Kilolo Star Vocational School

Kilolo Star School is a vocational school started by an American from California who designed a portable well drilling rig and established a well drilling group for Kilolo district next to Iringa. We went to see their operation and a solar powered submersible pump they had installed that uses solar power to fill an elevated 2500 liter reservoir tank for distributing water. They are also a good resource for partnering with our well drilling program and might be able to help with well repair or drilling new wells in Kising’a.
Kilolo now has electricity and the school has two year programs in carpentry, masonry, tailoring, and well drilling. Tuition is only 50,000 tsh a year ($40) and students can find places to stay in Kilolo for less than 8,000/ month ($6). Kilolo is about an hour from Iringa and more like a village than a town even though electricity came to them last fall. (Working its way towards Kising’a) Students can go to this school as an alternative to secondary school and learn a trade. We will talk to pastor Wihale about this option when we visit Kising’a this weekend.
The well drilling operation was impressive. They had 5 drill rigs on portable carts that can be hand pulled off road to drill sites. The equipment was spotless and stored in a big pole barn. All of the equipment and building had been sent from the states in a shipping container. They had 5 crews named after animals, simba (lion), tembo (elephant), twiga (giraffe), chui (leopard), and mama simbas (lionesses). The mama simba crew is all female which is impressive because well drilling is very tough work. I spent two days in a drilling class in Houston last May drilling a well with similar equipment and it involves moving a lot of heavy pipe as you drill and is exhausting. Of course, I am sure the mama simbas are a lot tougher than I am.

Carpentry class:


Drill Rig, the chain stand is tilted upright and drill pipe is rotated to drive the bit. As you drill, the hydraulic head is moved up the chain to add 5 foot sections of drill pipe. This rig can drill up to 200 feet if it doesn't hit solid rock.


Rock Buster Drill bit, liquid mud is pumped down the center of the pipe to force cuttings up the sides and out the bore hole:


See Saw pump from India, not used because it is more expensive than hand pump but interesting and fun.


Pump at Ihimbo Dispensary which was built by a donor from St Paul. The well was drilled by the mama simbas.


The famous Mama Simbas: