At last, we went to Kyobintha. We set out from Bagan at about 10 am after buying a lot of rice and fruits that are scarce in the village. On our way to the village, we dropped in a village where tube-well sinking project of BAJ was said to be successful. Although I couldn’t remember the name of the village, it is about 30 minutes’ drive from Bagan and inner part of the railroad. It is difficult for tourists to arrive there. Villagers are honest and kind-hearted. When we went to the headman’s house and said hello to him, he took us to the place where the well is located. The well seemed to reach to the water table at about 600 feet underground and water was cool and fresh. It seemed to be watched always because it was perfection for the village. After the project of BAJ had finished, a trustee board was formed. The guidance was given to solve the possible future problems after discussing with the members of the board.

Than Lin Tun and Aung Kyi Win were very glad to know that their village was one of 30 villages under BAJ project. But they were also worried about that because there were financial problem for the project and the turn of their village would come at last. A pilot project was made at Kudo village near their village by the money collected from the village. The tube- well reached to 1,000 at three places but there was no water. The project was continued with the use of equipment from BAJ. The villagers from Kyobintha were expecting the time when the project would come to their village. Let’s go back to Kyobintha village. The road to the village seemed to be finished two years ago. Although it was said to be a road, the track of wheels of bullock carts were like drainages because it was used more by carts than cars. The car was going in the drain shaking left to right. After two and a half hours’ drive, we arrived at the village. We were taken to the house of Than Lin Tun’ s grandfather. We stayed at his uncle’ s two-storeyed house behind it. We hoped worse house than this judging Than Lin Tun’ s words. But, finally we could set our mind at ease. The house was neatly and cleanly built and the owner seemed to be a bit wealthy. He was running a bakery successfully in Ayeyarwady Division. A lot of people from the village went and worked there. His wife, grandmother and nine-year old daughter lived in the house. The two sisters were going to school in Yangon. When I told the youngest daughter that I would take a photo of her, her mother beautified her for about an hour. (Young village girls in Myanmar beautify themselves only for special social functions and festivals.) In a very short period__ three days__ wherever we went around the village of population of 1,300, a group of children followed us. It is located at an inner place very far from the sea and Ayeyarwady River. But, the earth on the road of the village is soft sand like that of sea beach.

Even in such a small village, there is little gap between the poor and the rich. And the way the houses are built is different according to the status. Every household owns a pair of cows. Their social life seemed to be very inconvenient because they have to carry water for cultivation from a far-away lake. To have a close look, we could see a thin cow worth K 50,000 and good-looking cow worth K 100,000. People from houses here and there said that they wanted to serve us with meals. Every household welcomed us whole-heartedly and warmly. At the village where foreigners hardly come, I could not speak Myanmar fluently but Mr. A could in good pronunciation. So villagers were very that they could speak with Japanese people. Because Mr. A is a political researcher, he was not just going around here and there like me. We also paid visits to Kudo village in the west and Ngapyu village in the east and we went the headmen’s houses and said hello to them. Ngapyu village is the biggest among nearby villages. They have own generator and lit the roads at night and they also have their own tube-well. It was said that they also installed CDMA telephone (which is carried in a basket in Myanmar) at the village. When we met the headmen, Mr. A raised the same questions. That was “What is the most important task for you?” They gave the same answer that it was the task of supplying fresh water.

It is a serious problem for Kyobintha village where there is no tube-well of its own. The honest headman in his forties said there was no rain this year and they would have to carry water from nearby village. When we gave an account of BAJ projects, the headman with bright eyes eagerly asked. “Is it real? It is a very good programme. When will it be able to start? They all were happy although we could not answer “In the near future”. We did not tell them that although projects at five villages had been successful and they could not give cent per cent guarantee to find water at a far-away place from the river like Kyobintha.

On the day we left the village, it rained suddenly after the sky became very ugly for the first time in two months. The villagers were very happy saying that we brought the rain. Although the stay in the village was very short, it was full of very memorable events that we had chats with innocent children and honest people sitting around at a table.