Wealth into water

MILLIONS of people across Africa have no access to clean drinking water, making them susceptible to illnesses like cholera, polio, typhoid and dysentery. Twelve million of these people live in Tanzania, where one man’s plan to drill 40 water wells over the next two years is hoped to solve the problem for one district. BVM reporter Laura Male finds out more.

What do you do when you need to provide food and drink for your family, wash their clothes, clean your home and keep your animals healthy when you don’t have surplus cash, a car, taps in your kitchen or mains drainage? Odds are you might be one of the many millions of villagers across Africa who have to embark on the monotonous task of collecting water at least once a day from far-away sources with any sort of level of cleanliness and reliability.

Thousands of Tanzanian villages don’t have wells providing clean, safe drinking water and using the nearest river, spring, still pond or water hole is the only option. Well-drilling is expensive for villagers on low to no incomes and people often lack the knowledge needed to drill correctly and to realise the water they’re using is unhealthy. It can be hard to change an adult’s habit of a lifetime if they have always visited the local river for their water. Many women – because they are far more likely to do chores than men - see collecting water as a socialising point and a means to get away from the housework for a short time everyday. Government well-drilling programmes are costly and few and far between and in a country four times the size of the UK with countless settlements, it is impossible to know where to begin.

These same water sources are often the only option for cattle and wild animals, which leads to faecal contamination besides any mud, silt or rubbish dumped upstream. Nearby pit-latrines also present a contamination problem via adjoining waterways and soil.

An American man who joined international volunteering group Global Volunteers in 2003 learned of this problem after he’d arrived in the Southern Highlands village of Pommern to help fund a school library building project. During one of his visits, the ex-builder was called on to help mend a water pump in a village nearby, where he saw how much the tool meant to people.

On retiring early in his 40s and realising the quiet life was not for him, he retrained as a lawyer at the age of 45, a position he still holds now at the age of 74. While working in his home town of Chico, California, he decided he would do something about Tanzania’s critical lack of wells and set about a plan that would go a small way towards addressing the problem.

Over the next two years, public defender Ron Reed will fund 40 water wells in the Kilolo district of southern Tanzania, using local young people as labourers. Named the Kilolo Star Water Project, it will cost a total of $100,000 and will receive no funding help from central government or any local authority. Ron has shipped over US materials unavailable in Tanzania, has designed and built his own drilling rig and has full support from Kilolo’s local council. And all funded from money he made as a builder.

"I retired at first and then learned that’s not what life’s all about," he says. "The people I’m surrounded by in the US are so concerned about accumulated material. I heard the Africans say when I was over here, ‘Life is about giving, not getting,’ and I thought that was true."

Ron began training with sanitation and safe water campaign group Lifewater International, studying books and paying visits to water wells in Texas and Idaho to understand well-drilling science.

He designed and built three drill rigs with the help of friends over six months, who worked on them during evenings and weekends. He then got down to organising training for the 20 workers he would employ to construct all 40 wells. Ron went to nearby town Tanzanian town Iringa, a place where he had previously stayed, and visited locally-run charity IDYDC, Iringa Development of Youth, Disabled and Children Care; a group who provide vocational skills training for people with disabilities and those orphaned by AIDS or other circumstances.

At first, using local people’s help had not occurred to him. But after strong encouragement from the council and realising the project was no minor undertaking, he took on 10 women and men from the charity in an area he loved and felt an attachment with ever since he began visiting there.

"I went and asked them to pick me 10 workers. I said I wanted girls as well as boys but this was a radical request. I was told girls couldn’t do manual work, but of course, they’re very skilled. We selected people whom we thought would be interested in doing it and whom we thought would succeed. For many of them, it was the first money they’d ever earned," said Ron.

Ron organised a two-week-long course to teach them well-drilling theory, which finished in June. Later, Ron picked 10 more students, which brought his total up to 20 workers. The 20 people were then divided into three groups and a chief well-driller appointed to take charge of the operation at each location and ensure they reach their target. Eighty-four villages in the district will soon benefit from good water in total.

"We met with the local council’s regional commissioner in the beginning, who welcomed us and offered us cooperation. They met with village elders to spread the word and generate support," said Ron.

He reached an agreement with local officials over which villages should benefit on a set of conditions. These were; that a well was needed; locals would bring workers the water for the drilling process (water is plunged down a bore hole to make the well); locals provide shelter and food for workers; (Ron said the they were almost insulted by this request – it is culturally the norm to provide this without asking) locals provide security for drilling equipment and that they pay $25 per month to IDYDC, who will monitor and maintain the well. Thousands of pumps which are installed around Africa by NGOs are not properly maintained after installation and are often abandoned once broken, with no money or contacts available to fix them.

"Ideally, the pump monitor will be an expert in hygiene. For example, you can have clean water out of a pump, but using a dirty bucket will contaminate it. Every villager will pay some money towards the well, which will mean it belongs to them and they’ll take care of it. The district commissioner came up with this idea, which they’ve said they will impose," said Ron.

For identification purposes, all the wells will be named after people who have played important rolls getting the project running and the wells constructed. Plaques are put on the bases of the pumps honouring those who contributed their energy to the project, as opposed to their money. The first Kilolo well has been named after the first director of IDYDC who died after a battle with AIDS last November.

Ron, who has earned himself the Swahili nickname ‘Baba Maji,’ which means ‘Father Water,’ is also working on a booklet which will include a short history of the wells’ progress, problems encountered and people involved. These will be presented to everyone who played a part.

Ron is philosophical about his work. "My wife and I thought to ourselves, ‘One of these days we’re going to have to do something with our money.’ First I was going to build libraries but then I thought, no, water wells," he says.

"I think you should die broke. Money has no value until it’s spent. You save it until old age and one day there comes a time when you’ve arrived at that point. This has all fitted together at the right time for me. To see young people drilling wells and the rigs working is a reward. To see the project come together and know it’s an unselfish thing is very satisfying," he says.

And the employees are contented too. Castor Sanguya from east coast city Dar Es Salaam is managing the project while Ron is home in the States and says what he’s doing for the country is wonderful.

"People really appreciate what is being done here. They’re so interested in the project and have come up to us when we’ve been working and said, ‘When are you going to build a well for us? We will provide food and shelter for you!’

"I hope to build over 40 wells. I’m very happy and proud to be a Kilolo Star. We don’t have anything to give Mr Reed but we thank him for all he’s doing for us," he said.

Twenty-one-year-old Elnesta Moto, one of the two women working at the project has been inspired by her training and wants to take her new career as a well-driller as far as she can.

"I feel so happy to be involved," she said. "We’re providing water, giving people life and employment. Before this I was training to be a seamstress. I much prefer this. I really want to be a well-driller."

Ron is optimistic with Castor’s direction, they will reach their two-year target and perhaps go on to provide their workers with further education, including how to build the well rigs themselves – a skill which they can then pass on to others.

"Bore holes can change a whole area. If you dig deep enough, the water will always be safe to drink," Ron says.

"If you start something and you’re determined, it’s going to work. You say, ‘okay, things will go wrong and there will be obstacles.’ But you see them as a challenge."

To find out more about the project, you can email Ron at: mrron@sbcglobal.net

Pictures and report by Laura Male