I asked the Tut-Tuk’s driver to wait on the street and followed my guide to a site where a voluntary community, Wedigwells, installs wells to provide clean water for struggling families in Chress Village, about 15 kilometers away from the famous temple complex, Angkor Wat.
We arrived at a home of a two-child family.
A little girl stood barefoot, wore dull-pink shorts, and was naked on top. Her lean hands brought a weeping girl, who embraced her shoulders. I guessed they were not over eight and two years old. She talked in Khmer with the guide.
A home that received a well from the voluntary community, Wedigwells, in Cambodia.
(Personal collection)
Close to her feet, cloth hangers were scattered on a wet, light-brown, solid ground. Two large buckets were beside a blue vertical pipe, which was installed on a cement base. Water filled a bucket with clothes inside. I wondered if she had washed the clothes.
A part-brick and part-tin walled house was behind her. The way in was open – no door or door frame. A towel and tooth brushes hung on its side. A wooden table was in the middle of the room. The room was so small that I could see a small table across from the bigger one.
I looked around, nothing but grasses and trees. The only neighbor was one bigger house – might have needed at least five minutes for her tiny legs to reach there.
“Their parents aren’t at home now,” the guide said in English.
“Are they alone?” I asked.
“Yes. Their parents just went out, and will most likely leave them alone this time.”
I looked at the girls. The older might have had to take care of her sister while doing the housework when their parents were not at home, sacrificing her childhood. No cloudy gaze in her eyes, though.
“This is the well” the guide said, walking to the blue vertical pipe.
“We installed it about six months ago.” He pointed to the writing on the cement base, 22.02.2018. He held a long wooden lever connected to the pump and pushed it down. The water discharged, filling one bucket.
“Clear, no smell.” He showed dripping water in his cupped hand. “They use it for washing clothes, drinking, and cooking.”
The older girl said something to him. Her eyes sparkled. Her teeth were visible as she grinned; both tips of her lips moved up wide.
The guide looked at me. “She said she’s happy and thanks for the well.”
There, water is precious, even more than a diamond.
Photo Credits
Photo is courtesy of the author
Guest Author Bio
Kartika Lestari
Kartika Lestari is a former academician and climate scientist who now dedicates her time to follow her passion for writing stories and poems. Her letters and poem were on the list of Writing Contests by The Unsealed. Recently, her pieces are accepted to appear in Soul-Lit and Potato Soup Journal. She has also published her work on Medium’s publications.
Blog / Website: Kartika Lestari
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