There was much to cheer about in Kg Ulu Gumum in March 2018, thanks to our funders and volunteers.
The village was plagued with not having safe drinking water for months. But with the funds provided by Vivastar Rotary Club and Rosche, we saw the fruition of the long awaited water project in the third week of March!
A committed technical team and volunteers from Vivastar worked tirelessly for four weeks, assisted gotong royong style by the orang asli, to develop a water piped system for the village.
The project, led by Dr Hector, was a technical marvel! All he needed were a water spring (located on a hill 3 km away from the village with a stretch of forest in between), HDPE pipes, a water tank erected on a high metal tower, and a filter with activated carbon. The entire village now enjoys safe drinking water from five collection points.
The villagers also enjoyed health-checks from Dr Hector (a retired army doctor) in one of the weeks he stayed over at the village.
For two nights, there were long queues for the health checks. Many of the Orang Asli suffer from high blood pressure and skin issues, with some at the upper threshold limits. Most of their health issues are diet-related, mainly due to a high intake of oil, salt and sugar.
