Conclusion of Opika House Water Project – Ukraine

This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Shelia Slemp. To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.

The project was to install pumps and piping to bring water from the local well to the Opika House, and to install piping within the house.

Shelia reports:

Twenty-four volunteers turned out for a day of service to dig the 1.5 meter deep and 120 meters long trench from the well to Opika House Crisis Center for Young Mothers. Seven volunteers were United States Peace Corps, two volunteers were from Germany, and the rest of the volunteers were from the community, mainly the Perechyn Community Foundation Youth Bank and volunteers for Opika. After five hours of work, the group celebrated by baking potatoes over an open fire and sharing appreciation for the hard work.

A few days later, an outdoor well was constructed which included a mechanism for drawing water by hand, directly from the well itself, as well as, an electrical box which pumped water from the well and pushed the water up the hill to the house.

A few days after this, the main pump (called a “bezbashenka”) was installed in the basement of the house and plastic pipes with a diameter of 32 mm were buried in the trench at a depth of 70 cm. Double-vein electric cable inserted in plastic protective tube “flutes” were also buried in the trench.

Material purchases included such things as the pumps, pipes/tubing, weather-proofing, sealant, etc., which came to 4298 hryvnia (local currency) or $540 (including transportation for materials). Manual labor (provided by volunteers) is estimated at 1000 hryvnia or $125 and professional labor cost 1570 hryvnia or $196.

Furthermore, a steel door was purchased in order to protect the pump in the house from being stolen and a lock was purchased and placed on the outdoor well, in order to keep children from having access. In total, the project costs came to 5925 hryvnia or $740.63.

Thank you so much for your assistance with our project!

   

   

   

   

We again wish to thank The Soneva SLOW LIFE Trust for providing the funding for this project.