A weight off their shoulders

Dispatched to the borehole three times a day– first at 6am, then around noon and finally in the evening after school – wasn’t the worst bit. Nor was the precarious, half-hour journey back with 30 litres of water sloshing around on her bike. Instead, it was endless waiting that frustrated Yat.

“We had to bathe and wash our clothes at the borehole as well,” says the 13-year-old, a child who takes part in World Vision's programmes. “And by the time I arrived at my class, they [her classmates] had finished half of the first session.”

A shortage of fresh water has always proved a problem for the residents of Yat’s commune in Sot Nikum district, Siem Reap province, especially during the dry season, when long queues spilled from the borehole.

Pron Spey, the village’s 62-year-old chief, says, “It was our routine to get water far from our home. We tried searching for nearer places to get it, though.”

When Pron Spey was young, he had to carry gallons of water home in twin buckets, the wooden yoke digging into his neck and shoulders. Life became easier when locals adopted bicycles to transport water a decade ago, but not much. “We used to drink water without it being filtered or boiled,” he says, “which caused diarrhoea, digestion problems and malaria.”

Yat adds:,“It was difficult to transport water on a bike as sometimes it spilled out because of the bumpy path across the rice field. And when I got home [after bathing], I was sweaty again.”

This year, Yat is in the sixth grade. She spends her life cooking, washing the dishes and clothes, fetching water and going to school. The youngest of six children, she dreams of being a police officer, saying, “I want to arrest thieves.”

Sitting on a concrete bench, Yat takes some letters and pictures out of her schoolbag. The teenager says, “I want to show you some photos of my [World Vision] sponsor. I’m always really excited to get photos from my sponsor because I can learn about another country."

“I want to tell you [the sponsor] that I have a new well, so I’m not as tired as before. I don’t need to ride across the rice field to fetch water any more. And I’m not late for school like before.”

Through World Vision, Yat’s sponsor has sent her postcards, photos, books, pens and letters. “I’ve kept it all carefully,” the pupil says.
 
Belonging to World Vision’s local staff, Theara Vann says, “We want children to go to school regularly and get a quality education. And we want to see them have good health.”

To assist in achieving this, World Vision’s project has installed six wells in Yat’s village, which serve over 220 families.

Story by Ratana Lay