Within a year, our collective effort has transformed two remote villages of Ca Mau and Vinh Long Province, Vietnam. There are 250 families now have clean potable water. It may not sound like much to us, but it's essential to their existence. The Living Water Project (click here) was a massive undertaking and the result was nothing short of amazing.
Our work, however, is perhaps just beginning. We're witnessing more villagers in remote regions with no direct access to clean drinking water and sanitation. We can imaging the morbid consequences of this dire situation.
While The Spices Of Life was working on the water project in Ca Mau, the people from a nearby village desperately came asking for a community water well. We couldn't promise them anything at that time because we only had enough funding for the initial project. It was heartbroken to see their stress and anxiety, but we didn't want to promise and not deliver. Now that we have accomplished Living Water Project #1, we have learned a great deal from our initial experience that we can extend this work to build additional wells.
This month, anh Ba - our unofficial ambassador of good will - took a couple trips to the remote village of Hop Tac Xa, Ca Mau Province to understand their needs and concerns, research the region, and pull together the logistics.
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| anh Ba taking a boat ride to cross the river |
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| anh Ba visiting the villagers |
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| having a meeting with the villagers |
This village is located in the Cai Nuoc District of Ca Mau. Here, most of the children can't afford to attend school, there's no electricity and clean water is scarce. Due to saltwater intrusion, they rely on rain water to survive. When they run out of rain water, they have to travel far across the river to trade or buy clean water and not everyone can afford it. In the past, a few charities came here with the intention of building a community water well but they couldn't see themselves going through the laborious yet important process of locating the well site, researching the appropriate depth and transporting the building supplies from the mainland to the village to accomplish the project.
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| Ca Mau is surrounded by sea on 3 sides |
So here's where we come in. There is a nearby temple that sits on a piece of land where a well can be built. The temple has an existing well but one that was not dug deep enough to supply both the temple and the nearby village. The temple has graciously agreed for The Spices Of Life to build one community water well system on their land to serve 30 remote families. The difficulty lies in the fact that the water table is quite low which means we have to dig very deep to depths of 280-300 meters - up to 900 feet - to access potable water.
The estimated total cost for the water well system is $7000. This includes the powerful motor/pumper, a 2000 liters tank, a 6-meter high platform to house the tank, and large main pipes - 1,200 meters long - that are installed underground along the path right in front of the villagers' houses. These pipes alone costs about $2000. The water will be pumped automatically, continuously to the tank when the water in the tank becomes low. Each household will then need to connect to the main pipe to access the water. We will also install a meter for each house to measure consumption and ensure that no one family is overusing the supply.
Above is a video clip of anh Ba and the well builder measuring the length of the main pipe.
Above is a video clip of anh Ba and the well builder measuring the length of the main pipe.
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| our 6-meter high platform to house the tank will look similar to this |
The estimated time for completing this project is one month if weather permits and things go smoothly according to our plans. I am hopeful that we will obtain the funding by the end of July so that we can break ground on the 1st of August.
Anh Ba will be spending his time at this village of Hop Tac Xa to work with the water well builder to ensure that things go as planned and that the villagers get the quality building materials for the community water well system.
Below is a list of our estimated cost and current funding:
Estimated Cost: $7000
Our Current Funding:
Tony and Kayla - Portland, OR: $4000
Quyen Pham - Happy Valley, OR: $2100
Tuan Nguyen: $200
Tran Tran - San Jose, CA: $100
Linh Nguyen, Australia: $100
Nguyen M: $100
Kristine Oclarino - Elk Grove, CA: $300
Thuyet Ziyalan - El Dorado Hills, CA: $100
Anh Do: $100
Amy Nguyen: $100
Duyen Tang - Elk Grove, CA: $100
Tonhi - Elk Grove, CA: $500
Thao Vo Family - $50
TOTAL Current Funding: $7850
Tuan Nguyen: $200
Tran Tran - San Jose, CA: $100
Linh Nguyen, Australia: $100
Nguyen M: $100
Kristine Oclarino - Elk Grove, CA: $300
Thuyet Ziyalan - El Dorado Hills, CA: $100
Anh Do: $100
Amy Nguyen: $100
Duyen Tang - Elk Grove, CA: $100
Tonhi - Elk Grove, CA: $500
Thao Vo Family - $50
TOTAL Current Funding: $7850
You can send your contribution via Paypal. If you use a smartphone, it will take you to a mobile version, scroll down and click on "view web version". You will see the DONATION button on the next screen at the far right column.
Please send me a message if you would like to send your contribution via check.
Please send me a message if you would like to send your contribution via check.
I'm grateful for each and everyone of our readers, their families, and friends who have partake in this work and whose donations will provide a source of living water and thereby hope and life. Thank you!
