Stories: Children, Community, Future

“It is very cold but I can boil a big pot of water for my family to have a bath. As you can see, we are building a house after almost 30 years living in this wooden cottage on stilts. We also need a lot of water for the construction work, but now it is available right here, we don’t have to travel anywhere to get it,” says Luoc.

Luoc, aged 63, lives in Ha Vi with her three children and their families. “We’ve been living in this area for a long time. Things were much different back then. We used to get water from a well in the backyard for our daily use, but it was mostly cloudy and sometimes, during the dry seasons, we did not often have enough water to use.

“Then ChildFund came in 2005, and we were supported to get water from a source deep under the ground, about one kilometre away from my home. All the households in this village agreed to construct the water supply system. We were given the materials to build the pipes and a pumping station by ChildFund.

Construction a house requires a lot of water but Luoc family has it in hand.

“Also, a group of men were trained to maintain and fix the system. Since then, we haven’t had to worry about water for our daily activities,” adds Luoc.

Annually, each household pays a $USD6 fee to maintain the water system. With a clear management process that includes involvement from the local community, beginning at the construction process and system management later on, the new water supply is able to provide clean water for 63 households in the village.

Tung, a member of village water management board, does the system check regularly

“One of the important things I noticed since having this water pipe is that we are confident our children can grow up healthy, and that we save a lot more time and energy with water provided at home. This water helps our farming as well. I always have pigs in the pen and we need quite a lot of water to raise these pigs, from preparing food to bathing them. They are now providing the main income for my family,” says Luoc.

“One of the important things I noticed since having this water pipe is that we are confident our children can grow up healthy, and that we save a lot more time and energy with water provided at home.” Luoc said

At the end of June 2017, 89% of households in ChildFund’s project area in Ha Vi have had year round access to improved affordable water.