Namet is a village of Tai Leu ethnic group, originated from Sichuanbanna, in the south of China. They came to settle down in the valleys of northern Laos and Thailand for several centuries, due to the Chinese population expansion.

Namet lies 40km southwest of Oudomsay city, on the road to the Mekong river and the small town of Pakbeng. It has 245 families. In 2002, a development project of the German cooperation installed here a water system. A tank was built and pipes to collect water were bought. At the time, the village had 218 families. Since then the village population grew, pipes capturing the source also aged.

In 2013, the village experienced numerous water shortages. During the dry season, villagers were often forced to take water from the river Nam Beng. On top of that, this water is probably not clean, probably polluted by Chinese companies located in the valley for 2 years that are practicing intensive agriculture.

The villagers asked Solidarasia for help. We made a request to our agents in France, the associations for solidarity and tourism Vision du Monde and La Route des Sens. The villagers received a budget to replace 1000m of defective pipes with new and larger diameter pipes. Thus, more water could be captured. They were able to recoat the water tank and minimize leakage. The rest of the budget was used to repair the roads and paths of the village.

The total budget for this project was 4500 EUR. 300 EUR were collected from villagers who have also brought their work for the community. The rest was funded by the 2 french tourist associations for solidarity, “Vision du Monde” (www.visiondumonde.org) and “La Route des Sens” (www.laroute of sens.org). They participated equally with 2100EUR each.