Or, rather a continuation. The planning was initiated in earnest in February 2008; we met this past week with the Church of Uganda leaders who are actively striving to meet the water needs in the villages. It's time to move forward with implementing the improvements.
Karen joined me on the trip along with two other EMI folks: Janet, a long-term staff member in Uganda and Travis, an intern. We sandwiched meetings with the church leaders (Bishop Salimo, Rev.'s David, Moses, and others) around a visit to a few of the villages. There are more than twenty villages in all, ranging in size from a few families to several hundred people. The Ngenge area has been growing in population as more and more people return to their historical homeland following the quieting of conflicts in the past few years. Subsistence farming is the main livelihood. The crops are poor this year because of drought. September/October is harvest time but most of the maize we saw was dry and stunted. Several people expressed concern about famine.
What are we hoping to accomplish? There are two parts. One is to provide potable water for several villages that lack potable supplies. In some cases, that means repairing hand pumps (the India Mark II types for you water techies). In other cases, it means drilling new boreholes (wells). Part two is helping with irrigation improvements including a canal and loaning portable human-powered pumps. The underlying goal for all improvements is sustainability, which I'm defining as "long-lasting improvements that can be fully supported by the community." In other words, the improvements will be functioning if we return for a visit in ten years.
The photos show one of the broken hand pumps and a nearby stream that provides an alternative source of water. Yes, the water looks that muddy in real life and yes, that's a donkey wading in upstream. It's not a great source. The people do boil the water before drinking it, which requires scarce wood or charcoal and is inconvenient.
Paul, in your next post could we possibly see some images of water collection, harvesting, and sanitizing done by the locals? It is obviously now time to really figure out the questions that need to be asked.
ReplyDeleteDon't let stress consume you, rather use it as your fuel to do the best that you can. Has anyone yet recognized the potential of UV?
Godspeed, and looking forward to your next blog post.
-Tom