Teke Village, Ganluo 2001-2004

Teke Village is situated a 40-minute drive away from the county seat (approximately 20 minutes of which is along the paved road towards Hanyuan). The village is not on the road but visible from the road across a steep river valley. The walk to hamlet 2 is 1.5 hours, and hamlet 1 is another 20 minutes further on. There is also another path leading from the road to hamlet 1, which is even steeper and not recommended by the accompanying government officials for safety reasons. The village is on a very steep hillside of approx. 30 degrees at an elevation of about 1500m. The households are in 2-3 strung-out clusters for each hamlet.

The initial visit to Teke Village was made on 12th March 2002, where basic facts about the village were collected, concerning geography, demographics, income, infrastructure, access to markets, land and agriculture, livestock, education, survival strategies, and so on.

A previous water system existed in Teke and both hamlets had their own water sources: Hamlet 1 had a natural well near to the school from which people carried water to their homes, although the village is situated on a steep mountainside, so this was an arduous task. The upper households of Hamlet 1 had a piped water supply from a source high up in the mountains, but the piping was old and disintegrating. They were coping by turning the holes in the burst piping skyward, to mitigate water losses. This source runs dry in the dry months, when these people had to use the well near the school.

Hamlet 2 had piped water from 4800m up the hillside leading to a 30m3 tank. This system was built in 1992 with a 20,000 RMB contribution from the township and the villagers putting in the rest. The households were not connected directly but there were several tap stands and broken pipes. There were 5 locations in this hamlet where water was collected. These water out-takes were just open pipes with no taps or basins; they were constantly open, letting water run down the hillside. The runoff from this was causing gully erosion. The pipe was in need of repair in the section from the reservoir tank down to the households. There were water shortages in this hamlet, particularly in the winter when the pipes would freeze. The small cluster of houses to the right of hamlet 2 did not have piped water. They collected water from a nearby source.

The water supply system was constructed over a four-month period. The contract was signed on 31st October 2002, and all households were connected by 17th February 2003. However, there were many problems with the water supply system, and many subsequent visits had to be made.

The total cost of the project was 101,085.18 RMB, of which the villagers contributed 3,480 RMB and DORS contributed 96,245.18 RMB, plus engineer fees of 1000 RMB. The water supply system serves a population of 724 in 187 households. It was completed in March 2003. This project was part of the Kadoorie Integrated Community Development Programme.

Photo: Woman digging water pipes trench with a baby onboard

Most of these project components were funded by Kadoorie Foundation 2001-2004.