It’s a wonderful thing when the simple pleasure of organising a bake sale with your colleagues can lead to life-changing developments for a rural village in India. When a Christmas raffle can help give 300 villagers access to running water they can use to drink, wash, cook and clean with.  


Rasme Ozdemir, head of service delivery and responsibility at Newmarket Holidays, has been a witness to this, through the fundraising that the escorted tours operator has been doing in partnership with charity Just a Drop.

In early March, Ozdemir travelled to India, to the village of Daha in the north Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, to see first-hand how a newly installed water supply was transforming daily life for its community of around 300 residents.

“It was really emotional,” Ozdemir says. “The sheer level of gratitude, because we had simply put water taps in their households, was so humbling."

Alongside representatives from Just a Drop and Newmarket Holidays' local DMC Distinct Destinations, as well as the engineers involved in the project, Ozdemir was shown the entire infrastructure: from the primary water source to the main water tank, as well as the pipework that distributes water throughout the village, and how the system is powered by solar panels. She also visited several households to see their tap installations. 

She continues: "The project had only been completed a couple of weeks before and these people hadn’t had clean water ever. They were so proud to show us the work that had been done and it was so powerful to see how much difference access to running water had made. We take access to safe water for granted but it was a game changer for them, and will have a very real impact on their health, hygiene and education.”  

Positive impact on school attendance

“Unfortunately, in this part of the world, most of the responsibility for collecting water falls on women and girls. Now, that they don’t have to spend the time travelling to collect water, girls in Daha have time for school and the women more time for farming and agriculture and selling their produce so they can earn more disposable income. The whole structure of their family lives has been turned around. 

“Also, they’re not going to get sick from drinking contaminated water. There’s hygiene training. Younger children are learning how to wash their hands properly. Women and girls can deal with menstruation better. Now they have toilets, that will help eliminate public defecation.”  

© Newmarket Holidays

With tours spanning right across India, from the Himalayas to the southern beaches, the country is a core destination for Newmarket Holidays, and Ozdemir says it was easy for engage staff in the fundraising activities last year.    

Together with Distinct Destinations, they raised a total of £11,500, which was transferred to Just a Drop.  


“We first worked with Just a Drop in 2024 to fund a project in Nicaragua, then India and this year we are fundraising for Kenya. It’s really important to have a partner like Just a Drop, to make sure that the project is getting delivered in the most responsible way on the ground. It’s through that partnership that we’re able to support these kinds of initiatives.”

Although India was a bucket list destination for Ozdemir, she says the visit went far beyond the usual tourist experiences. During the trip, she also visited other communities that Just a Drop had been supporting longer-term.

“It was good to see what the project could look like in two years, five years, even 10 years’ time, because that’s important. We don’t want to install the water supply and say job done,” she explains.  


Community ownership is vital

Part of the project involved establishing a water committee in the village, whose members are being trained in maintenance and how to deal with technical issues. They are also responsible for the education element, teaching about the importance of hygiene. This sense of local involvement is exactly what a project like this needs to be sustainable, Ozdemir says, adding: “It was reassuring to see women evenly represented on the committee.”  


“We visited a number of households, which brought the project to life in a very practical way. The villagers live in small mud-like huts, with multi generations sleeping in the same area and most of the cooking being done outside. They were so welcoming, and they had so little. I met a lady in her 80s. She’d had four children but they had all left the village now, so she was on her own, and she’d never had access to running water. She was crying because she couldn’t thank us enough.”  

She adds: “To actually go there, and feel the difference it made in a tangible way, was incredible. It felt very different to sitting at a computer screen and reading reports about how many water taps have been installed and how many lives impacted.”    

© Newmarket Holidays

Ozdemir initially joined Newmarket Holidays in April 2023 as a project manager in the product department. Six months later, she was offered a sustainability remit, alongside customer service delivery, and a short-term role became more permanent: “I was so invested that I just wanted to carry on and do more and more. I’m heavily involved in how we operate across our destinations and how we can contribute more positively,” she explains.  


She emphasises that Newmarket is wholly committed to its journey of operating more responsibly and this India trip wasn’t a “photo opportunity” without meaningful follow-up.  


Sharing the journey

“We work in some of the world’s most amazing destinations and we benefit from their landscapes, their cultures, their communities. So as an industry, we’ve got to continuously ask ourselves, what are we giving back? Access to clean water is such a simple initiative and there is much more we can do at a local level.”  

“We really want to share this whole journey with our trade partners too. There is a section on our website, Travel for Good, which showcases the work we are doing around the world, and the work of our local partners too, and that’s handy for agents to share with their clients.”  

Alongside inspiring Newmarket staff and travel agent partners, there’s another little human who has been hugely invested in her mum’s journey to India.  


Ozdemir explains that she has a five-year-old daughter, Izel, who was very curious about why her mum was travelling to rural India and packing hundreds of stationary kits in her suitcase to give to school children: “When I explained why they needed these supplies, she was very sweet and offered me some of her own pens to take with her.”  

“So when I got to the school in Daha, I called her so she could Facetime with the children, and that was one of my most memorable moments. It really touched my heart to share that moment with my daughter. And to see the little habits she’s picked up since, like turning the tap off while she’s brushing her teeth.”