This December my village had a visit from several representatives from Mountain View Church, Denver, members of which helped raise funds for a water project in the village just below mine. This post is dedicated to them.
A little background on water projects in Nepal-- although water is an
abundant resource here, it isn't always where it is needed.
Traditionally, women would often (and in many places still do) spend 5
hours or so each day carrying just enough water to meet household needs. With the acquisition of water being so labor intensive, rural communities have very little chance of developing beyond subsistence levels.
Through these water projects, water is pumped from the source into a
tank that distributes water to taps located throughout the village.
It's not indoor plumbing by any means (taps are typically shared and
water only runs for a few hours each day), but it's enough to
significantly reduce the work load of women, allow for commercial
agriculture and other income generation activities, and improve overall
health.
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| The ceremonial opening of the water taps. |
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| As far as Nepali programs go, this one was rather short and interesting... for those who had a clue what was going on. For the rest of us, listening to speeches for hour after hour in a foreign language, roasting in the sun, can be less fun. |
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| You can't really tell, but that's the water tank. |
In addition to long hours of digging trenches in the hard dry soil, our guests also helped out a lot at the local primary school.
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| Singing songs |
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| Decorating and playing with cars |
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| Painting shirts |
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| Playing sports. |
In addition to all that generosity, I was also left with a huge pile of supplies to help me as I continue to work in the community.
I play sports with the kids every day before school now and, believe it or not, we haven't lost a single ball.
On behalf of myself and my community, thank you for your great generosity.
