| Introduction
My professional life as a United Nations expert and
subsequently as an International
Consulting Hydrogeologist compelled me, my wife and three
children to go around the
world more than once while working for more than 30 years
in developing countries.
When I retired I asked myself what I could still do with
my life. I was 64 and I just had
undergone a heart surgery with the implant of four
by-passes. I thought that the prospects
of my future life were quite bleak. Thanks to the
encouragement of my wife, I overtook
this fear and I could fulfil my deep desire to offer
selfless service to the poor.
My trip to India in 1989 (the third one) had given me the
inspiration on what I could do
within my experience. In that occasion I had found out
that the Adivasi, the tribal people
of India, and the rural poor, were much afflicted by
numerous water-borne diseases
caused by contaminated water. This was one of the causes
of their striking poverty
because a suffering body is unable to work, to produce,
and to be self-sufficient. Clean
water is therefore the first ring of the chain towards
better living conditions.
This consideration strongly motivated my decision and
with much enthusiasm the program
started in early 1990 in Pune District, Maharashtra,
India.
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