YAO JIN VILLAGE, China – Picture the scene: a man lifts a heavy block into place and then wipes the sweat from his brow. He and his fellow Chinese countrymen are in a hurry as they build a wall to protect themselves from potential threat.

They worked tirelessly throughout the day lifting and digging, singing and sweating under the midday sun. This goes on and on until the wall they have built is more than 4,000 miles long. The Great Wall of China still stands today in many places, pretty impressive for a structure that was started in the 6th Century BC. The Chinese are experts at building walls.

Now to the present day: we find a group of Chinese working together to construct a wall once again. Today the villagers of Yao Jin were out in force, sweating like their countrymen did thousands of years ago; working under the hot sun.

But the “Great Wall of Yao Jin” is not there to keep out attacking Armies; it lines a trench that is designed to divert water around the village during heavy rains. Although the wall is only a few hundred feet long, it is being erected at an incredible rate.

Yesterday the cinder blocks stood in piles along the top of the trench. By this afternoon the villagers had built almost half of the wall! The speed at which these villagers work amazes me. Their dedication is so wonderful to see.

It has been a busy time for us all. We visited another village, Chai Yu. We were led there by the local relief coordination office. They asked us to go there because the village has received hardly any attention since it is difficult to access. I love places that are hard to access. Not only are they fun to get to, but once you are there the people appreciate you that much more.

It is quite a large village, 1400 people spread out over a wide area. When we arrived we spoke to the villagers about their needs. They have water but really need a shower facility. The leader said the men of the village were washing themselves using a hand pump on a well but the women want something more modest. We have asked the villagers to have a meeting and discuss a possible location for a shower facility. We will return in 2 days to see about taking things further.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Asia, China Disaster, David Darg. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.