Kiponzero and Itengulinyi Villages

Peter and I went to two villages about an hour drive from Iringa to inspect 12 wells that were sponsored by an organization called Water to Thrive.  These wells had some issues when first made and we wanted to follow up on corrective action and apply a metal plaque to acknowledge the donor.  The main highway has many trucks hauling shipping containers from the big port in Dar es Salaam to landlocked countries, Malawi and Zambia.  I noticed this truck proudly displaying 3M reflective graphics.

Notice the 3M on the yellow rectangles

We first met with the water committee at the village office.  Water committees are groups of village members who are involved with site selection and trained in sanitation and hygiene.  After the wells are installed, they are responsible for maintaining the wells and collecting fees for future repairs.

We wanted to try using 3M VHB (very high bond) adhesive for attaching the metal donor plaque to the pump instead of trying to weld.  I looked hard for rubbing alcohol to clean the surfaces of the metal but there is none in Iringa.  They use methylated spirits (ethanol containing methanol, blue dye, and other things to make it undrinkable) instead for surface disinfectant.  I brought a bottle of Konyagi, a pure 35% ethanol in water beverage to use instead and created some shocked expressions when I pulled it out (drinking alcohol is not considered a Christian thing to do here because it too often is just for getting drunk and not as a beverage, why else would someone drink Konyagi).  I put the tape on the four sides of the panel and we applied it to the pump surface after cleaning with Konyagi and scrubbing with Scotchbrite, another 3M product.  It appears to work very well.

VHB tape on back of plaque

Plaque applied to pump

We visited all 12 wells in the two villages and saw that the concrete bases had been rebuilt much larger at 10-13 feet in diameter instead of the original 5 feet.  All the pumps were producing water and the wells ranged in depth from 20 meters to 42 meters.  I tasted water at several of the wells because the villagers were concerned about orange iron deposits on some of the bases.  The water tasted like hard water you would have on a ground water pump in Minnesota.  The villagers have been using the water untreated with no water illnesses from maji wadudu (water bugs).  At the last well we visited there were four children filling buckets.  The smallest two could not lift the buckets off the ground but with help were able to carry the 5 gallon pails on top of their head. (5 gallons of water weighs about 40 lbs but the smaller kids poured a little off that would have spilled anyway.)
Tomorrow, we go to Kising'a to see their water project and I will bring library books and stay the weekend.

Children taking water home at the end of the day, the little girl looks worried, either about the water or about me.