Water Update

(Gina’s Post)

A lot of you were very interested in the water situation we last blogged about on our May 16^th post.  There was FINALLY a little bit of a resolution when we could pull the villagers away from their busy harvest time for yet another meeting about the bore hole. 

We learned a little bit of info from the NGO who helped install the bore hole about two years ago.  Apparently it has broken twice in the past two years, which is way over the average amount of breakdowns, even if the villagers were “pumping incorrectly” as the folks from the local water district would like us to believe.  Unfortunately the NGO contracted with a Chinese company who they suspect installed the bore hole at a slant, causing excess strain on the pump.  This Chinese company is nowhere to be seen and the NGO has no more funds to build additional bore holes in our area.  They have turned all water projects over to the district government’s water and sanitation department, which has no funds of its own and charges the villagers exorbitant transport fees whenever it is called to repair a bore hole.  The NGO did offer to train the villagers to learn to fix the bore hole, but could not promise tools and said they suspected the bore hole would break down again in the next year, no matter how carefully the villagers pumped it.

In the meantime, there was quite a bit of tension in our neighborhood between villagers who paid their 10,000 kwacha ($2) fee for bore hole repair and those who didn’t.  Some literally didn’t have the money and some said they did not want to pay for something unless they could see it fixed.  Collectively, they had gathered 145,000 kwacha ready to help pay for bore hole reparations.

So . . . at the meeting we had about 12 men and 1 woman, and they were busy quarreling about who did and did not pay the fee.  Scott and I again presented the different options (see May 16^th post), drawing a picture of the suspected slant in the current bore hole design as well as a model for a do-it-yourself covered well.  We explained that the 145,000 they had collected would be enough to buy at least two pockets of cement, which could help cover the current well to keep it cleaner.

At first, the villagers really wanted to pay to get the bore hole fixed, but when they calculated they would probably be doing this at least every year because of the slant of the bore hole, they quickly realized that this option was NOT sustainable.  Some offered to go to the NGO borehole-fixing training, but they also made a point that the correct tools and parts replacement would be very expensive for the villagers themselves to cover.  

What they decided to do next was completely unexpected for myself and Scott.  Apparently the current well was on a single family’s property, and this was causing problems because all of the villagers were using what was supposed to be a private compound’s well. 

Villagers gather abound the initial groundbreaking of the well

So, they decided to do what any logical rural Zambian with a hoe and an axe would do . . . dig.  They divided themselves into four work groups, and decided that each group would dig every four days until they reached the water table, which they suspected was about 15 meters below the ground.  No helmets, no ropes, no safety equipment and DEFINITELY no power tools.  Just a lot of manpower and the desire to take ownership of a problem they were tired of waiting for “someone else” to fix.  These guys are not afraid of hard labor and against Scott and my warnings about the apparent safety risks of the project, they assured us that Lundas are very good at digging their own wells.

What could we do but go along with this plan?  After exhausting all government and NGO resources in the area, Scott and I realized that trying to repair the existing bore hole was not only unsustainable, but a royal runaround of chasing various people in the BOMA and never hearing anyone take accountability for the problem.  Although we were thrilled that the villagers finally wanted to take responsibility for their own problems, we were more than a little worried for their safety.  But . . . reluctantly we agreed to assist them with the concrete cover and handle once the well was dug. 

They were already a few meters deep by lunchtime the first day!

As of yesterday, they had dug a little over 5 meters, painstakingly picking thick iron rocks and lifting it up one bucket at a time.  One worker at a time carefully lowers himself using small hand and footholds chiseled into the walls of the well, and sends the debris up in a bucket, where men on the top lift it with a rope and send it back down again.  Most are shirtless and covered in dust when they come up from their shift, and say it is “very hot” down below.  At night when they aren’t working, they cover it up with large tree branches so goats and children don’t accidently fall in.  They have taken a few-day break for the maize harvest, but have made remarkable progress since beginning only one week ago.

So I guess that’s our resolution (at least right now) to our water issue.  If completed, this will be a true community well with a cover to keep out contaminants.  Scott and I will definitely be involved with the transport and logistics of the concrete, but we are excited that the villagers have raised the money themselves to tackle this problem.  Cross your fingers and keep your eyes peeled for water update #3.