Rembu Water Project

Overview

Rembu is quite remote, it’s a good hours walk from the upper Sherpa village of Bumburi. The local people here are all farmers, they also keep pigs and they come from one of the ‘untouchable’ castes which previously would have been blacksmiths. Even now they are renowned for their blacksmithing abilities. The children go to school in Bumburi which is multi-caste (Sherpa, Rai, Gurung, Tamang, Dalit) but like so many of these villages they lack water and electricity. This project would once again provide huge benefit to the villagers who currently have to travel far to get their water, either from the streams high up in the jungle or from the river down below.

The pipeline for this village will have to be routed across nearly a kilometre of land, and it will all be put underground. The villagers will do this work themselves.

The villagers are amazingly adept at doing this work, digging trenches and making a series of holding tanks along the distance. Each tank is made of concrete and holds several hundred gallons. Each tank then feeds off to a series of pipes which go to the households. The water flow can be adjusted and certain areas prioritised if necessary.

Despite the whole area of solu Khumbu – a vast region of mountains and valleys – being serviced by a new road that snakes its way up and down many zigzags, most villages are still completely self-sufficient and the villagers live a lifestyle that has not changed much in decades. This project brings a much needed water supply which will save the villagers from many hours of toil carrying water each day, and it will transform the routine and livelihood of people here.