Clean water shallow-well and rope-pump for Lalambe village
- Started: 16 Mar 2021
- Completion date: 2 April 2021
$1,840
About
After the success of our last clean-water well project in Tanzania, we decided to build another.
This project will bring water to Lalambe village in western Tanzania, where there are 16,000 people in 4 hamlets.
Currently, the 1300 people in the Nyamnyinya hamlet need to fetch their water from Ruchugi stream 5km away. Walking to and from the stream, queuing for water, then carrying it back home can take over three hours a day.
This is a self-help scheme. The local community members provide most of the labour, but as they lack the cash for materials and equipment hire, we will cover the cost.
The technology (shallow wells with rope hand pumps) is low-cost, simple, and easy to maintain, and there is a proven local project management system run by a local representative who lives nearby, Benedicto Hosea, and his youth organisation MVG (Eyes of the Youth).
Challenge
Access to water is a huge issue in many villages in Tanzania, meaning people (usually women and girls) spend many hours a day carrying it many miles, often from dirty ponds shared with animals. Valuable time is lost each day to fetching water, meaning less time for girls to study and less time for women to engage in income-generating activity. Girls are also at risk of attack when they are walking home alone and the consumption of dirty water is particularly harmful to children as their immune systems are weaker.
Solution
A local representative, Benedicto Hosea, who has lived in this area all his life, has perfected a technique whereby local youth use simple equipment to hand drill down to the water table over several days and then install a rope pump they have made themselves. This means the pump can be maintained by the villagers.
Impact
A local representative, Benedicto Hosea, who has lived in this area all his life, has perfected a technique whereby local youth use simple equipment to hand drill down to the water table over several days and then install a rope pump they have made themselves. This means the pump can be maintained by the villagers.
From the field
Checking in on the Lalambe well
We have received a further update from our recent clean water well project in Lalambe, Tanzania.
As the pictures show, the well is fully in use and working well. The community in Lalambe now has access to safe, clean drinking water. The young people especially are protected from disease and no longer have to travel long distances to fetch water. Girls and women in this community are safer and have more time to dedicate to schooling and income-generating activities.
The technology used to make this well was perfected locally by Benedict Hosea and his team at the local youth-led organisation Mboni ya Vijana. It’s another great example of how a small amount of capital can amplify the local innovation that already exists.
Checking in on the Lalambe well
We have received a further update from our recent clean water well project in Lalambe, Tanzania.
As the pictures show, the well is fully in use and working well. The community in Lalambe now has access to safe, clean drinking water. The young people especially are protected from disease and no longer have to travel long distances to fetch water. Girls and women in this community are safer and have more time to dedicate to schooling and income-generating activities.
The technology used to make this well was perfected locally by Benedict Hosea and his team at the local youth-led organisation Mboni ya Vijana. It’s another great example of how a small amount of capital can amplify the local innovation that already exists.