A sorryful sight

24th March 2014:

I’m sure this well was installed by some very well meaning people, probably of Christian origin, who sang, prayed and rejoiced with this community as a new pump was installed here.

I figure this was installed in about 2000 or so, and maybe lasted until 2001 if our experience is anything to go by. Most likely the community asked and maybe begged the original installers to come back and fix it. The installers looked for payment, none was forthcoming. Then the cover maybe broke as the community removed it. Then the pump was stolen by thieves and so this is the scene today.

This may not be the exact story, but is often the scenario we encounter.

When we decided to get involved in 2005 we had read the stories, so we are strong on maintenance. We also have a pump that can be maintained by village women, more or less (fairly) unique.

Richard Cansdale has a lot to be proud of. He has worked tirelessly on making an amazing pump for most of his life and we are so thankful to be able to use it.

A totally appropriate technology.

So What Now? At the request of the villagers – the women – we (by this we really mean the villagers, as we never do work that they can do better) will clean out the well, make a cover (they supply the sand and stone), install a new pump, and with little or no fuss maybe 200 or 300 people will again have clean water after 10 or 12 years.

Then we will train the women and leave our phone number and tell them where we are. We would like to believe that a man on a bike can be there within a day if the pump ever needs replacing. Our pump then is almost fully recyclable if it returns to the factory (on the bike of course).

We are not here for any glory, just for the water!