{"id":1157,"date":"2013-01-22T11:34:18","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T19:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vnhelp.org\/blog\/?p=1157"},"modified":"2024-12-28T10:07:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T10:07:57","slug":"bringing-clean-water-to-pa-che","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vnhelp.org\/vi\/bringing-clean-water-to-pa-che\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing Clean Water to Pa Che"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read the Vietnamese version of this post here<\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Hop Duc Bui, a retired engineer now residing in San Jose, CA, recently co-funded a water project in Pa Che with his colleagues at the Son Nam Charitable Group and the Yahoo! Employee Foundation. He compiled this story based on project reports from Vietnam and shares it with you.<\/i><\/p>\n

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It had been a long time since we lasted visited our friends in Pa Che and shared with them a cup of corn wine, the local delicacy there. We often joke that \u201cPa Che\u201d should actually be called \u201cBa Chen,\u201d\u00b9 because if you don\u2019t drink at least 3 cups, the village elders won\u2019t let you leave. This time, we wanted to see how the clean water project was going for the villagers.<\/p>\n

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The car sped along Highway 6 in a putt-putt motion. From Hanoi to Moc Chau, it\u2019s about 199 kilometers. Beyond the car windows, herds of sheep grazed lazily on rolling green plains as deep as the steppes of Mongolia. A clear blue sky hung overhead, and the weather humored us with a temperate 20\u00b0 C, redolent of the healing climates of Da Lat\u00b2. Once we reached Moc Chau, the car turned into Pa Che\u2019s scrappy village road, about 20 kilometers long. Too entranced by the surrounding scenery, we didn\u2019t even notice when the car came to a stop and pulled into the project site.<\/p>\n

We observed the scene that followed in quiet amusement. The village\u2019s elderly Hmong women, in their colorful traditional garb, cooed softly in song while tending to their washing needs by the cistern.\u00a0 From the bathing house, the sounds of water lapping softly over cleansed skin floated out of the windows.<\/p>\n

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Ever since the water system was installed, the villagers have found new contentment, no longer needing to venture far to haul back muddy stream water. The water tank was erected next to the newly-constructed Van Ho Elementary School in Son La province\u2019s Moc Chau district. From a distance, one can see a green mountain range with white clouds dancing on the peaks, as alluring as the Mt. Hamilton range in California.\u00b3<\/p>\n

Inquiring about how clean water was being brought to the village, the purpose of our visit, we saw that the project this time included:<\/p>\n