Local residents in a small town of Makueni County in Kenya queued up waiting to fetch domestic water in front of a 5,000-liter water tank on July 14, 2018.
Staff of China Communications Construction Company, working on a local railway project, supplied water to their African neighbors.
Fina, a pupil in grade two went home after school and was quite excited to see the water tank. Then she hurried home to pick up two empty buckets and ran back to join the queue for fresh water.
Staff of China Communications Construction Company supply water to local Africans
Fina’s family had been short of water for nearly a month. “Two buckets of water are enough for the whole family for one day”, Fina said happily to Chinese volunteers after she filled her buckets, “we have six family members and mum will be surprised to see so much fresh water.”
In early June, workers at the Kilimanjaro water plant started a strike after being unpaid for six months. Fina’s hometown, which relies on the water plant, was in crisis. Residents gathered on July 9 and went on a protest parade to resist water cuts, and came into conflict with the police.
Local residents queue up waiting to fetch domestic water
On July 14, residents planned to launch another protest and the entire town was in a tense atmosphere. The conflict attracted the attention of Xu Zengquan, the leader of the railway project. After negotiating with the project headquarters and Pete, the town chief, Xu decided to give the water stored for the project to local residents.
After the amount of water and delivery points were fixed, four large water tanks were sent to the town hospital, police station, and two public water stations.
The staff of local public hospital, patients, children and the elderly, as well as Pete, all waited to welcome the arrival of the Chinese water trucks. Seeing the water running out of the tank, they all cheered.
China Communications Construction Company supply water to local Africans
“Thanks to our Chinese friends -- the engineers of China Communications Construction -- for bringing the water for life, which saved our patients waiting for treatment,” said Pete.
Ivan, a twelve-year-old boy, told the Chinese volunteers that he likes math and wants to be a computer engineer and study in China.
(Executive editor: Hao Wen)
