Epworth community members waiting to retrieve water from an unsafe well, the water that residents retrieve from this location is dirty and unsafe.
Water Charity, in partnership with Dare to Share launched a WASH initiative to meet the needs of the community. Limited access to clean water and a lack of hygiene resources are the largest challenges that Epworth residents face. A vast majority of the population relies on rivers and an inactive quarry for washing, bathing, and drinking. Waste has contaminated these resources and water-borne illnesses are rampant in the suburbs. The population suffers from HIV, tuberculosis, cholera, malaria, and parasites such as schistosomiasis. The number of infectious diseases will continue to rise if the water crisis is not averted.
Chiremba Road is a busy location that most residents use to travel long distances in order to retrieve water. Many residents in this area walked five to seven hours a day to the rivers. These residents suffered from diarrhea, parasites, and other water-borne illnesses because the river water is not safe to consume. Residents relied on these rivers for bathing, washing clothes, washing pots and pans, and drinking. They walked in hot, hazardous conditions daily to retrieve water that would likely make them ill. The burden of retrieving water fell on the shoulders of young girls and women in particular who missed school to travel, collect, and boil the water once they returned. Children in this area struggled to attend school in general because they spent their days traveling to the rivers to bathe, preparing water for meals, and gathering firewood so that they could boil the water once they attained it. Children oftentimes missed school due to waterborne illnesses. Chiremba Road is a densely populated area where up to ten families may stay in one household. Frequent visits to the rivers increased pollution significantly. The rivers are polluted with human waste and litter. A new borehole well would reduce trips to the rivers, thus diminishing the rate of pollution.
Project Description
The Epworth WASH Program is drilling boreholes to provide clean water to the residents. with clean water. Currently, residents have access to one borehole, two rivers and a quarry for washing and drinking water. Natural resources are contaminated. Rates of infectious diseases are high 4% of children regularly miss school due to water-borne diseases. Cholera, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and bilharzia are common infections. The successful completion of Water Charity’s WASH project will reduce infectious disease rates, provide socio-economic opportunities and empower the community. One borehole can provide water for 1,000 people. The long-term goal of the WASH project is to drill 200 borehole wells. The project’s long-term goal also includes the Construction of hygiene facilities, including water closets, showers and laundry facilities. Fifty of these facilities will meet the needs of the community. Water Charity’s current focus is on the borehole project. Epworth currently has access to two working boreholes. The first was constructed before we started the WASH program. The second was completed in May 2023.
Progress Photos – 1
Board members; removal of old well system in background
Community board member assisting with taking materials off truck transport
Community members assisting contract workers with removal of old well system
Volunteers assisting with removal of old well system
Removing materials from truck transport
More community members arrive to assist with unloading well materials
Stands for collection barrels
Truck hire arrives with collection barrels
Truck transport and collection barrels
Community members assisting with erecting collection stands
Truck transport delivering collection barrels to site
Water collection barrel
Prepping soil for collection barrel stands
The WASH project aims to build two hundred borehole wells and fifty hygiene facilities. The phases of the project are as follows:
● Phase 1: Complete two borehole wells. The first is by Chiremba Road, a densely populated area of residents who have to walk up to seven hours a day to retrieve water from the rivers. The second will be by Epworth Secondary School to support the health of students and decrease the risk of infectious diseases that frequently prevent children from attending classes.
● Phase 2: Utilize grant funds to acquire a borehole drill rig and begin drilling several borehole wells yearly. This phase will provide many employment opportunities to community members. We will train members to operate the rig and construct the wells while following proper safety procedures and guidelines.
● Phase 3: Construct fifty hygiene facilities. The hygiene facilities will include showers, water closets, and laundromats. Residents currently have no access to hygiene facilities and depend on contaminated bodies of water to bathe, wash, cook, and drink. The hygiene facilities will drastically reduce infectious disease rates and improve the community’s health. We aim to hire community members to assist in building these facilities, thus providing job opportunities.
Water Charity’s donation of $6,000 has allowed to complete the first borehole well as outlined in Phase 1. The well currently supports 2,000 families that live on Chiremba Road. These families no longer have to travel several hours a day in hot conditions to retrieve dirty water. Your support has touched many lives within the first few months of our WASH project alone.
Progress Photos – 2
Community members assist with installing day six solar panels and wiring box
Day 6 , Solar panel assembly in Epworth
Installing wire-box
Solar panel wiring in Epworth
Solar installation in Epworth
We set the following goals as measurable objectives for the first well project:
Provide clean water to the residents of Chiremba Road, a community of 2,000 families that have no access to WASH resources.
Reduce pollution of natural water resources by providing a new borehole well.
Reduce infectious disease rates
Increase school attendance
Boost community involvement by creating volunteer opportunities, instructing residents on how to maintain the new borehole well, and providing careers to residents by hiring locals to keep the well secure, thus bringing revenue into the community.
Provide a clean water resource that all members of the community can use.
Hygiene has improved for children attending school. Children are able to wash their uniforms with water that is not contaminated. They are clean when they arrive to take their classes. They also have clean water to drink throughout the school day which is contributing to the decrease in waterborne illness. We will be using the following methods to measure the continued success of the project:
1. We have installed a water meter to measure the daily water usage in gallons. This will indicate how often the residents are using the well, and to what degree.
2. We are in contact with the local clinic. We have requested monthly reports of infectious diseases. We will send these reports to Water Charity as we receive them.
3. We are in contact with the local schools. The schools have agreed to share attendance data with us. We will use this data to track school attendance as it relates to the new borehole well. We expect that school attendance will be consistent now that children no longer have to miss class to retrieve water.
Progress Photos – 3
Community members by completed borehole well
We have clean water
Water collection barrels and solar panels assembled
Clean water is running
Checking the wire box
Getting clean water from the well
View of the local suburb from the well
Challenges & Outcomes
There were several challenges involved in the project. We predicted these challenges and were equipped to mitigate them as efficiently and effectively as possible. Most of the issues we dealt with involved navigating systems of corruption in Zimbabwe. When gathering quotes from contractors for the well materials and installation, we received values that were far above what was initially promised. The contractors were exaggerating the amounts to make excess profits. Once we gathered data on how much materials and installation should cost, the contractors settled for the prices outlined in the initial grant proposal. The final costs of the project are outlined in the budgetary portion of this report.
There is a strict political divide in Zimbabwe right now since elections are underway. Many residents cannot retrieve water from other areas in Epworth due to political dissension. One suburb will prevent another suburb from using its clean water resources because of differences in political beliefs. We were able to provide a clean water resource to all residents regardless of political affiliation. We are seeing the well unite the community in this way. Residents are communing peacefully with one another for the sake of protecting their new borehole well. We not only met our goals for the new borehole well project, but we also exceeded them. The well receives an estimated 2,000-3,000 visitors a week. Most visitors live in the well’s vicinity. Others are travelers who formerly walked several hours to retrieve water from the rivers. We are already observing a decrease in infectious diseases. Clinic visits are down by 6%. We receive data from the clinics on a monthly basis. We will be sure to share this data as we regularly receive the reports.
Communication was at times an issue. Electricity is not always available and communication between parties could be delayed for unpredictable amounts of time. We were fortunate enough to avoid significant delays in the borehole project due to communication, but there was an incident where the contractor who finished the well could not be contacted to resolve an error. The contractor installed an AC pump rather than a DC pump by mistake. The well was unable to fill the barrels with enough water. Two weeks passed before our team could contact the contractor to replace the pump. We are working to implement better protocols to resolve communication issues for future projects. Our team in Zimbabwe struggled to engage community members when the well project began. This was due in part to political controversy. Residents were unwilling to unite and assist with completing the well. Our Zimbabwe team resolved these tensions by clarifying our status as a neutral party with no political affiliations. By the end of the week, residents were volunteering with brick-laying for a collection station, cleaning the construction debris, keeping the well sanitary, and securing the premises. According to our Zimbabwe project coordinator, residents expressed that “they were one people” because the well was a community effort. As stated before, the well is unifying the community.
Going forward, the short-term objectives of the Water Charity’s borehole project are as follows:
Objective 1: Increase access to clean water for the people of Epworth through the construction of an additional third borehole, which will serve an additional 2,000 families.
Objective 2: Prolong the life of Epworth’s existing clean water resources through the completion of a third borehole well, thereby reducing the overuse of existing resources and minimizing repair costs.
Objective 3: Support the local economy by employing Zimbabwean-owned contractors to complete the construction of the borehole.
Objective 4: Encourage community involvement by creating volunteer opportunities for local residents to assist with general works associated with the borehole.
Objective 5: Support the local economy by creating jobs for Epworth residents, such as hiring day and night guards to secure the wells. A borehole can be completed within a week of securing the necessary funding.
Completion Photos
Children visiting from local suburb
Volunteers assisting with well completion
Volunteers assisting with well completion
Construction of refill station
1.7. Community members volunteering with collection station construction
Collection barrels against blue sky
Security fence
Conclusion Report
The borehole completed by Water Charity in April 2023 was built at Domboramwari Bridge along the Chiremba circuit. The borehole has been serving 2,000-3,000 people per month since its completion. This well was originally drilled in 2020 and equipped with a hand pump. The well was not operational until Water Charity provided the funds to rehabilitate it. Contractors replaced the old system with a solar-powered pump to restore its functionality and provide water to more of the community.
The cost of materials included the water tanks, tank stands, solar pump, power cable, pipes, fittings, rope and control box. Once the well materials were secured, the project manager scheduled the installation of the borehole through a third-party contractor. Construction began on 29 March 2023 with the removal of the old system. The new borehole was completed with the installation of solar panels on 7 April 2023. Due to the high crime rate in the region, extensive security measures were required for the successful completion of the project. A second contractor was hired to build a security fence around the well. Two security guards were hired to protect the wells and community members once the borehole was operational. These guards were trusted community members who had been employed through the WASH program.
Community volunteers assisted the team throughout the well construction process. Approximately five community members at a time helped with the installation of the well. Once the well was installed, the community members helped build a brick guard house and a water collection station. Community members were readily available when needed.
Beneficiary’s Testimonials
We are thankful for the generosity of Water Charity. Your donation allowed Epworth’s residents to strengthen their relationships with one another. They did so by collaborating on the new well project. The well is continuing to unite them as they are working together to keep it secure, safe, and clean.
The well receives an estimated 2,000-3,000 visitors a week. Most visitors live in the well’s vicinity. Others are travelers who formerly walked several hours to retrieve water from the rivers. We are already observing a decrease in infectious diseases. Clinic visits are down by 6%. We receive data from the clinics on a monthly basis. We will be sure to share this data with Water Charity as we regularly receive the reports.
School attendance has increased since the completion of the borehole well. Girls are attending their classes instead of sacrificing their days to fetch water. We have seen a 4% increase in school attendance since the borehole well opened to the public. These numbers are likely to continue rising. We are receiving monthly reports from the local schools to track school attendance and will be sharing these numbers with Water Charity as well.
We value your partnership in this project. It has been a pleasure to work with Water Charity to bring clean water to Zimbabwe. Thanks to your contribution, children in this region are able to attend school without sacrificing their education to retrieve contaminated water. Women are empowered to pursue career opportunities now that they do not have to sacrifice their days to fetch water. Young girls are attending their classes in school as well. Residents have access to clean water that they can use to bathe and wash their clothes. The hygiene of this region has improved significantly within weeks of the borehole opening to the public. The borehole will continue to increase the health and sanitation of this region over time.
We wish to express our sincere thanks to Water Charity for helping us serve the Epworth community. You have blessed these people with your generosity. The new borehole well has greatly contributed to the health and well-being of these people. It will continue to bless them every day.
To see project-related videos, CLICK HERE. To read about the beginning of this project, CLICK HERE.
The Busoga Region borehole program was launched on 13 March. The launch was attended by political and religious leaders, journalists, government officials, health teams and village elders. They discussed the land to be allocated for the borehole and the election of a Bore Hole Leadership Committee (BHLC). The purpose of the Bore Hole Leadership Committee (BHLC) is to ensure general cleanliness and maintenance of the water source and to mobilize the community to pay their monthly contribution of $0.27. The community elders were to be responsible for protecting the borehole. Each village provided free land for a borehole and part of the accommodation for the team working on the borehole. We focused on using local labor, as this creates employment opportunities and enables them to earn a living for their families.
On 14 March 2023, the digging of the boreholes started in three villages, Bulamangi(A), Bulamangi(B) and Kasolo, each of which received one borehole. There were 3 workers assigned to each well. Accommodation and food for the workers were provided by the project and sometimes voluntarily by the community.
This project is aimed to bring 50 boreholes in the 25 villages, each village is to get 2 new boreholes. So far we have managed to launch 3 new boreholes in Bulamangi(A), Bulamangi(B) (Bwanalira) and Kasolo Villages with a population of about 3300 people. This is a great milestone although the above need to receive more boreholes to continuously minimize the risks encountered during the search for clean water.
Safe Water access is made available in the 3 villages.
Water Charity along with the OKOA Hero’s Child Ministries, in collaboration with the Village Health Team, have been able to educate the community on how to use water to improve sanitation and hygiene in their homes.
Challenges Encountered and Actions Taken
CHALLENGES
ACTION TAKEN
Material prices changed due to the unstable economy in the country.
We managed to use a bargain for a good price.
Weather changes – Uganda majorly expects 2 seasons both dry and wet seasons. Majorly during the rainy season it’s hard to dig the well since it makes it filled with water hence delaying work to be accomplished in the time frame.
We used the Water pump to drain out water from the well and also used the chance that it’s at the other side positive that the soil is softener hence easing the work.
Hard rocky layer at well 1 and falling sticky soils at well 2 for more than 5-10 feet deep, which brought some delays.
We used a rock-drilling machine to break through and good enough after a few days we managed to beat it. For the sticky soils we had to use bricks and cement to block it from falling and this really worked.
Accommodations for both labor workers and organization staff. The village infrastructures are poor and squeezed.
We had no solution rather than planning it for our next round of work. Camping tents will be purchased during our next phase.
2 Casual workers suffered from Malaria.
They all got treatment at the nearby health center. We plan that in our next phase, we will purchase a few antimalarials in case of an emergency.
Nakanda Aisha mentioned that she feels good to have Water in the community. Before, they have been loitering, moving in different directions to look for water. It’s of a good fortune that they now have water and thanked the organization.
Ramazan Bikhado(Jewewo) said that he thanks the organization for drilling them a borehole. Earlier, he visited the offices with a request for assistance since their village was badly off. They had only one borehole that broke down, at that point eating, bathing and washing was difficult. Therefore, he thanks the organization for rescuing them and prays that Allah rewards the organization.
Nabirye Stellah, a young mother in Bwanalira Village stated that she thanks Water Charity for bringing them water nearer. They have been struggling for water, walking long distances. At times their colleagues were delayed coming back from school…. the other borehole was locked and sometimes they decided to miss bathing. She said “Thank you very much Water Charity and May God Bless You!”
Balidawa Samson from Bwanalira Village expressed his thanks to Water Charity for donating them a borehole for water. Before, they have had multiple challenges since the water source was very far. Their children walked at night to look for water. Now that it’s near, they are thankful and pray for more boreholes for the safety of the children in the village.
To see more project-related videos, CLICK HERE. To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.
Epworth was a dormitory for refugees that grew into the country’s largest slum.
Location
Epworth, Harare Province, Zimbabwe
Community Description
Epworth is a community in Zimbabwe located in the Harare Province with a population of 206,365 people. The population has access to three borehole wells but only one is operational. The suburb currently has limited to no access to running water and electricity. Residents rely on local rivers and an inactive quarry for washing, bathing, and drinking.
Without access to clean water, Epworth struggles to implement and maintain good sanitation practices. The suburbs lack clean bathroom facilities. Human waste contaminates what little water the residents can use, including the water table and the rivers. Diseases such as cholera, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), HIV, and parasites such as schistosomiasis are common. The number of infectious diseases will continue to rise if the water crisis is not averted.
Problem Addressed
Access to clean water in Epworth would resolve a multitude of hardships that the community faces. Children cannot perform well in school if they do not have access to clean water. Students cannot keep up with their studies if they are consistently suffering from water-borne illnesses, diarrhea, and stomach pains. Four percent of Epworth’s children miss school due to water-borne illnesses. A successful WASH project will allow them to attend school, perform well, and receive the education they need to lead successful lives.
Lack of clean water affects Epworth women in particular. Women and young girls retrieve water from the working borehole well, the rivers, and the quarry. The wait for the working borehole well is an average of seven hours. When they resort to retrieving water from the rivers, they travel for the majority of the day. Once they return, they must boil the water so that it is safe to use. Functioning wells would allow young girls to attend their classes and complete their education.
Functioning wells would also allow women to better care for their families as they would have more time to do so. Women in Epworth are responsible for collecting firewood and managing the gardens on which the community depends for food. Easing the strain of one task such as eliminating the need to travel for water would allow them to better complete other tasks that are necessary for their survival.
Project Description
The program is carried out as a joint venture between Water Charity & Dare to Share. The primary initiative of the program will be to construct borehole wells, bathroom facilities, and shower facilities in Epworth. Borehole wells will provide clean water. Installing solar-powered pumps will eliminate the risks involved with operating wells with a manual pump and expedite wait times. Epworth needs about two hundred wells to satisfy the population’s needs. We will hire residents to maintain and install them, thus providing community involvement by allowing locals to staff the project.
The WASH program will use a similar model to construct bathroom and shower facilities. The organization will hire local residents to construct them. Once the construction is completed on these facilities, the organization will hire local residents as staff. This will open custodial and security jobs to the community, thus providing additional economic support. Building hygienic restroom facilities will save the freshwater supply from contamination, thus protecting the community from water-borne illnesses.
Project Phases and Timeline
Borehole Well Installation
Phase One
Complete remaining unfinished borehole wells.
Hire local staff to maintain wells once completed.
Hire borehole well drilling contractors to complete the remaining two wells
Phase Two
Acquire grant funding to purchase a borehole drill rig.
Complete construction of twenty borehole wells.
Acquire necessary resources, funding, and staff to begin drilling twenty wells within a year.
Phase Three
Complete construction of two hundred borehole wells, thus fulfilling population needs.
The organization is setting a ten-year goal for phase three.
Partnership and funding will expedite the time period of phase three.
Restroom and Hygiene Facilities
Phase One
Construct one restroom facility.
The facility will include twenty-four toilets and twenty-four showers; twelve for men and twelve for women.
Hire local staff to maintain and secure restroom facilities.
Phase Two
Expand the program to construct multiple restrooms and hygiene facilities across Epworth to meet population needs.
Community Involvement
Water Charity along with Dare to Share with Zimbabwe works to design projects that are sustainable by the community. The WASH project will provide jobs to residents in these respects:
● Borehole wells: We will hire residents to assist in the construction process. The drill rig will be operated by a qualified professional contracted by the organization, but any additional labor positions will be filled by local residents.
● We will train residents on the maintenance and upkeep of the borehole wells. At the conclusion of the WASH project, residents will be able to operate and sustain their resources without outside assistance.
● Restroom and shower facilities: Will hire local employees to maintain and secure the restroom facilities once they are complete. This will provide more job opportunities to the community. The facilities will be staffed 24/7 to ensure cleanliness and security.
● Will hire residents to make bricks for the construction of the facilities, thus reducing material costs and providing more involvement opportunities for the community.
● Will provide training on how to upkeep and secure the restroom facilities. Residents will be fully prepared to sustain their hygiene resources at the conclusion of their training. Epworth’s community is eager to provide volunteers in addition to the hired staff. Also, will continue providing more volunteer opportunities as they arise throughout the duration of the project.
Preliminary Cost Estimates
Breakdown of Borehole Well Installation and Materials
Materials
Costs
Water Tanks
$1,500
Tank Stand
$1,400
Solar Pump
$500
Power Cable
$300
Polyethylene Pipe
$150
PVC Pipe
$75
Stand tubes
$250
Fittings
$250
Nylon Rope
$50
Control Box
$100
Concrete
$100
Transportation
$300
Labor
$1,000
Incidental
$25
Total
$6,000 per 1 boreholewell
Breakdown of Restroom and Shower Facility Installation and Materials
Materials
Costs
Plumbing
$20,000
Brickwork
$20,000
Labor
$10,000
Total
$50,000 per1 facility
Total Cost of Restroom and Shower Facility Project Phase One: $50,000
*Plumbing cost includes toilets, urinals, sinks, fittings, solar-powered heaters, shower heads, pipes, doors, shower curtains, and window frames.
Project Cost
Total Cost of Borehole Well Project Phase One: $12,000
Project Funding
The funds for this program have been advanced by Water Charity. Each borewell averages out to about $6k, your donation using this Donate button will ensure that we have funds available to accomplish this project. Kindly donate using the button below:
This project has been completed. To read about the conclusion of the project, CLICK HERE.
This project is made possible through the partnership of WATER CHARITY and theOKOA Hero’s Child Ministries.
Location
Iganga District, Uganda
Community Description
Iganga District in Uganda is home to a population of about 402,000 people according to City Population. Most of the people living in it are peasants who have limited access to clean water and poor sanitation facilities. Poverty still remains the significant and very critical situation for the residents. 33% of the population’s access to clean water are in the center of the district, while the rest about 67% of the population must rely on unclean sources like swamp and wells.
Picture showing a dried-out borehole in Bulamangi which used to serve more than 500 people in the village.
In rural Uganda today, 67% of people have limited to zero access to a safe drinking water source. 83% of people have limited to zero access to a safe toilet facility. 94% of people have limited to zero access to a handwashing facility. The conditions in rural areas of Iganga District have led to a rise in illnesses like diarrhea and bilharzia due to poor sanitation and hygiene practices. The local government and other humanitarian organizations have tried to provide aid but their efforts have been unsuccessful due to corruption and mismanagement whereby those tasked to deliver services end up setting up low-standard hand-pump boreholes which dry out during the dry season. Meanwhile, the suffering is increased. Recently, an 11-year-old girl drowned in the water source her family is forced to use. It is over 5 miles round trip… with the return trip carrying full Jerrycans.
https://youtu.be/WsVvCHlBwz8
Problem Addressed
A lack of access to clean water in the rural areas, has not only led to the spread of waterborne diseases, but it has also greatly contributed to school dropouts for example lack of enough water at schools and underdevelopment of the area. The poor families also struggle with early pregnancies since girl children are forced to scramble for water from open wells, where they are either raped or even enticed in sexual conduct. Another major problem is the issue of sanitation, many families in the villages of Iganga district it has been observed that they do have very poor sanitation, example lack of water to wash hands after latrine use, lack of clean water to keep personal hygiene mostly for the girl child, lack of enough water for domestic use, etc. This has overwhelmed the families from the village to seek sources of clean water, and also to struggle to prevent waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, bilharzia, and cholera.
The main target group are the most underprivileged or vulnerable in the community, for example, children and youths, school children, women, the elderly, orphans and the poor rural homes in the 25 villages of the Iganga district. Perhaps a total number of about 15,000 mothers and children (More especially the girl child) shall directly benefit from the project with emphasis on the girl-child. The age group of 4-20 years, with an interest in reducing the long distances, traveled while in search of clean water for domestic use.
The picture above shows village elders with the administration, site engineer and the village Chairman after the meeting, Iganga district
Challenges
Being a village project, there are quite a lot of challenges that the organization will meet: i.e.;
● Lack of resources by the community to contribute towards the village clean water project. Families do lack water storage utensils due to poverty.
● Poor sanitation in the community. Remoteness and a poor road network.
● Land for borehole construction
Project Description
The project is aimed at the construction of 55 Hand pump boreholes in 25 most vulnerable villages of Iganga district with the essence that at least every village has 2 hand-pump boreholes in place. Out of the 55 boreholes, 6 Hand-pump boreholes are already completed in the first phase of this program.
The project will cover 25 villages from 5 sub-counties with a population of about 20,588 according as shown in the table below:
A community water source is very central to all and especially to women in the fight against poverty and equality. However, access to clean water in rural areas of Iganga district is low. And this is so, because of several reasons. The first cause is poverty itself. Reversing this situation through charity is of paramount importance for empowering the poor, children and their families.
Water Charity has planned to support vulnerable and poor families socially by providing a community clean water source. Our main intention is to empower families, communities, and vulnerable children and youths through this project with a good standard of living ensuring an improvement in sanitation and control of disease outbreaks.
https://youtu.be/RTWQmQ8khAU
Project Administration
The village clean water project will be implemented by Okoa Hero’s Child Ministries as partners of Water Charity. With the availability of resources, the project shall be fully operational within 2 months and ongoing depending on the agreed donor time framework. The clean water source will be a man-dug well that will be fitted with a hand pump and converted into a borehole, hence turning the water source into a clean water source. Our target is that each of the 25 villages must have a fully functional 2 boreholes. The project will be carried out with direct support from the community, for example, the storage of equipment and the mobilization of community site activities. Every community member shall be entitled to contribute $0.27 per month in order to facilitate repairs, borehole staffing, and other activities such as sanitation of the water source and wastewater management.
Overall objectives
The overall objective of this project is to provide clean water to the 25 vulnerable villages in Iganga district. The specific objectives of the project are to improve sanitation;
● To increase the enrolment of children in school.
● To increase access to clean water for poor families.
● To change the standards of living of households and also improve household health. ● To improve community access to clean water and sanitation
Specific Objectives
●To enable poor families to access clean water.
● To provide the community with a clean water source.
● To allow children access clean water.
● To change the standards of living of the communities of people in the 25 villages.
● To promote good sanitation.
● To reduce the distance traveled by community members while in search of clean water.
Project Activities
This project includes different activities. These are selecting community meetings on advocacy for clean water, Construction and digging of the borehole. Provision of support to educate locals about sanitation, Constructing a 5000-liter tank water reservoir and Sensitizing children about water use mostly girls. Fencing of the borehole and planning for wastewater drainage and empowering poor families about means of storing water for domestic use.
● IDENTIFYING POOR FAMILIES IN BUKYAYE VILLAGE
The first activity of the project is the selection of beneficiaries. They will be selected from communities within Bukyaye village. A team from each community will be mobilized to make an objective selection of the poorest families in Bukyaye village. There shall be criteria to identify the most vulnerable from each of the communities in the 25 villages and the beneficiaries will be the most needy village of the community.
● DATA COLLECTION PER HOUSEHOLD.
The selected poor households will be supported through a data collection survey. During the data collection survey, we will find out which provisions need to be fulfilled for example water storage equipment, plate stale, clothing and medical expenses to enable us to design the best for them in our upcoming projects.
● PROVIDE SANITATION SUPPORT TO BENEFICIARIES.
Here the beneficiaries of this project, the poor households shall receive sanitation support including safe drinking water and skills of water storage and basic household sanitation.
● COMMUNITY MEETING (CONDUCTING MEETINGS ON WHERE TO PLACE THE BOREHOLE).
The community is the nearest body to the poor and vulnerable families and children and so they bear the responsibility to support and advocate for their collective well-being. To this end, therefore, there is a plan to conduct community representative meetings on where the man-dug well will be constructed and how to support the clean water project and care for the borehole at the community level. This will include what amount to be contributed, when to shut the water source and when to open it to the public.
● COMMUNITY MEETINGS ON ANNUAL BASIS ON HOW TO MAINTAIN THE BOREHOLE.
In order to support the village clean water project, sustainable provisions per activity have to be put in place so as to maintain the project and its objectives. To sustainably support the community, they will have to be empowered economically. To maintain the water source for different purposes like domestic use, agriculture and also animal grazing.
Monitoring and Maintenance
Monitoring will be carried out on a regular basis throughout the project. The fieldwork desk has the responsibility of providing technical support, monitoring, and evaluation. The community shall be involved from the planning phase to hand over of the project.
The community shall be involved in the selection of poor families, monitoring and evaluation of the project. The funding agency shall also monitor, evaluate and receive the financial and physical accomplishment report.
The project will be subject to evaluation on a quarterly basis. However, day-to-day monitoring of its progress will be carried out by the Project Director and the Field officer and the beneficiary community members to ensure the attainment of the project goals. Quarterly reports are to be made to confirm the proper and effective use of resources received.
EXPECTED OUTPUT
The long-term output:
● The social welfare status of poor families improved.
Short term inputs
● Poor families have access to clean water on a daily basis.
● Improvement in sanitation and nutrition of poor families. Easy access to clean drinking water by children.
● Provision of water for domestic use. Presence of water for agricultural use.
Stressed mothers in Kasolo Villages in a village meetingIn this picture, we were engaging women and girls since they are our utmost beneficiaries
Project Funding
The funds for this program have been advanced by Water Charity. Each borewell averages out to about $2k and we intend to raise $110k for this program, your donation using this Donate button will ensure that we have funds available to accomplish this project. Kindly donate using the button below:
The site engineer installing a pipe during our last phase of launching the bore hole while the beneficiaries were eagerly waitingThe photo shows Our Beneficiaries enjoying the use of the rennovated Hand-pump bore hole in Bulamanji, Kasolo villageThe above picture shows an example of a renovated Hand-pump borehole in Bulamangi Village, Iganga district
Tragic Loss of Life
A tragedy occurred at one of the villages supported by the Busoga Region Borehole Program project. On Friday, we received the devastating news that an 11-year-old girl named Nabirye Shaliwa had drowned in a nearby water well and lost her life. Our team was on site until the body was retrieved.
This is a heartbreaking reminder of why our mission to bring safe and clean water to communities in need is so important. It also underscores the urgency of our work and why we must continue to strive for success in this project.
https://youtu.be/iTCdRDgFu3Q
To read the Progress Report for the First Round, CLICK HERE. To read details about the second round, CLICK HERE.
This program is made possible through a partnership of WATER CHARITY and Ecotopia eco-hotel.
Location : Semil, Guatemala
Community Description
Semil is a small Mayan Village in Guatemala. The village has a population of close to 1800 people but there are around 12,000 indigenous Mayan people within one hour’s walking distance of the school and there is no running water or filtered drinking water in this village and most children completely lose their teeth by the time they reach puberty, because soda is cheaper than drinking water. This also means that Diabetes is running rampant throughout the village.
Project Description
The project is to install a water system that will provide a clean, sterile environment for the children, as well as the community at large.
We will be installing a water pump system that will channel water from the nearby river to the school, which will include a water filtration system that provides an access point for clean, sterile drinking water, as well as bathrooms for the local school and community. Part of this project will also include educating the children on hygiene practices using proper bathroom facilities, washing their hands, and brushing their teeth on a daily basis. We will also be sharing this water with a clinic that is under construction adjacent to the school, which will provide health services to thousands.
Currently, the focus is on providing running water and proper bathroom facilities to the local school. Step one is to install working bathrooms and filtered drinking water, which will provide an access point where people can fill up their water containers to take home.
The total cost for building this system with the bathrooms pumps & filters and labor is roughly $13,000 USD. This will be providing the tubing, installation, and filters to the clinic. The total time for construction will be roughly 90 days from the time of funding, meaning this positive impact can be achieved very quickly and with instant results.
Project Administration
Water Charity is funding the project to buy labor and materials that will lead to a positive impact on the community, especially on the lives of people & kids at school. Water Charity funds will be used to buy sand, steel and cement, as well as three running water tanks, also a water pump construction is well underway.
The project is being done in partnership with a local eco-tourist hotel called Ecotopia. It is being managed on the ground by our friend and associate John Hatch, who runs the hotel and has a very interesting crypto-funding model where people can purchase NFTs to help him do projects in the town. After the school water supply and bathrooms are taken care of, we intend to help John and Cryptopia build a health clinic next to the school. Currently, the villagers have to travel a long distance to see any medical help, and most babies are delivered in the dirt on the church floor. A health clinic with running, clean water will make a huge impact on this remote region.
Once the bathrooms are completed, the next plan is to build a proper kitchen facility for the school, as well as a computer room that will provide access to technology and the Internet, massively increasing the opportunities and resources for these children. We also plan to build a playground for the kids, and a Permaculture Garden that will allow us to teach them about building a sustainable future.
Comments This project will provide adequate sanitation facilities, allow for proper hygiene, and create a storage facility for water needed at the school.
Project Cost
In addition to the school water supply, bathrooms and immediate water tank and pump infrastructure, Water Charity is looking to help John and the village with community water taps (so they don’t have to drink soda), more sanitation facilities to discourage open defecation, and the grand prize of a fully stocked health clinic for the area. The total cost of all this will reach up to $200k USD or more, any donations we receive in excess of the costs of this project will carry over into the next project/phase.
Donations collected to Date
$0
The project has been fully funded by Water Charity. We encourage others to continue to donate using the Donate button below.
With new developments in filter technology, we can now provide needy communities with long-lasting, effective water filters that can provide up to 2000 gallons of water a day… for a reasonable price.
We are very excited about this program, which will include individual projects all over the world. The need for these filters is great, and there is almost no limit to the number of wonderful new filters we can distribute as the funds become available.
Trying the Filtered Water
Keep in mind:
80% of all disease is water-borne
Lack of clean drinking water is the leading preventable cause of death worldwide
443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness
6.3 million children under the age of five died in 2013
As an addition to our current roster of successful programs in water and sanitation, which have included well drilling, rainwater catchment, toilet and handwashing station construction, emergency relief, reforestation efforts and more–including a good number of filter projects–as well as our acclaimed Appropriate Projects initiative, this new program will be an umbrella for our worldwide push to get these new filters into the hands of those people who desperately need them. It will include all relevant projects, large and small… thus enabling people to donate to the overall effort.
There is no need for these statistics to be true anymore. We have all the tools we need to completely eliminate this suffering and waste of life. The predominant victims of this terrible situation are young children. These kids deserve a chance.
The projects in this program will be upwardly scalable, and as such, the more money we can raise, the more filters we can give out. Instead of creating and packaging the individual filter delivery projects one by one and funding them separately, it makes sense to raise as much money as possible and keep the filters flowing. In this way, we can also get larger grants from foundations and concerned organizations. We fully expect that this program will grow into the largest thing we have done.
For those interested in the filter technology we are presently proposing, please feel free to go to the Sawyer website and peruse the relevant materials. We will be implementing primarily their Point One filter, but for hospitals, clinics and other sites we will also be making the Point Zero Two purifier available. [note: normally viruses are not a major issue for drinking water.]
This is an exciting program, and we hope you will see the need for it and join in. Water Charity is currently active in over 60 countries around the world. As the money comes in we will take the Filters for Life – Worldwide program into all of them and beyond.
If there are certain regions where you are especially interested in helping, it will be possible to donate specifically for those countries or areas. Just send us a message with your donation. However, we are hoping people will recognize that a general donation to the program itself will be the most effective way to get the maximum number of filters out in the shortest amount of time.
We are water… literally. The human body is about 70% water by mass, and a typical human cell is composed of 98.73% water molecules.
Individual FFL projects in their entirety can be found HERE, and are listed at the bottom of THIS page. Please consider supporting this monumental effort.
Coming off recent success in The Gambia and Liberia, Water Charity is embarked on another Water for Everyone Project in Madagascar. We have been active in Madagascar from early on in WC history, having sponsored many dozens of projects in recent years and touched hundreds of villages. Our primary intervention there has been in the rehabilitation of broken wells first, and the drilling of new wells where necessary.
Madagascar is well-suited for a Water for Everyone Program. Only half the population has access to clean water and much of that population lies in rural communities. Most rely on subsistence farming and fishing for their livelihood. Forty-three percent of adults lack proper nutrition and forty-eight percent of children under five suffer from stunted growth. There have been other projects to address water availability in cities and larger villages, but the rural populations still have a long way to go, and this is where our focus lies.
The challenges are as varied as the mini continent that forms Madagascar. The center of the country is formed by mountainous highlands dominated by igneous basements, making the search for subsurface water quite difficult. The coasts are rimmed with sedimentary rock and carbonates and are slightly more conducive for water drilling. The north and east are largely semi-tropical while the south and southwest are arid. It seems that climate change has made conditions worse in the south where water is lacking even for agricultural purposes, and malnutrition and starvation are widespread.
Many attempts over the years have been made to mitigate the water problem. There are literally thousands of broken wells across the country that have fallen into disrepair. One objective of this project is to find and identify these wells, assess their potential, and design programs to put them back in service. Our partners, local residents of the various regions, are our force on the ground to collect these data points. Water Charity uses GIS data and our Geospatial analysis capabilities to identify needs, and gaps in infrastructure, and design specific and targeted programs to get water to those in need. It is expected the entire project could take a few years, but we are confident that all rural villages can be provided with at least one working well and given the skills to maintain them.
Our local Malagasy partners and The Madagascar Water Project (MWP), have extensive connections and knowledge about the country, the languages and dialects spoken, and are a key piece of the puzzle for this ambitious program. We have worked with them for many years, drilling dozens of wells and repairing countless broken ones to provide clean water to thousands of people. This program has begun along the east coast and will expand to include rural regions all over, with the goal of eventually including the entire county. We will not deal with cities and the larger towns for this B2B effort, as there are existing infrastructure issues and the problems are entirely different. WFE Madagascar is solely focused on the rural villages, at least for now.
Goals and Methods of Water for Everyone
The Madagascar Water for Everyone Project is designed to achieve the goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 and the Plan Emergence Madagascar Priorate 29.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6.1: By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
Plan Emergence Madagascar Priorite 29 – Garantirl’acces universal a l’eau potable (French is a main language for government there)
The Project combines the latest technology in satellite mapping with an extensive ground-based data collection effort. The Program will conduct inventories and is documenting existing water infrastructure. We are assessing functionality and adequacy to the populations served and can thus identify under-served populations where they exist. Population data, water-related health data, agricultural and irrigation data, and water infrastructure and water quality data has been collected from local officials when available, and we will continue to work with these agencies as closely as we can.
All our projects (in this program and out) involve extensive documentation. Well location data is recorded using GPS-enabled devices, this data is combined with various survey and government-provided information and cross-referenced with other aid groups and NGOs. We have webpages put up regularly (see page bottom for links) and update them with new info and media from the field. While this is usually done with incredible speed, we can not always keep pages up to date in real-time and it may take us some weeks to post recent work.
Water Charity integrates population, infrastructure, health, and other data collected on the ground into Geographic Information System (GIS) map-based platform including ArcGIS and Earth Engine. This makes it possible to 1) identify and quantify gaps in water infrastructure; 2) design specific and targeted projects to improve clean water access 3) put them in a format that can be presented to potential sponsors and operators and 4) track their impact over time. Projects coming up include newly drilled wells, repair of existing wells, and the repairs, maintenance, and upgrades of a larger infrastructure. Some areas will be prioritized based on their specific needs.
The Project began in the Region of Antsinanana and continues into other Regions of Madagascar on pace.
The Madagascar Water Project: an overview
Since 2015, WFE Madagascar & the Madagascar Water Project have drilled about 200 water wells in about 80 rural villages, providing clean water to an estimated 100,000 people. Starting around Antsinanana, the work has migrated to the south over time and the well drilling work can now be found as far south as Mananjary. To aid in this effort, WC funded the purchase of a dedicated well drilling rig over the summer of 2022. This new rig can be expected to function for many years to come with minimal maintenance and should increase the ability of MWP and the WFE program to aid the people with new wells, deepening existing wells, and even clearing debris that has come to block wells that otherwise should be functional.
We have also started a well repair program in the drought-stricken south to fix some of the thousands of broken wells located there. These well repairs have been our bread and butter in the past. and will continue to be a major part of what we do there. After all, fixing a broken well is nearly always more efficient than drilling a new well and installing a brand-new handpump.
Like many of our partners around the world, MWP is small, lean, active, and impactful. The photo below was taken in 2018 during one of our joint ventures that included the village of Salehy. This is the same core group that has supported our Water for Everyone Program all along the way, and will continue to lead the way on the ground. (note their cool Water Charity T-Shirts).
Except for Director, Frederick Rittelmeyer (3rd from left above), who works as an unpaid volunteer, the entire staff is Malagasy. As the photo shows, they are quite proud of their association with Water Charity, and it has been mutually beneficial for all. The gentleman in the foreground, Hilaire Razandrafely is the MWP Project Manager for the Madagascar Water for Everyone Project. Photo, Salehy 2019.
The Madagascar Water Project drilled its first well in the village of Andovoranto in 2015. That well is shown in the photo left and is still working today. We remain committed to the villages it serves and provides maintenance training, repairs, and spare parts for its wells. If the well fails, which occasionally happens, the MWP drills replacement wells when needed. Photo, Andovoranto 2015.
So far, WC has drilled most of its wells along the east coast, along an intra-coastal waterway known as the Pangalana Channel. To many, the area looks like paradise, but many villages had no access to clean water, which has a profoundly negative impact on the health of those living there. With the help of the MWP, the area at least has taken a small step forward into the 20th Century.
Due to the amenable conditions, we can use hand augers and slide hammers to build wells. In most cases, this takes only a few hours. Standard pitcher pumps are used and can produce at rates up to 25 liters/minute from depths to 7 meters.
The Project provides community-based water wells, managed by Well Management Committees. The MWP provides guidance but ultimately rules, hours, and fees (if any) are determined by the committee.
Effective self-management is key to sustainability and is often more difficult than drilling the well. The line between assistance and dependency is as thin and delicate as a piece of thread.
MWP Logistics
One of the biggest challenges working in Madagascar is logistics. Roads are in poor repair and often nonexistent even when they appear on a map. The Water for Everyone Project will have to overcome these challenges even more. One can choose where to drill wells, but the mission of the Water for Everyone Project is to go everywhere.
MWP History
The first wells began drilling in the village of Andovoranto in 2015. The work migrated southward every year, eventually moving past the village of Mananjary in 2020.
Water Charity believes that maintenance and repairs are as critical to the program as newly drilled wells. These long-term relationships are more efficient, and create less oversight and maintenance, and, in the end, leave the communities with better, more efficient, and equitable water management.
Well Repair Program in Southern Madagascar
In 2022 WFE Madagascar began a large well-repair program in southern Madagascar. The entire southern section of the country has suffered from extreme drought for more than 10 years. Not only does it affect water availability, but it has also caused widespread famine. Malnutrition and starvation are everywhere.
Thousands of water wells have been drilled there in the past few decades. Although most are now broken, some are still capable of being repaired to provide clean water, any water to those in need.
The map below shows the current area of focus in the District of Betroka.
Some wells are conventional Indian Pumps that need routine repairs or have been victims of theft such as the well below in Anabinda.
Photo Anabinda 2022
Other broken wells exist as holes in the ground. The project has installed our conventional pumps onto these wells and successfully brought them back into production. They are used as much for agricultural purposes as they are for human consumption. Each well is saving lives and improving the quality of life for many.
The pumps are taken off each night to protect them from theft.
Water access is often a key component of famine. On a trip in February 2021, we deviated from our mission and distributed 350 kg of rice to a few villages that hadn’t eaten in weeks. The World Food Program, USAID, other NGOs, and the Madagascar Government have since come in to provide more assistance.
Conclusion
There is so much to do in Madagascar that a systematic, thorough, complete, and scientific approach is the best way to assess the needs, design solutions, and provide relief to the many millions still in need of clean water. The Water for Everyone Initiative is a significant move in that direction.
Join Us
List of Water Charity’s Past Madagascar Project Pages:
13 water wells were drilled in six villages that now provide clean water to over 15,000 people. The project area is south of the Mangoro River (Salehy), through Masomeloka to Nosy Varika and beyond, moving into the remote area where the distal ends of the Regions of Antsinanana and Fianarantsoa meet.
Built a community well at the school in Andrenilaivelo, a livestock and farming community of approximately 250 people located in the central highlands of Madagascar.
Built 2 latrines at the primary school in the village of Amindratombo. Amindratombo is part of the community of Sahambavy, located in the southern highlands of Madagascar. The project will benefit 200 students.
Build a well at the primary school in the village of Amindratombo. The well will be used to provide drinking water for the students. Amindratombo is part of the community of Sahambavy, located in the southern highlands of Madagascar. The project will benefit the 200 students plus indirect beneficiaries numbering about 1,500: 1,700 total.
Repair and improve the well at the Maternity and Health Center in the community of Ansampanimahazo is located 9 km from its district Faratsiho in the northern highlands of Madagascar. The population consists of approximately 15,000 people spread across 12 villages.
Build 4 wells in the Amboromana district of Vohemar, Madagascar. There are currently 360 families living in the area, with a population of 1,836 people.
Purchase and install 1 water pump to expand the production of rice in the community. Morarano Chrome is a town and commune in the Eastern part of Madagascar. Over 150 people who work in the fields, and their families, will benefit from the project.
Built 3 wells and 1 dam in three neighboring fokontanies (neighborhoods) of Anjiro: Mahatsinjo, Antanetibe, and Ambilobe. Anjiro is a rural community located in the central highlands of Madagascar. It has a population of about 15,000 people.
Replace 1 broken handpump at the site with a sealed well lined with concrete rings, and an electronic pump for the Special Community Reserve of Analalava, a protected rainforest on the east coast of Madagascar, owned by the local community. This project immediately benefitted 150+ people and has since benefitted thousands of tourists.
Build 2 new public latrines, with lined and displaced pits and ventilation. The facilities will be made available for use by the students and villagers.of Morarano, a rural village located 12 km southwest of the beach town of Foulpointe on the east coast of Madagascar. About 150 people live in the village center. However, the presence of an elementary school means 270 students come in from the surrounding hills on a daily basis: a total of 420 people.
Build 1 public biogas toilet for the community that uses human waste as a valuable resource that can be converted into two products: (1) gas for cooking and (2) fertilizer. The project was located in the beautiful coastal community of Ambonivato, about 8 miles outside of Tamatave, the second largest city in Madagascar. Though it is close to the city, the village of 750 people is still a very poor and rural village.
1 bathroom facility with 3 toilets, 3 urinals, and 3 sinks for Association Mitsinjo, an association of local guides. Mitsinjo is located 2 km from the village of Andasibe, but its impact zone is much larger. It is the manager of the Torotorofotsy wetlands, a Ramsar site, as well as the Analamazaotra forest station. The facility will benefit the association through the 3,000+ tourists that visit annually.
1 new, high-quality, composting latrine behind the clinic which can be used by all of the approximately 300 patients, health workers, nurses, and the doctor in Tsivangiana, a rice-farming and fishing village near the east coast of Madagascar. There is a major water sanitation problem, with a couple of stagnant streams used for everything from bathing, to washing clothes, to washing dishes, to collecting water for cooking and other household uses.
1 new well in the village of Ambavala, located on the tropical and beautiful northeast coast of the island nation of Madagascar. This rather large village of nearly 300 people depends on only one well for all of their daily water needs.
1 refurbished non-functioning well. Mahajoanivo is a small rural village in the Central Highlands of Madagascar. Mahajoanivo has 211 residents; most are farmers.
Install 6 pumps in existing wells for use in 6 different cooperatives, including the rice cooperative, garden cooperative, and women’s gardening group, to irrigate their crops. The cooperatives are located in Anketrakabe, a village of approximately 1,200 people located 47 km from Diego.
1 tree nursery to create food security, increase the available water supply, and provide economic benefits to the 300,000 people in Mandritsara, a city and commune in northern Madagascar.
1 rainwater harvesting system and 3 systems to remediate flooding problems for the three largest dormitories on the Le Centre d’Accueil et de Transit des Jumeaux Abandonné (CATJA), an orphanage for 125 abandoned twin children. The orphanage is located in Mananjary, a seaside town in southeast Madagascar that is home to nearly 30,000 Malagasy whose livelihoods are very much integrated with their natural surroundings.
5- Day Permagarden Staff and Volunteer Training and Training Design Creation; Peace Corps Madagascar requested assistance in the creation of a thorough Training Design and Evaluation Process that will guide the sustainable agriculture and nutrition security work of current and future Peace Corps Volunteers.
1 shower facility to serve the Amporofor Clinic, which serves 12,543 people. Access to a shower with clean water and soap will reduce the risk of infection to the person, as well as reduce contamination by viruses and bacteria in the clinic area.
Improve 4 wells, including the installation of 2 new pumps for Ambatomainty, a rural community of about 10,000 people located in the Alaotra Mangoro region, also known as the ‘rice basket’ of Madagascar. For water, families were long forced to rely on a river that has turned red from mud and erosion.
1 well built between the local elementary school and the community center of Antsakoana, a small village south of the town Amparafaravola located in the Eastern part of Madagascar; well will benefit roughly 350 people.
Improve 2 wells for the 1,000 people of Tsivangiana, who live along the east coast of Madagascar, separated from the Indian Ocean by about 20 kilometers of degraded rainforest. After the well broke, for the past three years the people have been fetching water from the stream.
1 well and 1 new pump for a second well; the project recipient facility, Centre Hospitalier de District (CHD), benefits 2,000 people per month who attend the health facilities.
2 wells were built for the village of Andonaka, located on the east coast of Madagascar, 12 km west of the commune and district capital Nosy Varika and accessible only by boat. No potable water exists for the 1,270 residents of Andonaka; all water is drawn from the Sakeleneoa River which also serves as a bath, laundry, and dishwashing source as well.
1 well and a reconstructed aqueduct provided to the mountain town of Imito, located 224 km south of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. Zanabahona is one of the largest communities in Imito with a population of 2,300. Project conducted by Peace Corp Volunteer and local NGO.
Purchase and installation of a water pump for use by the members of Fanilo, the local farmers association in Antsakoana, a small town north of the town Amparafaravola, located in the Eastern part of Madagascar. The project gave the water control needed for the planting of currently unused rice fields. The project benefitted 280 people who work in the fields and their families.
1 well provided to Morarano, a rural village located 12 km southwest of the beach town of Foulpointe on the east coast of Madagascar. About 150 people live in the village center and 270 students come in from the surrounding hills on a daily basis: a total of 420. In a polluted pool, people bathe and wash laundry and dishes before taking the water home to cook and drink. The work was conducted by a school teacher with experience in digging lined latrines, a Peace Corps Volunteer, and a motivated health worker who lives in the village.
3 wells built in three different communities in northern Madagascar, carried out under the direction of a Peace Corps Volunteer and a local NGO ARES, which has organized teams to build over 50 wells. The three towns are in the commune of Anjangoveratra, district of Sambava: Antanandava, Anamboafo, and Marolamba, with a total population of 3,419, and no wells. Residents have to get their water from rivers, streams, and even rice paddies, which are polluted by cow and human waste. Several deaths in the towns in the past year have been attributed to water contamination.
4 wells built in the Amboromana district of Vohemar, Madagascar, which has a population of 1,836 people. People have to fetch water from a very distant dirty river, or do without. Oversight of the well construction was undertaken by ARES, a local NGO and Sister Rosalie, a Malagasy local.
5 wells improved in Anjangoveratra, which has a population of about 4,000. Project was overseen by a local health worker, the head of the women’s organization, as well as the Peace Corps Volunteer.
2 wells built for 2,200 people, about 600 of them children under 5. There is a local primary public school and a local Antsikory Women’s Group. Most community members use the local stream to collect water. Many of the children in the village of Antsikory suffer from diarrheal diseases and schistosomiasis, a disease caused by infection with freshwater parasitic worms in certain tropical and subtropical countries. The project is overseen by Peace Corps Volunteer, in cooperation with the Women’s Group.
In addition to our normal flow of well repairs, we have done this great work at Mandritsara hospital. Check out the details below:
Mandritsara Hospital
After drilling 40 meters of fractured volcanic rock, it was tested at 2500 liters/hour, the maximum capability with the testing equipment, and will be able to supply the hospital’s needs for years to come. A year ago, one of the surgeons there asked if we could help with their water problems. The municipal system goes dry for 4+ months each year and their private well can supply only 10% of their needs.
It’s difficult to do surgery and provide medical care in a fully functional hospital without enough water. The local and volunteer expat medical staff just grin and bear it, but their hands are already full living and practicing medicine in conditions long past in the modern world. Their spirit and positive outlook are an inspiration to keep going. Good News Hospital — Friends of Mandritsara Trust
Update on Mandritsara Hospital
The Madagascar Water Project just broke new ground by drilling a deep well in volcanic basalt, tapping into natural fractures to get water production. This is the first time the Project has drilled this deep, in this environment, using a drilling rig.
We received a request from the Good News Hospital — Friends of Mandritsara Trust for help with their annual water shortage. The municipal system in Mandritsara, a village of 30k people, feeds off a river that goes dry every year. The hospital has two wells that provide some relief but it is only 1/10th the volume normally needed. The hospital is expanding and needs reliable water supplies year-round.
The Project conducted field geology studies and used a geophysical study made by the hospital at the time of its initial construction in the 1990’s to identify a prospective location. The initial hole had to be abandoned at 11m due to a stuck pipe, but the second hole was successfully drilled to 40m without problems. The well tested 2500 liters/hour, which was the limit of the testing equipment, but it is likely capable of producing at twice that rate. The well is located in a rice field adjacent to the hospital complex and a 600-meter pipeline will tie it into their existing water system.
Check out the video below related to this project:
Water Charity & Call To Nature Seedreservation & Permaculture Program – Ghana
To read about the Call To Nature Seed Preservation & Permaculture Well Project, CLICK HERE.
Call To Nature’s mission is to care for the Earth, care for people, and share valuable resources by implementing permaculture principles, through farming, heirloom seeds saving, and providing hands-on training related to the importance of the use of permaculture in sustaining the environment and by creating a culture that is inspired by natural ways to produce seeds and food that will resolve food instability. Our business is one of the best in heirloom seed production in Africa and the first of its kind in Ghana. Our business relies on unique methods designed with nature in mind, through farming and production of high-quality seeds and food that will eventually lead to the end of food insecurity in many parts of the continent of Africa, and other areas around the world.
Our project has grown from just school gardening and tree planting and from 4 acres piece of land to 17 acres.5 years ago, we began collecting and reviving heirloom seeds across the world for our newly constructed seed bank in order to help resolve the issue of food insecurity and to tell all the beautiful stories around them from the origin, name source and use. Our seed collection is not only focusing on food but also on plant species that help protect our environment, especially species that help protect water bodies and species when intercrop retains moisture content in the soil so farmers can use less water for farming. Our operations are currently facing a huge water challenge on-site, we are therefore presenting our request to Water Charity for support.
SCHOOL / COMMUNITY GARDENING
In 2015 research conducted by Call Nature in some Ghanaian communities shows that about eight (8) out of ten (10) children are facing malnutrition due to poor eating habits. And as such, Call to Nature has developed a program that promotes school/community gardening for a healthier living lifestyle. We plan to design at least ten (10) school gardens each year to connect the mindset of the people to nature and to provide better nutrition.
Plenty of studies have shown just how school gardens can stir students towards the right and more conscious decision-making.
At the end of July, after working with the Yurok tribe in the past, Water Charity heard that some of its members were served a boil water notice. The water was not safe to drink without boiling it.
Working with Sawyer Water Filters, Water Charity ensured that every household on the Yurok Reservation received a filter for their tap; more than 900 Yurok households received water faucet-attached filters.
The filters are capable of filtering up to 500 gallons of water per day. Filters were installed for Yurok tribal members in Klamath as well as upriver in Weitchpec.
The contamination stems from the conditions of the district’s water storage tank in Klamath. The tank had been severely damaged in 2017 when part of a dead tree fell on its roof.
The Yurok Tribe, citing the State Water Resources Control Board, stated the tank’s condition “creates a significant sanitary risk to the drinking water customers.”
To read details about the Final Report Of Water Filter Distribution – Karuk Tribe, CLICK HERE.
See Our Past Work with the Yurok Tribeby CLICKING HERE or on the image below.
Water for Everyone is a border-to-border initiative encompassing Liberia, The Gambia, and Togo – to provide safe water to the entire population. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly agreed upon 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6 or SDG 6) calls for clean water and sanitation for all people. In light of SDG6, Water Charity’s goal is to provide a basic supply of potable water to every person in Togo by the end of 2023.
Togo is a small but densely populated country in Western Africa, ranking 127th in the world for size, with a population of around 8 million. Being one of the narrowest countries in the world, with only 71 miles east-west between the borders of Ghana and Benin, it stretches south to north and as a result exhibits different climate.
The southern part of the country is a low coastal plain with extensive lagoons and marshes, while further north is the savanna – dry and arid. 67% of the country’s land is considered Agricultural, with Togo’s main exports being Cocoa Beans, Coffee, and Peanuts.
The Water for Everyone initiative kicked off in Togo in 2018 as 15 borehole wells were implemented in the Centrale region under the direction of Anne Jeton, hydrologist and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.
Current estimates are that 55% of rural communities in Togo do not have access to an improved water source.
Water Charity’s goal is to work in collaboration with the Ministry of Hydrology and the Ministry of Health in Togo to bring improved water solutions, as well as training and education on basic sanitation to all these rural communities.
Collecting the data: border-to-border surveys
GPS-enabled mobile technology and GIS mapping are absolutely revolutionizing the data collection process in developing countries across the world. So far in Togo, Water Charity has trained over 50 individuals in collecting using tablets and smartphones, none of whom had ever done so before. Over 2018-19, Water Charity mapped the entirety of rural Togo. See below our Water Charity – Togo Storymap.
Water Testing
Once again, Sparrow Data Solutions has worked with Water Charity to develop a Water Testing application to be debuted in Togo. We accepted a request from the Ministry of Hydrology to begin running water testing in villages all over the Maritime region, something they have not previously been able to do.
Our Water Test is done using portable strips which test for 14 different components including pH, Hardness, Iron, Nitrates, and Total Chlorine. With the help of a local expert, we trained a team of 12 to operate the kits and record the results using tablets or smartphones.
Our 12 agents went back out to survey certain villages in the Maritime region – we decided to start by testing surface water sources across the region, which could include rivers, lakes, lagoons, etc. Thus far we have collected data on 224 different surface water sources in Maritime and are excited to share our findings with the Ministry of Hydrology to continue to grow a good working partnership.
We Need Your Support To fund Water Projects
From here we get to move to the fun part – implementation. This process is expected to take us to the end of 2024. Before we even start projects, this involves forming partnerships with local NGOs who will do most of the heavy lifting on the ground – supplying agents for filter distributions, following up on filter installs, organizing water committees, etc. It’s crucial for us to know who our major players are and have a set of standards that can apply to everyone across the board.
On the government level – each village or community in Togo has what’s called a “Village Development Committee” which is staffed by at least one responsible individual. Our job is to work with each village committee as well as local health centers where possible to ensure formation of a Water Committee each time we implement a project. The Water Committee is then responsible for the long-term sustainability of whatever implementation we come in with. The implementations can include but are not limited to – new manual or machine dug boreholes, repairs or rehabs on existing wells, water storage and distribution systems, and installation of Sawyer filters in individual households.
In addition to our primary objective to make access to potable water available to everyone, we are working with other organizations that operate in other development sectors, such as health, education, food security, the environment, and economic development, to improve the well-being of the people of Togo. In this regard, we are making available our technical capacity and database to others seeking to “do good”.
At this point, we are estimating to implement over 5,500 projects from now until the end of 2023. We are bringing in partners, large and small, foreign and local, to assist us in implementation, as well as to provide funding for our work on the ground.
We know the task ahead of us and it is a large one – now we need your help to make it happen!
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