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By far the greatest problem here is the extreme difficulty in obtaining water. There are only two natural clean water sources in this whole area, and in the six-month dry season
60-70% of the population relies on very dirty lakes or water holes. Many of the villagers still
walk several kilometres each way to fetch water from these sources. Some of the most
remote still use only the tiny amount of water that collects in the bole of a banana tree stump
for all of their drinking and cooking water. |
Most hamlets have no rainwater storage tanks and can fill only buckets and jerry-cans in the rainy season. They thus have no water stored for the dry season and have to fetch it from far away. Water can be purchased from water tanker trucks which ply the area in the dry season, but these trucks will not stop just to fill buckets, preferring to empty their tank all at one time.
In these villages children spend hours each day when they should be in school, carrying water for their families. All of this water is used for drinking and cooking. Many of the young children in these villages are filthy throughout the dry season. Working with group of 5 to 10 families, we provide non-local materials such as cement and iron bars for them to build their own community water tanks. The people supply the local stone for building as well as all the labour, in a real community effort.
The tanks fill up quickly in the rainy season and can also be filled during the dry season by the water tank trucks.
This water tank program was first started in 2002 and has been over-subscribed ever since. As of the end of 2010, we have built 266 rainwater catchment tanks. We always have a waiting list of villages requesting tanks, which we try to satisfy on a most-needed basis. This program has already covered the need in our core communities and has moved out to other areas far from a water source.
- Safe Drinking Water |
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None of the water available on Sumba is safe to drink without being treated. The usual method is to boil the water over wood fires, which takes a burdensome amount of time to collect, as well as depleting the remaining forests. Many children, and even adults, drink the water without boiling it first, which leads quickly to diarrhea, stomach problems and even dysentery. |
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Before & After filtering |
With funding and tremendous support from Safe Water and Health, a Dutch charitable organization, we are providing ways for the local people to obtain affordable safe drinking water without boiling it. These use ceramic filters which SaWaH supplies us from a Brazilian manufacturer. These filters have been used all over the world, including India and Aceh, and turn dirty water into safe drinking water. |
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| - Sanitation |
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About 97% of the villagers in West Sumba have no toilets and relieve themselves in the fields behind their huts causing diarrhea and spreading disease among children and vulnerable old people. As a result of our discussions with the villagers concerning health, they have developed a great desire to have their first-ever toilets. In 2006 we helped the first groups of villages to build one toilet for each household. |
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The families provided all the local materials and all the labor and received help from us to buy cement and pipes. These first toilets proved a great example for the villages around them and we receive weekly requests for help building toilets from new villages.
If there is no water in the village we build composting toilets which require no water, but use sawdust and other quickly-decomposing materials to turn the waste into clean compost for use in the fields and kitchen gardens.
In the ensuing years, with funding from the Rotary Club of Dronten, Netherlands and The St. Patrick's Society in Jakarta we have extended the program to 38 villages.
The Sunset Rotary Club of Ubud, Bali, The Seaside Rotary Club in Oregon and other D5100 Clubs have helped us to build water tanks and toilets in many more impoverished villages. In 2010 14 French students from Solidari'Terre, a humanitarian association of students of Ecole Centrale de Lyon and EMLYON Business School, came to Sumba for a full month and helped villagers to build water tanks with funds that the members of Solidari'Terre had raised. They are planning to do the same in 2011.
- Looking Forward
These life-changing transformations occur only through the help of our donors, and working together with you, the villagers and YHS are planning to continue all these programs in 2010 and beyond:
Water Tanks
Together we will continue to help communities build rainwater tanks in areas far from water. Water is by far the highest priority of the villagers and must be met before any other considerations can be undertaken. We plan to help the local people to build a further 25 to 30 tanks each year.
Safe Drinking Water
We will continue to make safe water filtering methods and make them available to the local people at affordable prices.
Sanitation
YHS and our cooperating villages will help 300 families each year to build their own simple toilet.
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