Cadie Olsen, a Lifewater board member and Volunteer Trainer, is the principal hydrologist of Trinity Restoration Consulting in Truckee, California. She has worked with Lifewater since 2003. We asked Cadie to share highlights of her recent Lifewater trip to China.

What was the purpose of your trip to China?
We went to provide deeper technical training and support to a partner with whom we’ve been working for several years. The organization is cultivating the skills of four native Tibetan men so they will be able to start a well drilling business. The business will begin by providing safe drinking water to schools for children of nomadic herders. As the men’s technical skills and business opportunities develop, the hope is that they will grow into a self-sustaining drilling business for rural areas.

Where did you do the training?
The participatory learning and discussion portion of the training took place in an office building in a little industrial town of about one million people. But the best part—learning by doing—took place at the drilling location: a rural school.

Describe the school where you did the drilling.
Crossing a grassy plateau, snow covered mountains graced the distant horizon. Cresting a small rise, we caught sight of the school grounds—impossibly small on the vast plateau. The school was just a few cinder block classrooms that double as dorms surrounded by a cinder block wall. At the center of the enclosure was a flag pole and a small dirt assembly area.

Approximately 200 Tibetan nomad children call this school home for ten of the warmest months of the year. They are the fortunate ones who will learn to read and write. Even in July, frost covers the ground in the mornings. The classrooms are effectively heated by the only burnable fuel in sight: yak dung.

What were the needs there?
The water supply for the school was an open, hand-dug well providing 1,200 liters of water per day for all the kids, administrators, and teachers. That was enough for cooking and drinking, but not enough for washing, bathing, or maintaining sanitary conditions.

Describe some of your interactions with the school kids.
The kids and teachers enjoyed the novelty of having such big, noisy equipment right where they lined up for meals. But I don’t think they really knew what was going to happen until our team showed them plans depicting a bucket and a pump. At that moment they all began racing around wildly, pantomiming washing their faces, scrubbing their hands, and sipping imaginary cups of water while smacking their lips in satisfaction.

What were your Tibetan colleagues like?
The Tibetan men we worked with are very creative and resourceful. They know how to incorporate fun into their regular work. For example, they had prepared a special comic book for the children to teach the important lessons in sanitation and hygiene. The books were beautifully written and illustrated in the Tibetan language with funny pictures and a talking yak. The men captured the children’s imaginations with games and jokes.

What was the most encouraging thing about the trip?
The recognition of the effectiveness of forging mutually supportive relationships around the world. I experienced personally the power and excitement of working side by side with strong, committed people from the other side of the globe.

How did your trip make you feel about Lifewater’s work in general?
It was a perfect example of Lifewater’s strategy of working with a strong local action agency to come alongside native people to empower them in developing a service to their own people.