August 1999

31st August 1999

Water on Tap in Shashu Village

The Misereor-funded drinking water supply project in Shashu Village is finally nearing completion. Delays of several months were caused by poor quality piping, which needed replacing, and a partial redesign of the project. The new piping has been connected (photo right: villagers assembling piping) and all households visited by DORS this month have taps in their kitchens or courtyards. The final stages are in progress, and include: replacing faulty valves, covering one of the drinking water tanks, and connecting one additional household to the supply.

All but one of the 102 households in the two parts of this particularly remote village now have running water.

The water flow rate is adequate to meet the needs of Shashu villagers. The people we visited found having water available in their houses much more convenient than making the winter journey to fetch water from mountain gullies in heavy wooden back buckets. The people of hamlets 1,2 and 3 are also using the piped water for generating electricity with their micro-hydro power generators, providing enough power for domestic lighting and some television sets.

Web Page Update

Photos of Banyang Village in 1939 - By chance we heard that anthropologist Isabel Crook had made a trip to Hanyuan County in 1939. Isabel stayed for three months in Zhaohemiao, which is present day Banyang Village Hamlet 3. The fascinating description of an Yi Minority Village in 1939 compiled from Isabel's photos and notes from the time can be found in the Webpage Photos section. We took the photos to Zhaohemiao and showed them to the present day villagers. None of the people Isabel photographed are living in the village today, but we did meet people who recognised their relatives and friends. We are very grateful to Isabel for sharing her experiences with us.

Chinese Versions of the DORS Monthly Newsletters - are now available on the Webpage, and will be updated monthly.

Funding News

The Allachy Trust has made a donation to DORS of 5,000 GBP for a village water supply project in Hanyuan. This is the second donation DORS has received from the Allachy Trust. We are very grateful for the donation, which will enable us to assist another village in designing and building their own drinking water supply.