OCTOBER 2024
I started this small nonprofit in the spring of 2020 after a successful proof-of-concept installation of five sandpoint and hand pump wells in November 2019. I recall drinking a Mosi (Zambian beer) with Prof Nyambe on the bank of the Luanginga River in Kalabo as we celebrated the successful installations. I expected to be installing wells across the plains in a matter of a year, maybe two. “Joe,” the Prof said, “these things take time. Five years is more realistic”. As usual, the Prof was correct.
Materials
There were a few issues and delays in moving our cargo (shipped in June) from the port of Durban South Africa to Lusaka Zambia. The cargo was effectively abandoned in Durban by our contracted shipper. I found transport to the Zimbabwe/Zambian border check point at Chirundu and Prof Nyambe found an agent to receive the goods. After four days at the border the shipment was stored in a bonded warehouse until the Duty Free paperwork could be sorted out. Two and a half weeks later my Zambian family collected the cargo which was added to the 120 pump bodies from the machine shop. The crate, pallet and 120 pumps were on the way to our Mongu workshop the next day.
The Nyambe truck loaded with materials shipped from Kentucky and 120 Zambian-made pump bodies and handles. The truck left for our Mongu workshop the next day.
Two weeks prior we bought a truck. A 1994 diesel Toyota Hilux pickup. You may recognize it as a Tacoma. We refer to this as the “K6 Hilux” recognizing the K6 Family Foundation for funding transportation logistics. John returned to Mongu to finish threading and welding the well casings. By the time he completed the materials from Lusaka arrived and he spent the next few days building pumps. John hired an assistant and loaded up the Hilux and took off to Kalenge Village October 10. He brought enough material to install 60 sandpoint wells and pumps.
The K6 Hilux is loaded at our Mongu workshop.
Installations
Kalenge Village will serve as a material cache. This will allow John to service villages along the trackless northern reach of the Matebele and Mulonga Plains. If the rains return, unlike last year, it should be sometime in November. It is our hope to have these first 60 wells operational before the rains come.
While installing wells and pumps proximal to Kalenge Village John is finding other villages not found in our 2020 survey. How can you pass through a village with 80 or 100 people in need of water without installing a well? You cannot. John is using the 80 villages in need of 110 wells as a framework picking up additional villages as they are found. The point is to get as many installed before the rains come.
The village of Nangombe Kabula, population 78. We did not know the village existed until Sunday. On Monday a well was installed. Here the villagers backfill the hole in which the sandpoint was installed while children operate the pump.
The new well and pump in Nangombe Kabula. Villagers finish backfilling while children pump water. Note the log lashed to the well casing for additional support.
John has also found it rough going in places. Below is a video of an ox cart loaded with our material to take it to a village that cannot be reached by our 4x4.