Daunagari village near the Kurumbukari mountains in Usino Bundi district in Madang provided friendship and laughter for Ramu NiCo Chinese engineer Zhang Xueliang,
Mr. Zhang as he is often called arrived in the village in February 2025 with a mission that was both noble and daunting and that was to install a clean water system for the Daunagari village. What he didn’t expect was the profound bond he would form with the very people he came to help.
From the moment he set foot in Daunagari, Mr. Zhang was greeted with curious eyes and shy smiles. The village’s homes and gardens, was filled with the sounds of children playing, their laughter echoing through the air. It wasn’t long before the youngest among them, children aged three to five, began to recognize him. They would run up to him, their tiny hands reaching out, calling out “Mr. Zhang!” with a mixture of excitement and innocence that warmed his heart.
Mr. Zhang, a dedicated engineer by trade, found himself lost by the spirit of the village. He made it a point to learn the names of young boys and children, responding with a smile that lit up his face whenever they approached him.
Together, they shared moments, learn languages and popular culture. They sip fresh Kulau drinks and turned simple gestures into lasting memories.
These simple pleasures became the highlights of his day, a refreshing pause from the hard labor of digging trenches and laying pipes.
As the weeks passed, the water supply project for the village transformed. The sound of the first running water hit the village with breaking news that water has reached the village straight from the Gremgram Mountain. It replaced the silence but Zhang’s name was never silenced.
The joy on the faces of the villagers when they first turned on the taps was a sight to behold. But for Mr. Zhang, the true reward was not just the installation of clean running water; it was the friendships he had forged along the way in the two months he spent there.
The children, once strangers, had become his little companions, and the villagers, once hesitant, now welcomed him as one of their own.
On Thursday, 08 May, 2025, Ramu NiCo’s Community Affairs General Manager Mr Eric Kuman and Deputy General Manager Mr Yang Bing entered the village and officially opened the Water Supply Project for the village. It was a small and quiet ceremony but one name that was called out above the sound of the running water taps was Mr Zhang.
Daunagari Children will always remember Mr Zhang as the man that Ramu NiCo sent to bring water to their village.
Their long distance walk to fetch water has been shortened. They can now fetch water at their doorsteps.
The name Mr Zhang will be mentioned by the village children and the story of how he connected water to their village will become a village legend to be told in many years to come.
