Last Sunday saw another long tuk-tuk ride into
the countryside, this time with Marianne and Narong to see the work being done
by their Water of Hope Association. We headed out to an area near the West Baray , close to the Angkor Wat complex, firstly on the new Korean-built Ring Road , then on dirt
roads, but nowhere near as bumpy or dancing as the previous day.
At our first stop a new well was being dug, by
hand, simply by twisting and turning a thin metal pole into the ground, with
water blasting through the hollow metal pole to help with the digging process.
More metal poles were added the further down they dug. These poles would
eventually be replaced with blue plastic tubes and connected to a hand-operated
pump – providing they found a clean water source in their hole. There was no
fancy testing equipment for the ground or the water quality – it was partly
reliant on the skill of the engineer who guided the digging and partly on luck,
though they were digging very close to the family’s previous water source, a
well.
It was a very primitive well – more a large round
hole in the ground. The earth wasn’t lined with anything, the water quality
looked poor, and there was nothing to stop people or wildlife from falling in
and contaminating the water. In fact, it had several frogs living in it, so was
already contaminated by their presence!
The recipients of this new water pump are a newly
married husband and wife living in a simple one-room hut made of wood and palm
fronds. The husband was out doing some agricultural labouring work to earn
money to feed them. The wife, who looked in her late teens, was cooking over a
simple wood fire.
They had a rooster and a couple of chooks, with
chicks, so may have had a few eggs to eat, but they exist primarily on rice and
vegetables, and things they might find through foraging, like the frogs and
various insects. In the season, they would grow rice on their small, perhaps
quarter-acre section, but the season is now over so their plot was dry and
barren, except for a few plants that looked like squash or marrow.
Water will mean they can grow more during the dry
season, but they also need seeds and manure, and some instruction in
sustainable agriculture would not go amiss. These are all things the Water of
Hope Association plan for the future.
The family also had three dogs, two of them
puppies, all in pathetic condition – thin and stumbling and lacking energy. I
actually thought the smallest puppy was dead when I first saw it. The woman fed
these animals on cooked rice while we were there, not something that will
sustain them long term but, as the family themselves probably eat meat only
rarely, there seems no hope for improvement in the dogs’ diet.
Neighbouring women and their kids came over to
see what was happening and we got some good photos of them, probably the first
time they’d ever been photographed!
The second place we visited was a success story.
The pump had been installed in December 2012 and the two little huts were
surrounded by small plots of the bright green shoots of various vegetables:
corn, beans and morning glory. The benefits of the water were plainly visible
and the young man who came out to pump the water for our photos grinned widely,
obviously pleased and proud of his new tool!
We had one more stop, just along the road from
the second. Their pump had also been installed quite recently and two women were
using the water when we arrived, but there was little evidence of its being used
for anything agricultural, even though the family had a reasonable sized plot
for cultivation. This is where the agricultural advice would be beneficial, as
well as seeds to plant. The only food we saw was a metal basin full of small
live crabs that probably came from the roadside ditch full of water, and the
ubiquitous bag of rice.
Water of Hope needs help. It costs just US$350 to
fund a new well and water pump for a family, a pump that can and does change
and save lives. You can find more details about the Water of Hope Association on their Facebook page. Even if you can’t
afford a well, a small donation will still buy seeds, and help bring the
poverty-stricken of Cambodia
the assistance they desperately need.
Wow! I love seeing their faces painted with smiles. They look so happy. :)- www.waterblast.pro
ReplyDeleteThanks, Krista. These wells and water pumps make such a huge difference in the lives of these people. It's wonderful to see their smiles and to see what they can achieve with just a little help. Perhaps your organisation would like to build a well for another deserving family? We can make sure you get lots of thanks and photos for your website and for publicity.
Delete