Clean Drinking Water

 Win San and Saya Htay spent about two days in their taxi coming to fetch and take me after my late arrival in Yangon! They drove from Mandalay to Nyaung Pin Zauk: five hours covering 274 miles, then Nyaung Pin Zauk to Yangon: eight hours covering 488 miles. Saya Htay’s brother, U Aung Win, who is Headman of the village, travelled with them and as the hours of driving slowly ticked away we had plenty of time to talk. Suddenly, with no hint of its huge importance, Win San asked me if I would like to know a secret! Would I? Of course I would. And I could hardly believe the fantastic news that followed.

U Aung Win was elected, democratically, three years ago by the villagers. He is known to have vision, be able to organize and achieve the villagers’ desired results. And so it would seem.

The village now has clean drinking water.

There is still much to do and to buy, but the women will not have to walk two kilometres with pots of water on their head throughout the hot season. This is wonderful as it is 42 degrees here now.

Sue Winn, the village that abuts Nyaung Pin Zauk has diesel oil so they are rich by comparison. They gave money and expertise in terms of which generator, pump, piping and other equipment to choose and purchase.

U Aung Win requested his villagers put in some of the money they got from selling their produce: peanuts, beans, rice and jaggery: about 30,000 kyat ($30) from each family. If they could not give this, then 10,000 kyat or whatever they could afford. He asked the men, women and children to give their time and strength to make it happen. Around the spring that never runs dry they built a wall. The men hammered rocks out of a cliff, then hammered until they were the size the women could carry to the spring where other men cemented them together. Through the wall they poked the pipe that runs into a locked shed containing the engineering equipment and they laid the pipe for the kilometre to the village. Even Saya Htay helped to dig the trench!

U Aung Win had many meetings with not only his villagers but with several villages around requesting their help with funding and work with the understanding that if he could get water to Nyaung Pin Zauk they could share it.

A water storage tank in the village is now needed and pipes to everyone’s house remains to be achieved. I have asked U Aung Win to please get a quotation as to what the cost will be and I will do my best to get funding. Not having the water storage tank and individual pipes yet does not detract from the wonderful feeling of happiness that everyone now has and I will experience tomorrow when I go to Nyaung Pin Zauk.