Hami Germany e.V.
Non-Profit Association

”Laki” is a village in the central part of the city of Chabahar in the Persian province of Sistan and Balouchestan. A village, that the water supply is inadequate.





When I, Farahnaz Bergmann, headed the office of the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, I was in Chabahar with various German delegations to establish cooperation between German and Iranian companies in the field of wind turbines. The people were very friendly and showed us all sides of Chabahar, both best hotels and sights as well as the area where people had problems with drinking water.

The head of the village told us that the Laki people get their drinking water from Hutags. Hutag is a local term and refers to artificial water pits in villages that fed by rain, the depth is around 15 meters and they can store more than 20,000 cubic meters of rainwater. Laki's Hutags have completely dried up.

He added that although the widespread drought has hit Sistan and Balochistan in recent years, making life difficult for the villagers, the Laki people still like to stay in the village, where their ancestors also lived. When we heard that they definitely don't want to migrate to the cities like other villagers, we decided to establish some projects such as supply of drinking water, reconstruction of an existing well/pump and water pipe system to the water tanks.





After much deliberation and discussion with the village chief and elder villagers, sites for the installation of 3 water tanks were selected. It was very important to them that the water tanks were centrally located so that women and especially children could reach them easily and safely. These water tanks each have a storage volume of 3000 liters.

The water tanks and materials such as sand, cement, stones, fittings and faucets were purchased locally. Until we start our next project, rebuilding an existing well/pumps and water pipe system to the water tanks, purchase of fresh water will also be supported by our Association. Every week we pay the equivalent of almost 10 euros for 9000 liters of water for 225 residents in this village.

The children were so enthusiastic about the water tanks that they absolutely wanted to have a picture of them.





































The school, as the only colorful building in the village, was the first thing we noticed. When we arrived, the classes were over and the school was closed. When we were near the school, the children came to us with great curiosity and wanted to see who we are and what we are after.

Gradually other children and their mothers joined them. The men were either out on the sea, fishing or out in the pasture with the goats and sheep and were out of sight. We were led through the village with a small group of children and mothers. With full pride and gratitude, they showed us the water tanks and told us how the quality of life has improved with the water tanks.

After that we sat down on a terrace and made a list with the names of the children and their shoe sizes.

It wasn't easy to build up a conversation as the children, especially the girls, were a bit reserved and shy. After a while, however, they opened up and told us about their life situation and their vision for the future.

These discussions are very valuable for our current and future cooperation and selection of projects. But more importantly, building a relationship and trust between us and fellow villagers. In the long term, however, we would like to ensure that the village can manage and, in particular, farm itself.

After two hours with initial ideas we left the village and drove to the hotel, where after a short break we made our way to the bazaar to buy shoes.

We realized that it was prayer time and many shops were closed. Many shops simply left the door open and their owners went to the mosque to pray. The trust surprised and touched us somewhat.

We used this time to get an overview. We chose a shop and waited for the owner to come back.

After about 3 hours of pleasant negotiation, we selected and bought about 55 pairs of shoes for girls and boys between the ages of 4 and 15, and then hours before transport issue. As is always the case in Iran, with the helpfulness and hospitality of the people, we managed the transport to the hotel wonderfully and without any problems.

In the hotel room we matched the shoes in boxes with the names of the children and their shoe sizes on our list and prepared them for handover.

The next day we were picked up from the hotel and drove to the village. We were warmly welcomed in the class by the school children and the teachers. After the shoes were distributed, a girl who later turned out to be the teacher's daughter, read us a long beautiful poem from memory.































The women in the village baked fresh bread for us and offered us tea.

After staying in the village for half a day, we returned to the hotel with many mixed feelings. On the way to the hotel we talked about a secondary school in the village.

Since the village does not have the necessary capacity for a secondary school, the children have to go to the neighboring village or to Chabahar. We took this conversation as a trigger for a new project to facilitate transportation to the neighboring village.

In the afternoon we also managed to buy a water cooler for the school class, which we sent to school the next day.

We flew back to Tehran after 3 days with good memories and many new ideas.





















  ♥ Reconstruction of an existing well/pumps and water piping system to the water tanks

  ♥ Purchase of a used sewing machine for women (needlework) as a source of income

  ♥ Financial support for the children up to the 12th grade (High school)

  ♥ Help build a medical facility for the doctors to examine villagers.

Every euro counts! Help us with your donations to achieve these goals (help for self-help). You want to support us? Please write ”Project Dorf Laki” in the reference field