Villagers walk 24 km a day for water

• Source: Global Times
• [16:24 March 24 2010]
• Comments

 
Fifteen seniors in their 60s to 90s kneel down to beg the government to build a road to Nongtai village, Dongnan County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on March 23, 2009. As the drought ravages the southern province, the villagers have to walk up to 24 kilometers everyday to fetch water.

The drought has changed the life of people living in mountains.

In Nongtai, a village in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, most of the young people have left home to seek better lives in cities and entrust their children to their aging parents. As the drought hits the southern province, the elderly in this village have to walk 12 to 24 kilometers everyday along the rugged mountain paths to fetch water they and their families need.

There's no road connecting the minority community to the nearest water supply in the township of Lanmu. Now the seniors, in their 60s to 90s, have to spend an average of six hours on foot to get their water.

"Please, could you beg the government to build a road?" 92-year-old Huang Zhengguang said, while kneeling on the gravel path, with worn down plastic jugs in his right hand. His 14 fellow villagers also went down on their knees, everyone holding a hand-made cane, to support them along their arduous journey.

Since November, Huang began to shuttle between his home and Lanmu to complete his daily errand. In his 90s, his eyesight and limbs are weak. "At most, I can carry 30 jin (15 kilograms) of water," he said. When his grandsons came back home on the weekends, Huang even dared not to use the water to wash his face.

"The 12 km long path is too long for me," he lamented.

The path Huang walks everyday is the only way to get water in Lanmu, where water is transported by trucks to quench the thirst of drought-affected villagers. More than 450 seniors walk along the rough path to get water.

Those who live further than Nongtai village have to walk up to 24 kilometers, carrying 50 jin (25 kilograms) of water on their bent backs. There are no shops or restaurants along the route. They usually wrap some rice with mulberry leaves before leaving, and eat it when they feel hungry. Often, the rice gets cold.

"Sometimes, we do laundry once a month at home," said 82-year-old Huang Zhenggui with a sigh.

"I am afraid I may die on the road," said Chen Tingxiang, 66, who suffers from heart disease.

The long-anticipated road

"We just hope the government finishes building the road as soon as possible," said Huang.

As early as 2005, the Nongtai village committee promised to build a road within one year with government subsidies and over 40,000 yuan collected from the villagers, said one of the villagers. But five years later, the road is still unfinished.

The villagers also reported the problem to the Lanmu township government, but the officials there said the village committee signed an agreement with some contractors and it was not within the responsibility of the government. The villagers showed their fundraising receipts and the appeal document with villagers' fingerprints on it.

If there wasn't a drought, the old wouldn't complain so much, said Huang Dahong, a Nongtai villager.

"We don't want to die of thirst in the village. But we are too old to continue fetching water like this," the villagers complained.