YAO JIN VILLAGE, China - It’s the weekend but there has been no rest for the weary. Our machines have been ploughing through rubble, 10 hours per day. On Friday our excavator dug a huge trench around the backside of the village. The trench will divert water away from homes (the old trench was destroyed by the quake).

It was raining quite hard on Saturday and already I could see the benefit of the draining trench, water was flowing off the mountain and the ditch was serving its purpose well. But the trench needs to be lined with bricks or it will erode and collapse. So on Saturday I was amazed to see the villagers working on their largest clean up initiative so far. Almost every villager was out ferrying cinder blocks from collapsed homes and depositing them on the side of the trench ready for fitting.

The villagers use a type of wicker basket for daily tasks such as collecting crops from the fields; they wear it like a back pack. These wicker baskets have come in quite handy during the clean up. Villagers have used them to carry shards of wood, scrap steel, baby pigs and just about anything they can find in the rubble.

On Saturday they got inventive and all turned their baskets upside down. Then they would get loaded with a cinder block and trek across the village to the drainage ditch where they would lean to the side and dump the block into a pile. This went on hour after hour, even the older women, some in their 70’s, were involved. Some villagers were walking side by side talking and laughing, some would whistle.

It was amazing to see this all happening; the villagers of Yao Jin are so committed to getting their village back. They are all in the same boat, everyone lost their home, everyone is sleeping in temporary shelters and everyone wants their normal lives back as soon as possible. When OB came to Yao Jin we gave the villagers the head start they needed, a boost of motivation and the tools and services they needed to help themselves. Now they are doing just that, full steam ahead.

While the villagers stream steadily back and forth carrying cinder blocks, we have 5 trucks roaring in and out of the village carrying away debris. The plan is to save a certain amount of useful debris and get rid of the rest.

I am constantly astonished at how motivated the villagers are. One day we will make a decision to do some ‘back breaking’ task and the next they are doing it, en masse.

In anticipation of the “big push” of rubble, there is lots of last minute shuffling and scavenging going on. Pigs continue to be relocated, some dragged by the ear, some squealing in a basket strung between two men.

In all of this there is definitely a real sense of fun. It is as if the villagers are really enjoying the clean up. There is a lot of laughter as they work and I’m sure this disaster, however destructive, is bringing the community closer together.

This afternoon we met with the central coordination office for the humanitarian response. When we arrived, the office chief instantly recognized Operation Blessing since he had seen the TV broadcast of our ribbon cutting ceremony in Yao Jin. He told our team he was very impressed by what we have accomplished and asked if we would visit some badly hit villages that he would direct us to.

We visited Yang Yim where they have completed the latrine facility. As we continued to press on about the water issue the village leader asked us to inspect the spring and collection tank that has been producing more water during the last few days.

When we arrived at the tank the water level was higher than before, but still not what I would call a good reserve.

When we first came to the village a few weeks back we thought about piping water from this supply over to the camp, but were concerned about the amount of water in the tank, we didn’t want to drain it. But now that the water seems to be flowing better we are reconsidering.

On Monday, Mr Xu is going to work with the villagers to plan the potential route of the pipe from the spring to the village. The current estimate is we need 1,000 meters of pipe which should cost around $1000, a small price to pay to get water to a camp of 300 villagers.

Having water on site will greatly improve their hygiene and allow for them to be far more productive by saving hours of back braking water collection each day.

On Saturday, James Moo and I borrowed motorcycles from some villagers and followed the trucks to the dump site. It is the most beautiful dump in the world, framed by high bamboo covered mountains and a winding river. This is the final resting place for what is left of the villager’s homes. But there is one last scavenge before the debris is laid to rest. As the trucks pull up and dump their loads a group of people rush to grab anything of value, electrical wire, small bits of rebar etc. A group of women with hammers sit around smashing concrete off bits of metal, nothing goes to waste.

By this time next week Yao Jin should be completely clear!

Tags: China earthquake, David Darg

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