As soon as a child is old enough to walk, he will have to fetch water with the women and other children of the village. To do this, he will use an old can of frying oil with a capacity of 5 litres.
This "Picture of the Day" shows you a young girl between ten and twelve, returning from the only water point in the village. She had to walk a few kilometres to fetch these five (5) litres of water, which is unhealthy since everyone does the laundry at this water source. This small amount of water will be used by his family, who, on average, can only use 2 to 3 litres per day per person. Location: Mata Air Payianu, Prai Paha, Nggaha Oriangu, Sumba Timur, NTT.
The jerry cans? They are essential because it is the only, or cheapest, way to fetch water from wells and distant water sources. They're also handy as they have a cap, but all here also use plastic to make a rudimentary 'seal' to make the container even more airtight, so you don't lose any water along the way. These cans are old 5-litre cooking oil cans. Once empty, people have to buy them expensively for their water needs. Some are years old and have travelled thousands of miles on the heads of these East Sumba children.
Here at Rumah Kambera, Fair Future and Kawan Baik staff have recovered quite a few ancient ones. We exchanged them for new ones, which we brought filled with water, clean and healthy with the Truck of Life.
In a few days, we will be there and collect more old jerrycans. They are true testimonies, like certain people's faces: Marked by hours of walking and exhausting work, fatigue exhaustion; these are often beautiful faces that we don't forget.
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