Farmer Pak Sadiman has made it his task to do something about Central Java's water shortage problem, little by little.
He has changed his dry village into a place rich in ground water by planting trees on nearby land for the last 19 years, and he is encouraging others to join in, too.
Sadiman realized that the land was in need of some water when the Gendol River - previously (以前) the source of water for villagers — was quickly drying up: Even rubber trees, the local people's main source of income (收入来源), were so dry that they could no longer produce rubber latex (橡胶乳). It was then that Sadiman took action so that his children and grandchildren could take advantage of the planted trees,
"Banyan (榕树) trees, unlike rubber trees, can keep groundwater. The more banyan trees are planted, the more clean water villagers will get," he thought. Although he went through a hard time, the farmer never became discouraged from achieving his goal — providing his village with a clean water source.
He's planted at least 11, 000 trees over the last 19 years, and his village seems to haveescaped fromthe dry season, Villagers have joined in Sadiman's efforts and worked alongside him to plant the trees. "Pak Sadiman is our hero. This village used to fight with water shortage, but now we have enough water because of him," said the head of the village.
Sadiman said as long as he's healthy, he'll continue to plant trees to help provide clean water for his villagers.
