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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Water for Kibaale
Kibaale has been hurting for water for such a long time. Too many people from the community are forced to take their jerry cans down to the river down the hill from Kibaale Community Centre. There they wade in knee deep and plunge their cans in to gather water for washing, cooking, and drinking. But the water is absolutely terrible - though it appears to be better than other sources since it is a fast moving water source, what you can't see directly is the waste and filth that is being carried along as it snakes its way through Kibaale. People wash their clothes, bathe, let their cattle drink, and flush their waste away down the river just upstream from where the local community wades in for their drinking water. Even if you can't see anything, you can smell it if you just stand over the bridge.
Water has been such a challenge in the Rakai district. This area is known for having hard water, and the ground is incredibly rocky and full of minerals that deposit iron and salts into whatever shallow wells are around. The only way to get fresh water is to drill deep. And for that you need funds that just aren't available.
Thankfully there are people who care enough to donate money to allow people in this area to have access to good clean water. It was with this money that Kibaale Community Centre was able to contract a local drilling company in Kampal to come down and put a brand new borehole in for all the surrounding villages. Now that it has been installed, people are just ecstatic and so excited - kids line up with their jerry cans, old men hobble off their bicycles for a chance at the new water source, and everywhere we go there is a 'thank you muzungu' hitting our ears. It's great. Thank you so much to those who give money to change lives over here in Uganda. The impact this borehole will have is incredible.
This is the original river water source. Note the cows grazing in the field and the people at the top of the picture washing their laundry
Trucks arriving and the crew setting up camp
The drill site. This used to be all bush - nothing four machete-wielding maniacs can't handle in half an hour though
With the land cleared the trucks backed in
Getting set up
Firing up the rig. The rig has a monstrous turbocharged diesel on the back which is used entirely to run an air compressor
Drilling is messy business
Once a section has been drilled they raise the rig and insert a new pipe to hammer down farther. Sixteen of these pipes were used.
The crowd looks on
The view from in town. The location is absolutely perfect - very close to the river where water was already drawn, and nice and close to town. Also, sitting at a crossroads where a lot of vehicle and foot traffic passes, so it is highly visible
Water!
One of the friendlies women I've met here in my time insisted on having her photo taken. She and her child come here everyday
The drilling drew a huge crowd
Water found and drilling complete, and now they install the pipes. The long term was considered here and so plastic pipes were used. Metal is the norm, but over time it can rust and foul the water
Me and Paul. Paul is in P2. And Paul is brilliant - near perfect english. We had a pretty good day together
A view of the drilling from Kibaale Community Centre
Pipes have been installed. Now using tubes and air to clean the water below and get the drilling sediment out of the pipes
Day three and a crew is here to do the final assembly of the handpump
A crowd was gathered to watch the handpump install. I was excited to be a part of the action, but then a cow had to go and die across the street. Then the butcher came. And then my crowd left to watch until there was no cow left
They are installing an India Mark II handpump. Known to be one of the world's sturdiest designs and cheap to maintain and repair
Complete! The install team takes a break and the kids getto test it out... "Malungi!" - It's good water!
Final phase is to cast the base with cement
Finished, and now just needs time to dry
A week later once the base has dried, we held a meeting and launch ceremony to hand over ownership of the well to the Kibaale Community. This is the official launch with a bunch of the local government leaders
This girl has a crush on me. Yeah!
Water has been such a challenge in the Rakai district. This area is known for having hard water, and the ground is incredibly rocky and full of minerals that deposit iron and salts into whatever shallow wells are around. The only way to get fresh water is to drill deep. And for that you need funds that just aren't available.
Thankfully there are people who care enough to donate money to allow people in this area to have access to good clean water. It was with this money that Kibaale Community Centre was able to contract a local drilling company in Kampal to come down and put a brand new borehole in for all the surrounding villages. Now that it has been installed, people are just ecstatic and so excited - kids line up with their jerry cans, old men hobble off their bicycles for a chance at the new water source, and everywhere we go there is a 'thank you muzungu' hitting our ears. It's great. Thank you so much to those who give money to change lives over here in Uganda. The impact this borehole will have is incredible.
 |
This is the original river water source. Note the cows grazing in the field and the people at the top of the picture washing their laundry
 |
Trucks arriving and the crew setting up camp
 |
The drill site. This used to be all bush - nothing four machete-wielding maniacs can't handle in half an hour though
 |
With the land cleared the trucks backed in
 |
Getting set up
 |
Firing up the rig. The rig has a monstrous turbocharged diesel on the back which is used entirely to run an air compressor
 |
Drilling is messy business
 |
 |
 |
Once a section has been drilled they raise the rig and insert a new pipe to hammer down farther. Sixteen of these pipes were used.
 |
The crowd looks on
 |
The view from in town. The location is absolutely perfect - very close to the river where water was already drawn, and nice and close to town. Also, sitting at a crossroads where a lot of vehicle and foot traffic passes, so it is highly visible
 |
Water!
 |
 |
One of the friendlies women I've met here in my time insisted on having her photo taken. She and her child come here everyday
 |
The drilling drew a huge crowd
 |
Water found and drilling complete, and now they install the pipes. The long term was considered here and so plastic pipes were used. Metal is the norm, but over time it can rust and foul the water
 |
Me and Paul. Paul is in P2. And Paul is brilliant - near perfect english. We had a pretty good day together
 |
A view of the drilling from Kibaale Community Centre
 |
Pipes have been installed. Now using tubes and air to clean the water below and get the drilling sediment out of the pipes
 |
Day three and a crew is here to do the final assembly of the handpump
 |
 |
A crowd was gathered to watch the handpump install. I was excited to be a part of the action, but then a cow had to go and die across the street. Then the butcher came. And then my crowd left to watch until there was no cow left
 |
They are installing an India Mark II handpump. Known to be one of the world's sturdiest designs and cheap to maintain and repair
 |
Complete! The install team takes a break and the kids getto test it out... "Malungi!" - It's good water!
 |
 |
Final phase is to cast the base with cement
 |
Finished, and now just needs time to dry
 |
A week later once the base has dried, we held a meeting and launch ceremony to hand over ownership of the well to the Kibaale Community. This is the official launch with a bunch of the local government leaders
 |
This girl has a crush on me. Yeah!
 |
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Our new home :)
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
As I looked out the door this evening, past the lumber on the front lawn and through the itch of the horde of mosquitoes having an early dinner, I realized how beautiful it is here in Kibaale. Of course, feelings of sentiment come rather easily when you are still massaging down the gut-lump from a Christmas dinner with all those closest to you, and the billionth iteration of 'Joy to the World' is crackling out of tinny laptop speakers from the window to your side.
Jamie and I are quite happy in our new place and have spent the weekend finishing the move-in. Hopefully you can get an idea of what a little paint and a lot of elbow-grease can do here.
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
Jamie peeling some of the old wallpaper off the top of the kitchen walls
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
The view from outside into the kitchen. The house was quite dark in its previous form...
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
This pic is taken with Jamie behind me, looking to the right down the hall into the bedroom. Some new paint has started to go onto the wall
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
The bathroom. Note the sink in the shower
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
The old bedroom. The wall to the left here has since been taken out to open the main room up
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
This is the room immediately behind the last picture; what was the main room
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
Main room, opposite side, taken from the front door. Far side through the hole is the kitchen
So, definitely liveable. The previous tenant had it just fine in here, but the two of us wanted to update it a bit and give it a thorough clean. The house was the original 'Muzungu residence' that was built so it definitely needed an update and some repairs. Here's how it stands now.
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
The kitchen, repainted and with the window opened up a bit more to let more light through
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
From the kitchen looking down the hall into the bedrooom
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
Bathroom again... yeah, the sink is still in the shower :)
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| From The Davii - Ug Fotos |
And this is from the far corner of what used to be the bedroom. Much better
Hope you enjoyed the tour :)
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Just checking in
Well, we're still alive. Our new house is complete - we've had a wall knocked out, an opening opened, new paint everywhere (which kinda came off a bit in some places, so time for coat # 3), and they've just finished installing TILE throughout! Tile in Africa! It's great. Over the weekend we moved all of our stuff in from the guest house where we were previously staying and it is now all here. It currently looks a lot like you would think a house looks like when it is first moved in to. We're a bit pressed for space right now, but we'll be having some storage made up at the vocational school (woodshop) for us which should help out.
We're just thankful to have our own place and so thankful for everyone back home who has helped make our trip here and the work we're able to do possible. What a privilege!
We'll get some photos up pronto once we can get them off of the camera. And we hope to be doing more frequent updates here as well now that we have internet access right in the house. Previously we were forced to go and sit outside which was sometimes not possible with rain, or mosquitoes, or mango-throwing monkeys around. Should be better now!
Thanks for sticking with us. Only 1 week till christmas!
We're just thankful to have our own place and so thankful for everyone back home who has helped make our trip here and the work we're able to do possible. What a privilege!
We'll get some photos up pronto once we can get them off of the camera. And we hope to be doing more frequent updates here as well now that we have internet access right in the house. Previously we were forced to go and sit outside which was sometimes not possible with rain, or mosquitoes, or mango-throwing monkeys around. Should be better now!
Thanks for sticking with us. Only 1 week till christmas!
Friday, November 28, 2008
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