the six stakes has its own water site equipped with two taps. The men of the Public Work Corps built the pumphouse and installed the diesel engine and pump, with a back­up gasoline engine. They maintain the system in all of its parts and understand their job is not a matter of "hours of work" but responsibility to see that the village is never without water. The tank bears the village symbol, beside which is the inscription: "Water is life for the people of Bayad." Recently a team of experts who were doing an analysis of water systems throughout Egypt visited the village. The Bayed water system elicited their uninhibited excitement as well as a financial contribution to the project from their company. Bayad is saying to the world that water is a basic human right, and that there is no good reason why any community in the world cannot have it.

Today Bayad has a functioning toilet/shower facility of excellent quality. It demonstrates for all urban skeptics that village people do want privacy and sanitation. The presence of that facility in Stake 5 has catalyzed the construction of similar units in the other stakes.

Water and sanitation facilities are two keys to breaking the bilharzia cycle. Once people understand the disease, its cause and treatment possibilities they can work to free themselves from the half­health condition which has burdened them for centuries. A testing and treatment campaign begun in early 1978 included preschool children who marched in uniform throughout the village shouting, "Bilharzia ma fish ­­kaloss!" ("Bilharzia is not more, it's finished!") Seventy people convened in the plaza and, in a period of one and one­half hours, knocked on every door instructing residents: 1) to get tested, 2) to get treated, and 1) to stay out of the canal. The village leadership worked carefully with the government testing team to allow them to see that the village did want their services once residents could understand why these strange people wanted them to fill a bottle with urine. In the midst of many obstacles, 80% of the residents were tested. Of these, 80% tested positive. A regular program of testing and treatment now confirms an incidence of only 30%. A practical way to break the cycle for the farmers who must stand in flooded fields, and an intensified program of education are now all that is required to brine that figure down to 0.

Today Bayad has electricity. At the beginning Consult the Government took responsibility for that program and successfully accomplished installation in early 1979 after great frustration in securing the underwater cable against the strong Nile River current. One week following installation a village family opened a teahouse complete with two television sets'

Today Bayad has a community kitchen run by village women. It distributes 150 nutritious meals a day to infants, children and elders. Cases of infant malnutrition has decreased from 80 to 24, most of whom are those new to the program. This represents increased trust on the part of families who were initially reluctant to participate. In other words, the initial 80 were those brought to the kitchen ­­ not the total of those in need. Some 50 elders come daily to the elders' dining room and purchase a nutritious corporate meal served on Hilton china (an inkind contribution).

Today Bayed has a dental clinic. A dentist from Beni Suef comes every Friday. Initially he spent his time pulling teeth; now he provides a full program of care. He charges a small fee which provides funds for the purchase of equipment to establish a clinic that could become an ongoing structure for the community in the future"

We have learned a number of important things this past year:

1. The stake structure is key to comprehensive care. We have been saying that for years. Bayed is demonstrating that truth in a profound way. Street cleaning, toilet building, health care availability, an understanding of corporateness as a practical life dynamic ­­ all these aspects of local care cannot happen in any other way.

2. Objective data allows people in any community to deal with their real situation. People without access to data are bound to appear ignorant and non­caring. Objective data invites an objective response.

3. Village initiative and engagement is only part of the solution to local contradictions. Regional health and service structures must also be involved in the renewal effort, and every regional agency has people ready to lead in a human response when they see the local initiative.

4. A very large percentage of the world's 85% are living with half­health as if they had a permanent case of the flu. That fact is not only a social problem, but is a gigantic economic concern, for it seriously reduces production capacity. People in the economic sector are sensitive to that and are open to participating in any authentic scheme to resolve the situation