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Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Ruiqing
Nairobi, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — From Senegal, the “gateway to West Africa,” to Kenya on the East African savannah, from Tanzania, which produces a lot of sisal and cloves, to Rwanda, the “land of a thousand hills,” the thousands of wells dug by China in Africa are providing safe drinking water for millions of Africans, irrigating large tracts of farmland, and nourishing the hopeful African continent.
In December 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the “Ten Plans” to strengthen China-Africa cooperation at the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Over the years, China’s rural well-drilling projects in African countries have been an important measure of China-Africa cooperation.
These wells, called “wells of happiness” by local people, have changed the lives of local residents, supported local agricultural production, injected new vitality into the African people’s pursuit of a well-off life, and become a vivid portrayal of China-Africa pragmatic cooperation and common development.
In July 2018, before his state visit to Senegal, Xi Jinping published a signed article pointing out that “China and the vast majority of African countries including Senegal share weal and woe, similar historical experiences, the same development tasks, and a common pursuit of a better life.” This fully demonstrates the deep friendship between China and Africa.
In the article, Xi Jinping specifically mentioned that the rural water supply project in Senegal built with Chinese assistance will “benefit one-seventh of Senegal’s population.”
In March 2017, the Senegal Rural Well Digging Project was officially launched, covering 12 of the country’s 14 regions. Each water supply system includes a well, a water tower, a water distribution pipeline and water supply facilities, with a maximum daily water supply capacity of 80,000 cubic meters. The project has also created more than 3,000 jobs locally.
Mamadou Dieng, a 41-year-old Senegalese man, said that now almost every household in the village has access to water pipes. “This was unimaginable in the past.”
Senegal is located in West Africa, adjacent to the Sahara Desert. Most of the central and eastern parts of Senegal are semi-desert areas, with temperatures reaching up to 45 degrees Celsius in the dry season. Like many remote areas, Tenefoultoukourel Village in the Diourbel region where Dieng is located has long faced severe water shortages.
“In the past, we had to walk 1.5 kilometers every day to fetch water from a 25-meter-deep well in the neighboring village, and sometimes we had to queue from dawn to midnight,” said Dion.
In 2018, the Chinese drilling team arrived in Tenefoultukulele, and Dion joined the team as a driller. After the well was completed, Dion was hired as a coordinator to take charge of the maintenance of the well. Now, he checks the equipment in the machine room every morning and regularly climbs up the nearly 20-meter-high water tower to clean the reservoir.
“This ‘Happy Well’ has given us clean water to drink and improved our lives,” said Diang. From a well digger to a well protector, Diang has witnessed with his own eyes the tremendous changes that this well built with Chinese aid has brought to the entire village.
He hopes that “the friendship between China and Serbia will last forever” and that China-Africa cooperation will “create a bright and happy future for our children and grandchildren.”
Abdoulaye Ba, Secretary General of the Senegalese Foreign Correspondents Association, said: “I have personally visited these villages and saw that the wells built with Chinese assistance have greatly improved the local water supply and the lives of the villagers, making a significant contribution to the people’s livelihood in Senegal.” Irrigating the land, prospering and developing
On July 22, in Mahusekwa Town, Mashonaland East Province, Zimbabwe, the roar of machinery and the cheers of villagers were accompanied by the gushing of groundwater from underground. This is the first well in China’s 300-well project in Zimbabwe.
“We are very happy because we can now use clean and safe water,” said Titha Chainga, a local villager who witnessed the drilling process, adding that the well also provided a valuable source of water for irrigating farmland.
Affected by the El Niño phenomenon, southern African countries have once again suffered from severe drought this year. Zimbabwe, a major agricultural country known as the “granary of Africa”, faces severe challenges in food security.
In Mashonaland East Province, an important agricultural and livestock production area, the ongoing drought has almost driven local farmers into despair. Tatenda Chimbwanda, a vegetable farmer from Mahusekwa, said she has to walk a long way every day to fetch water for irrigating her vegetables due to water shortage.
In response to the drought, China has launched a project to drill 300 water wells in the worst-affected provinces, including Mashonaland East, Manicaland, Masvingo and the Central regions.
The work is not easy. Liu Guangcheng, leader of the site management team of the Zimbabwe post-disaster drilling project of China Geological Engineering Group Corporation, said that due to the long-term drought and reduced rainfall, groundwater resources have been severely depleted, and finding a suitable drilling location is very time-consuming. At the same time, poor road conditions and poor mobile communications in remote areas have also made construction work more difficult. However, the Chinese team has been working hard to solve this problem.
Zimbabwe’s national housing and social welfare minister, Daniel Gawe, said the wells would ease the water crisis in the four worst-affected provinces, build resilience to the current El Nino-induced drought and save livestock.
“The China-funded drilling project symbolizes the cooperation, sympathy and unwavering support of our all-weather friend, the People’s Republic of China, to ensure that all Zimbabweans have access to safe drinking water,” the minister said.
Zhou Ding, China’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, said that over the past 10 years, China has drilled more than 1,000 wells across Zimbabwe, providing drinking and irrigation water for nearly 400,000 people and creating thousands of jobs.
Zimbabwean economist Paul Musoza said that for the Zimbabwean people, China has always been a true friend, always lending a helping hand when the Zimbabwean people need it and always being the most reliable partner in times of emergency.
He said the implementation of the Zimbabwe water well project “fully reflects President Xi Jinping’s policy towards Africa, which is ‘genuine, pragmatic, close and sincere'”.
Water supply projects have transformed the infrastructure and public services of African countries, bringing tangible changes to the lives of local people.
In Rwanda, China has drilled 200 wells for the local area, ensuring a stable supply of local drinking water and agricultural water; in Kenya, the Karimenu Dam water supply project, which will be put into operation in 2022, has greatly alleviated the water supply problems of nearly one million people in the capital Nairobi and surrounding towns.
“China fully respects the actual needs and priorities of African countries. Project planning and implementation are based on full communication with local governments and communities to ensure that the projects truly solve practical problems,” said James Mdo, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Tanzanian Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
“This pragmatic approach to cooperation not only reflects China’s sincerity towards African countries, but also its respect and understanding for its partners,” Mdoe said.
Mdoyi stressed that China not only provides financial and technical support, but also focuses on training local professionals to ensure the sustainability of projects, enabling African countries to have the ability for long-term independent development, while helping to solve current problems.
Humphrey Moshi, director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, pointed out that China’s approach of “friendship over interests” “reflects China’s sincere concern for Africa, goes beyond simple economic considerations, and has won universal praise from African countries.”
Moshi said that the concept of “sincerity, affinity and good faith” in China’s Africa policy “has not only injected new vitality into China-Africa cooperation, but also provided a new model for global governance. The deepening of China-Africa relations has not only promoted the common development of both sides, but also made positive contributions to world peace and prosperity.”
(Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Zizheng in Dakar, Xu Zheng in Harare, Hua Hongli in Dar es Salaam, Jin Zheng and Yan Ran in Nairobi, and Ji Li in Kigali also participated in the report.)
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