December's Work, in Pictures

Not the official way to join two pipes... but it does work

Two weeks ago I joined up with Mok and his team. Right away, I was given charge of designing a system to bring springwater up to a village. We also took trips to and stayed at a few other rural villages around Yunnan. For one, we investigated a water resource system needing replacing. At another, we evaluated the results of a past water project, and brought government officials along. Then at two others, we interviewed villagers to see if starting a biogas project would be suitable.

To write about it all that has happened on these trips would require thousands of words. I've been told that pictures are worth about that many, so today I'll use them to tell my story. The following pictures are in chronological order.

Before going out to the villages, every community development project starts with planning. For my first project I was to figure out the best way to bring springwater 100m up to a village on a mountainside that only has 2-phase power. Based on the topography and friction in the pipes, I decided to go with a two pump, two tank system. Here I am explaining it to a couple of the young guys I've been helping to train.

As you can see, their water works are in serious need of replacement. 

Makeshift repairs and rusted pipes aren't doing the trick.

Bear Grylls recommends you reach high ground to get the lay of the land and find water.
We got up there to see where exactly we would need to deliver water after pumping it from a well.

 

Corn, for feeding pics, is laid out to dry. Raising both corn and pigs require water, of which they have very little.



You'll be glad you can't see what the pet dog is eating: a wee piglet that they found dead in the pigpen during our visit. I thought this was cruel and very strange until I considered how strange it would be to them if I told them we bought our dogs food from stores, and that it comes in the form of little brown processed bits...

The groundwater here is one of the village's current drinking water sources. This hole lies in a dry creekbed in a small valley between some fields, which are fertilized with pig manure. We had to carefully explain that this hole needed a water runoff ditch around it, and that it needed to be sealed and protected. This is to prevent surface water from carrying the manure into this hole whenever it rained.

Village leaders relax by smoking local tobacco from Yunnan water bongs around some hot coals after dinner

To save some money, a truck driver shamelessly times his release of the clutch in order to literally jump each set of truck wheels over the scale at the weigh-station. I am not sure which was more surprising: that he was cheating right in front of the fare collector, or the skill with which he was actually able to accomplish this.

During an evaluation of a previously completed water project, a couple government officials speak to a local villager.

These guys carried their water bongs around and smoked during our entire evaluation walk.

Funny looking cow

A tap installed on a previous project with the first date with water carved into the cement.
I am told they were very excited that day and pooled their money together and bought two goats for the NGO.

Government official got his fancy leather shoes muddy.
Not sure why he wore those on a trip like this, where all the roads are mud.

Meeting with local officials to agree on shared funding of our planned water/sanitation/biogas project

A village home already using biogas to power their stove and light. We surveyed many other villages and selected one for our project. Using biogas (methane) produced by human and pig manure in an underground tank eliminates the need to purchase gas and electricity. Also it saves time - villagers we surveyed spend about 2 hours each day collecting firewood. It also conserves water. Considering the village we selected has not a single latrine, no electricity, and no water, I would say this is quite a step up.



In the village of DaNaiYi, all water has to be hauled in daily from a neighboring village a few kilometers away.
The village leader put up his own money to try and drill a small well.

 

But the village sits on a lot of rock... 45 meters, and counting.

So our plan is to broker an agreement with their neighbors to have water piped in from their source. Fortune has it that a man working with us is from there, and say the relationship between the two villages is good. Their sons and daughters are often married into the other village, or one village will freely give fertilizer when the other runs out.




Fields of crops

 

Rice terraces



Mok, addresing a gathering of villagers to survey their interest and needs - long term, sustainable community development requires local labor and involvement at every stage. It starts with interest and needs.

We were invited inside to talk and stay warm



A gathering of women, young and old. I think they choose bright colors to wear because everything else around them is just dirty gray or brown. I like it. I also liked how the people in this village gathered in groups. They were welcoming and easy to address as a group. This was the poorest village we went to, and we didn't see this behavior in any other.



To gauge their needs, I asked this group of men the question "What is the most challenging part about your daily lives?" After some silent thinking, one man said "That we have nothing." There was an awkward pause and I felt embarrassed at my own question, and everyone felt the distance between our two worlds. Then another man got more specific and said "First we need water." So we discussed how we aught to solve this.



Our SUV got stuck in the mud while driving up to a village.



So we caught a ride with this more powerful police truck





The driver drove through the mud with a fierce determination. He complained the entire time but I could tell he enjoyed it. He repeatedly made fun of Mok's SUV for getting stuck.



Like most village houses, this one was guarded by a mean barking dog



More than once I had the feeling I had time-travelled back to the Middle Ages. Think about it - mud everywhere, no bathing, no running water, no electricity, cows and chickens wandering around everywhere...



"Hey baby - wake up!"

Baby: "Huh?"

"What do you think about BioGas? You can use your own
poop gas to power stoves, light homes, create fertilizer, and more!"

Baby: "Hmmm..."

"Sweet"

Stay tuned - I will write about my feelings, observations, and thoughts from this trip in the next post.

Update 01/11/2011 - I totally did not write about my feelings, observations, or thoughts in my next post because I've become a major slacker with blogging, regretfully. It will not go missed, however, but rather delayed for a future post.