What is a water cellar?

Shuijiao Runxi, what do I want to say?

This bosom friend, there is a folk song in the northwest, called "Flower". From mountain roads to fields, from sunrise to dusk, simple northwest people have been singing "flowers" for generations, pouring out their joys and sorrows, love and hope:

There are no clouds in the high blue sky, my brother's head is broken in the sun, and my sister is looking forward to water to cook. When will it rain (miles) in Hu Da? ...

A few days ago, in the pilot acceptance of the All-China Women's Federation's "Love of the Earth, Mother's Water Pit" project in Gansu, we once again heard the free and unrestrained and bright "flowers". But different from the past, the lyrics are not the desolation and bitterness of the northwest people's longing for water, but more gratitude to the party, the All-China Women's Federation and every "mother cellar" donor.

Drought used to be accompanied by poverty.

Dongxiang is the first stop of the All-China Women's Federation's "Love of the Earth, Water Pit for Chinese Mothers" project in Gansu, and Dongxiang is one of 56 ethnic groups. But it has not become rich because it lives in a beautiful nation, but has been wearing the hat of a national poverty-stricken county because of lack of water.

Dongxiang county is located in the foothills south of the Yellow River in Gansu Province, with rolling hills and ravines. The special geographical environment has caused nine droughts in dongxiang county for ten years. For farmers without any economic resources, poverty is accompanied. Due to lack of water, water has become the best gift for Dongxiang people to visit relatives and friends. Carrying a pot (bucket) of water is the greatest respect for the host. In the days when there is no cellar, you have to walk 20 miles to carry draft; Planting crops depends on God's face. A fellow villager once summed up the crop harvest in the drought year in one sentence: "I planted a material, received a hug and hit a hat." In the year of drought, most young and middle-aged men went out, while women farmed at home, and lived a life of potatoes and millet for half a year, resigned to their fate for half a year.

Dongxiang people told a joke to show their love for water: two women agreed to go to the market together the next day. As a result, one of them couldn't go because he was in a hurry, and the other didn't know. As soon as she heard that she couldn't go, she complained, "Oh, you didn't tell me earlier, which made me wash my face." Unexpected "complaints" are both funny and sad, but this is the true portrayal of water as expensive as oil in arid mountainous areas.

In Zhang Xi 'an County, there is a poverty alleviation cooperative called Maquanshan, with 3 1 household, and the per capita annual income is less than that of 500 yuan. Because there is no water, they have no pigs or chickens. Because there is no electricity, the whole society 120 people have never watched TV; Because there is no road, there is not even a tricycle in the club. It was not until the sand, cement and steel bars of the "Mother's Water Pit" were transported to the mountain village that a dirt road with a length of 4.5 kilometers and a width of less than 4 meters was pushed by a bulldozer with the help of the county government, which was considered as a motor vehicle-only road. Wang, the 38-year-old president, has not married a wife. He is honest and humorous. He said that because the daughter-in-law here has to walk 10 Lishan Road in the dark when her husband and children are still awake at 4 am, she can cook for the children who are at school. Therefore, there is a local proverb that "women don't marry Maquanshan, and the water in Maquanshan is unbearable", so he has not been able to marry a wife so far. However, from his smile, we can see the joy of the king. He said that with "mother's cellar", he didn't have to worry about his wife. It was the cellar that brought him hope.

Water cellar brings hope for poverty alleviation.

People living in arid mountainous areas are familiar with "water cellar". Due to the extreme shortage of water resources, people rely almost entirely on artificial accumulation of limited rainwater. The containers they dig underground to accumulate rainwater are called "puddles". Because the villagers don't have enough money to harden the concrete in the cellar, the rain in the sky will leak out soon, so drinking water has become a lifelong heart disease for people in arid mountainous areas.

In order to spare western mothers the fate of carrying water all their lives, they will no longer sigh because of water. In February last year, with the support of the All-China Women's Federation, the China Women's Foundation launched a nationwide donation campaign of "Love the Earth, Mother's Waterhole". So far, the activity * * * has raised1.1.60 billion yuan, of which1.1.20 billion yuan has been received. The Women's Foundation implements a strict monitoring system for the use of this special fund, and allocates 1 000 yuan to local women's federations, and then local women's federations cooperate with local governments and local water conservancy departments to implement the "mother cellar" to every household. The love of the earth stretches across Wan Li, and the mother cellar benefits the countryside. Up to now, with the help and guidance of the All-China Women's Federation, 75 counties in 10 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou and western Guangxi have built 1 465,438+0,35 rain-collecting pits. This special fund embodies the wishes and blessings of the people of the whole country and has achieved great results in the arid mountainous areas in the west.

Qi Xiufang, deputy head of dongxiang county, told us that a cellar with a depth of 5.7 meters and a diameter of 3 meters can store 30 cubic meters of water, and 30 cubic meters of water can solve the drinking water of a family of five people and three livestock for one year, increasing the irrigation area by 2.7 mu. Two or three puddles can solve the problem of watering a farmer's cash crops, increase production and income, and get rid of poverty and get rich.

In Dangtu Village, Wudang Township, the "Mother's Water Cellar" not only solved the drinking water difficulties of people and animals in the village, but also used the rainwater collected by the water cellar to plant more than 10 varieties of fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower radishes, parsley and celery in the arid mountainous area at an altitude of 2,400 meters. When we met a bearded 100-year-old man in a newly-built plastic shed, his son told us that the house had been built with a loan since the cellar was built. The old man is very happy, sitting from dawn to dark every day, because he has been a farmer all his life, but he never knows what tomato seedlings and cucumber seedlings look like. Lack of water allows the old people to grow potatoes all their lives, and grow potatoes and eat potatoes all year round; Eat potatoes and grow potatoes. It is the "mother cellar" that has changed the life of the elderly. But they don't want to eat these vegetables, and most of them are sold in the countryside, which can increase their income. Only with money can they live a down-to-earth life. Now that there is a water cellar, the whole village is trying to make money.

In the west, it is not just water that is short of water.

As Mo Wenxiu, secretary of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation and vice president of the China Women's Foundation, said, "Mother's Water Cellar" is of great significance. It can solve the basic survival problem of people in arid and water-deficient mountainous areas, but it can't change the poverty in arid mountainous areas in the west, which needs the overall promotion of the whole society.

In the interviews along the way, we were always surrounded by the smiling faces of the local people. However, our hearts have always been slightly bitter.

Seeing water in a "mother's cellar", we were moved by love; Seeing the monuments erected by the local people to thank the Party, the All-China Women's Federation and the donors, we lamented the gratitude of the farmers in China.

However, poverty is intertwined by many factors. When we see that contemporary farmers are still digging puddles with kerosene lamps; When the children in the village can't afford to read books and compete for a bottle of mineral water left by the inspection team; When the school children looked longingly at grandma's dime for a bag of shaved ice, their feelings were mixed with endless regrets and helplessness. A small "mother cellar" can stop the thirst of western mothers at a glance, but it can't keep them away from poverty in a short time.

Zhao Zhiyuan, director of the agricultural construction headquarters of Gansu Poverty Alleviation Office, has been walking with us in the project acceptance. He summed up from years of work experience that the gap between the rich and the poor cannot be narrowed by material help alone. The gap between poor areas and developed areas is not only reflected in material poverty, but also in many factors such as economic base, ideological concept and humanistic quality.

Indeed, in dongxiang county, we encountered such a "strange" phenomenon. When we came to an old hometown for an interview, we knocked at the door and asked, "Is there anyone at home?" I only heard a crisp answer: "No one". Just when wondering, a comrade of the local women's Federation told us: "Here, the man is in charge. If the man is not at home, even if there is no one at home." In Dongxiang nationality, the traditional concept of "men are superior to women" is deeply rooted. In the social and cultural atmosphere of Dongxiang nationality, women can only play social roles after successfully fulfilling their family duties. However, since the Women's Federation's "Mother's Water Pit" entered the mountain, women's waist has suddenly hardened a lot, and women are as full of vitality as flowers watered by rain and dew. They not only took their children to dig puddles, but also began to study in the countryside and exchange the technology of growing vegetables. "Mother's Water Cellar" went to the mountains to let the mothers in the west know that there is a kind of love that cares about them all the time. Of course, changing outdated concepts requires the help and support of the whole society.

Dongxiang nationality is a nation that likes to sing "Hua 'er". When I left Dongxiang, I heard the loud "flowers": the busy outside the mountains was broken, and the relatives of the * * * production party sent water. The newlywed wife ran away with a bucket, and the sweet water was stored in the cellar ... (Excerpted from the overseas edition of People's Daily, Zhang Chunhuan) Wang's joy, he said that with the "mother cellar", he no longer had to worry about begging for his wife, and it was the cellar that brought him hope.

Water cellar brings hope for poverty alleviation.

People living in arid mountainous areas are familiar with "water cellar". Due to the extreme shortage of water resources, people rely almost entirely on artificial accumulation of limited rainwater. The containers they dig underground to accumulate rainwater are called "puddles". Because the villagers don't have enough money to harden the concrete in the cellar, the rain in the sky will leak out soon, so drinking water has become a lifelong heart disease for people in arid mountainous areas.

In order to spare western mothers the fate of carrying water all their lives, they will no longer sigh because of water. In February last year, with the support of the All-China Women's Federation, the China Women's Foundation launched a nationwide donation campaign of "Love the Earth, Mother's Waterhole". So far, the activity * * * has raised1.1.60 billion yuan, of which1.1.20 billion yuan has been received. The Women's Foundation implements a strict monitoring system for the use of this special fund, and allocates 1 000 yuan to local women's federations, and then local women's federations cooperate with local governments and local water conservancy departments to implement the "mother cellar" to every household. The love of the earth stretches across Wan Li, and the mother cellar benefits the countryside. Up to now, with the help and guidance of the All-China Women's Federation, 75 counties in 10 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou and western Guangxi have built 1 465,438+0,35 rain-collecting pits. This special fund embodies the wishes and blessings of the people of the whole country and has achieved great results in the arid mountainous areas in the west.

Qi Xiufang, deputy head of dongxiang county, told us that a cellar with a depth of 5.7 meters and a diameter of 3 meters can store 30 cubic meters of water, and 30 cubic meters of water can solve the drinking water of a family of five people and three livestock for one year, increasing the irrigation area by 2.7 mu. Two or three puddles can solve the problem of watering a farmer's cash crops, increase production and income, and get rid of poverty and get rich.

In Dangtu Village, Wudang Township, the "Mother's Water Cellar" not only solved the drinking water difficulties of people and animals in the village, but also used the rainwater collected by the water cellar to plant more than 10 varieties of fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower radishes, parsley and celery in the arid mountainous area at an altitude of 2,400 meters. When we met a bearded 100-year-old man in a newly-built plastic shed, his son told us that the house had been built with a loan since the cellar was built. The old man is very happy, sitting from dawn to dark every day, because he has been a farmer all his life, but he never knows what tomato seedlings and cucumber seedlings look like. Lack of water allows the old people to grow potatoes all their lives, and grow potatoes and eat potatoes all year round; Eat potatoes and grow potatoes.