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Awarded to the Sambhavna
Clinic & Trust
Twenty five years ago, a Union Carbide
pesticide factory in Bhopal experienced a massive gas leak,
sending a cloud of toxic chemicals over a sleeping city. The gas
cloud killed thousands of people in one night and exposed
500,000 people to industrial poisons. Bhopal is where the world
learned what chemical terror and its aftermath looks like.
Twenty five years later, more than 120,000 suffer from health
impacts related to their chemical exposure, including thousands
of children born to survivors of that terrible disaster. The
abandoned factory site continues to leak chemical wastes into
neighborhood wells poisoning a second generation of Bhopal
residents.
The independent Sambhavna Clinic
provides free care to the survivors of the Union Carbide
chemical disaster in Bhopal, India. During the last fifteen
years, Sambhavna has offered a combination of western,
traditional Indian (ayurvedic) and yoga therapies to more than
30,000 survivors in Bhopal. At the site of what some call the
‘Hiroshima of the Chemical Industry’ – toxic-free, ecological
medicine is all the more important for health in a community of
people crippled by harmful chemicals.
The Clinic’s current building is a
green campus, complete with solar panels, non-toxic building
materials, and a one acre ayurvedic garden which produces herbal
medicines specific to the health problems of the survivors. The
45 staff members of the Sambhavna Clinic [among whom 23 are
survivors themselves] include five physicians, two yoga and two
Panchakarma therapists, and five community health workers who
carry out health surveys, health education and community
organization for better health.
The basic architectural philosophy
used in building the clinic is simple—use local materials and
techniques and incorporate local traditions and culture. The
design enables natural ventilation to cool rooms and corridors,
and the extensive concrete fretwork creates greater surface
areas to enable heat dissipation. Double-skinned walls provide
insulation and conserve energy, while strategically placed
windows and glass skylights provide plenty of natural light.
Rainwater collected on tiled roofs
during the monsoon season and stored in underground tanks
provides enough water for the summer months. Grey water from the
clinic is directed to a garden pond used to irrigate landscaping
and the medicinal garden. A 10 kw/h photovoltaic system captures
sunlight to help meet the clinic’s electricity needs. Neem
leaves are burned to create a repellant smoke in the evenings,
used in lieu of pesticides, to ward off malarial mosquitoes.
Sambhavna represents the belief that
transformation is possible, even in the most desperate of
circumstances. It speaks to the power of ordinary people to find
their own pathways of sustainable healing and community
empowerment even in the face of terrible injustice and
poisoning.
Accepting the award on behalf of
Sambhavna:
Satinath ‘Sathyu’ Sarangi, Founder and Managing Director
Satinath ‘Sathyu’ Sarangi is a
founding trustee of the Sambhavna Clinic. Mr. Sarangi is a
metallurgical engineer turned advocate, who arrived in Bhopal a
day after the disaster and stayed on to become a key figure in
the struggle for justice in Bhopal. As the founder of the Bhopal
Group for Information and Action, Sathyu has been involved with
relief, research and publication of studies on the health
impacts of the ongoing disaster on the residents of Bhopal.
More information on the Clinic is
available at www.bhopal.org.
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