Rewarding Relationships in Kulim, Indonesia
April 11, 2016
Initial meeting with local leadership in Kulim, Indonesia
WASH training with women in Kulim, Indonesia
Technically, the project in Kulim faced challenges from the very beginning. The ground water in the area has a very high concentration of iron. Water Mission’s engineers in Indonesia addressed the issues caused by the iron content with a variety of innovative pre-treatment processes. Before the water goes through the Living Water™ Treatment System, dissolved iron is oxidized with chlorine and allowed to settle-out in a large tank. While the iron content in the ground water created a less than ideal situation for our team, their innovations resulted in extremely high water quality for the community.
Project ownership was another area in which our team faced difficulties in Kulim. Due to some initial community ownership problems, Water Mission set up a TradeWater system. In a TradeWater system, a Water Mission employee – or “TradeWater agent” – permanently runs the system instead of the community taking over operations. Local vendors buy water from Water Mission and then re-sell the water throughout Kulim and neighboring areas. Our TradeWater agent in Kulim is extremely helpful and friendly, and has been welcomed warmly into the community. He shares meals each week with local families and has developed close relationships with the people of Kulim. While the necessity of establishing a TradeWater system might have seemed problematic at first, it resulted in deeper relationships between Water Mission and the community. Once again, facing challenges led to greater rewards.
Over the past several years, Water Mission has been able to establish cooperative relationships in Kulim with the local imam, school administrators, village leaders, and the community as a whole. These relationships – which grow deeper and more meaningful as time goes on – would not likely have been possible had it not been for the challenges our team faced and the faithful dedication they demonstrated in solving each issue.
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