Boy from Taze Naher

Posted by Sojourner (Aqcha, Afghanistan) on 2 September 2007 in People & Portrait.

Sorry for the long absence, it's taking us a while to get settled back in!
A boy from the vilage of Taze Naher, the first village where we drilled a deep well. We went all the way to 200 meters with a simple percussion drilling rig, but sadly only found salty water. We knew we were drilling in a 'risk' area, but wanted to try anyway. We're now looking into alternatives like an underground water storage basin to collect water from surface hand dug canals. Taze Naher means 'New Ditch' in Turkmen. As far as the boy in the picture is concerned, it wasn't easy to gain his trust for a picture. I think he is a good representative for the people of this village that live at the edge of the desert: wary, a little rough and often in survival mode.
If anyone would be interested in supporting our water related projects here, let me know. I promise I won't ask again. it's just that the need is great. This particular village expects 150 refugee families to come back from Pakistan soon, this will increase the demand for water sources even more.

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