This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Martin Van den Berghe. To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.
The project was to repair the three while training a maintenance and repair team.
Martin reports on the process:
I bought the tools in Dakar and in Kedougou and brought them down to my village. I asked the village to designate a repair team of 5. Then we organized a training day which I supervised and facilitated.
We disassembled, studied and reassembled India Mark II and III pumps. Afterward, we went over the defective pump, found the problem, went over typical troubleshooting, fixed the problem (welded a pierced riser main), and celebrated the event.
Two pumps were disassembled and reassembled for the sake of studying. A third was disassembled, repaired, and reassembled. The main point with my work so far really has to do with empowering the villagers to a sense of ownership and responsibility of their water sources.
This project has exemplified the value of community work and involvement, and has made them financially much more independent. Repairs now range between $2 and $30 USD instead of the usual $160 USD involved in making a team come in from Kedougou.
The community was exhilarated with the project results. They realized that pumps were a lot easier to fix than they originally thought (certainly easier than the daily motorbike fixing and creative arrangements we see).
I now hope to carry on this success to the neighboring villages, as pumps break down continuously in the entire region, and find a way for a community-based funding scheme.
We wish to thank Martin for completing this project, and again extend our gratitude to The Soneva SLOW LIFE Trust for providing the funding.