2010. 27 Wells and many amazing experiences. WATCH THE VIDEO
At 3:00 am. this morning the Niger team boarded an Air Moroc flight in Niamey headed for Casablanca and after a brief layover will board a Boeing 767-300 aircraft to wing them home to the USA. If everything goes according to schedule they will arrive at JFK at 7:15 pm. and then go their separated but hopefully content ways having made new friends, helped thousands of people move a step up the ladder to a healthier, happier and more productive life.
Mary and I have been to Niger 3 times. Once in 2005 to immunize rural children against polio. In 2008 we went on our own, just the two of us, to inspect the end result of an experiment. Was it possible for Rotarian’s and others in the USA and Canada to link up with Rotarians and Rotarators in Niger, the driest and poorest nation on the planet find potable, plentiful water under the desert. In a place where in 2006 only 5% of the population had access to electricity. Where 1 in 5 children died before reaching age 5 and then had a life expectancy of 45 years. Where only 1/3 of school age children could go to school and where Malaria, typhoid, meningitis, yellow fever, Hepatitis A and Polio were still daily threats to virtually all people, but especially children because of their weaker immune systems.
It was an experiment with 3 wells in two rural communities. The most basic questions filled our expectant minds. Is it really possible to find water in this desolate place? If we find it will it be drinkable? Will the locals support and maintain these wells once we leave? Will the wells be pumping 6 month or a year from now?
Well, no pun intended, IT WORKED!!!!! During our initial visit we teamed up with amazing local Niger Rotarian’s and the college age Rotary clubs known as Rotaract, and even Interactor’s the high school based Rotary groups. We traveled to the villages, met the Mayor’s, the Chief’s and the Imam’s, the school administrators, the nurses, the teachers and the people.
We sat down to tea with these community leaders and through translations typically by Mary as she speaks French, Gaston and Nassirou and Ibrihim who all speak French, the Niger official language, English as well as Zarma and Hausa the local African languages. Together we carved a path and set a course for success.
In 2009, just one year ago, we went back but this time had Howard and Kate, Erin and Chris, Wilber, Dennis and Briana, Karen and a Peace Corp Volunteer Vicky from New Hampshire who was posted to Libore and was essential to the success. In 2009 we completed 9 new wells and inspected all 3 prior wells only one of which wasn’t functioning properly.
In addition this team of amazing people raised several thousand additional dollars which were used to support the Niamey Polio Center, several medical clinics, several schools including the schools in Libore built by Pencil’s for Kids, a Canadian NGO which is now building a new school in a village where we drilled a water well in 2009. We saw vegetable gardens that had sprung up from the formerly dusty soil next to the wells.
This year the team that is now in transit to the USA includes repeat members, Wilber, Howard and Kate and 17 year old Briana, this time without her father, now retired Peace Corp volunteer Vicky and new comers, Sue and Jim, Peggy and Ted who has been to Niger before for a Polio NID and followed up with a water well of his own but who was new to this venture.
Together and unfortunately without Mary and Carl, these amazing people traveled through the desert in 120 degree heat to inaugurate 15 new wells and and inspect 12 prior wells all of which are functioning.
This years wells were financed by many sources including Rotary Districts 7090 and 6060, the Rotary Club of O’Fallon, Missouri, the Rotary Club of Perryville, Missouri, the Rotary Club of St. Genevieve, Missouri, the Sullivan Rotary Club, Missouri, all from District 6060
The Westfield-Mayville Rotary Club, the Olean Rotary Club, the Allegany-Limestone Interact Club, the Olean High School Interact Club, the Interact Club, faculty, staff and students of Olean base Archbishop Walsh Academy and Rotaract through DC, Trent and Uoit, District 7070 Canada.
Individuals Wilber Breseman, 2, Dave and Stacy High, Ecceles Pridgen, and anonymous.
I really hope I didn’t forget anyone. I apologize if I have.
We even created a new pump design incorporating the universal symbol of Rotary.
The team again raised money for medical and school supplies desperately needed by the people.
In this dry land of 15 million mostly rural subsistence farmers Niger, Water is Life has drilled 27 wells.
Good work? Perhaps but these people could use 5000 more. 2011 is around the corner.
THIS POST HAS FOCUSED ON THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE AMERICAN PARTNERS. COMING SOON IS THE STORY OF THE REALLY IMPORTANT PEOPLE, THE ROTARY, ROTARACT AND INTERACT MEMBERS WITHOUT WHO NONE OF THIS COULD HAPPEN. STAY TUNED.
TEAM MEMBERS READING THIS PLEASE REST UP THEN EMAIL US YOUR BEST PHOTO’S AND VIDEO FOR FUTURE POSTS. THANKS TO ALL. MARY AND CARL
EXCITING NEWS AS OF APRIL 26, 2010.
We just received final approval from the Rotary International Foundation for a 13 well project in the Commun of Libore, which is South East of the Niger Capital city of Niamey.
To date in 2010 four wells have been drilled with funds raised by Howard and Kate Schwadron and several Rotary Clubs in District 6060 in Missouri. The clubs donating money being matched by District 6060 Simplified Grants are
The Rotary Club of O'Fallon, Missouri, District 6060
The Rotary Club of Perryville, Missouri, District 6060
The Rotary Club of St. Genevieve, Missouri, District 6060
The Sullivan Rotary Club, Missouri, District 6060
Howard and Kate traveled to Niger with us in 2009 and are returning in August 2010 to inaugerate their new wells. Kate is the 2009-10 Assistant District Governor for District 6060 and the District Co-Chair for Grants and Howard is the other District Grant Co-Chair.
The 13 additional wells to be drilled prior to the August 2010 trip are funded through a Rotary International Foundation Matching Grant for $13,000.00 and $9,800.00 raised by the Olean Rotary Club with the assistance of Wilber Breseman, a veteran of numerous NID's in Niger. Wilber is an honorary Rotarian from Marcellus Michigan.
Funds for 2 two wells is being donated by the Mayville-Westfield New York Rotary Club.
Funds for two more of the new wells has been raised and donated by the Allegany-Limestone Interact Club.
Additional funds continue to be raised and it appears that by the August 2010 trip to Niger 30 wells will have been drilled.
More exciting news:
We have began to incorporate the Rotary Wheel into the desing of the pump. Take a Look!
THE STORY
In Niger a source of potable water means a healthier and more productive life for the entire village. Children who would otherwise spend their days, walking kilometers in the desert heat to obtain polluted drinking water have the opportunity to attend school, provided a school exists nearby, which isn’t always the case. Children and adults with access to fresh water can overcome chronic diarrhea and numerous other illnesses and conditions caused by poor quality water. Healthier people can work harder and produce more food and live substantially better lives, which is the ultimate goal of the project.
The basic concept of a hand drilled well is keeping it “low tech” so that the villagers can be trained to manage, maintain and repair the well and pump when necessary. The pump for the well is described as a rope and gasket pump. The pump is fabricated in a small metal shop in Niamey from materials available locally using local labor and simple tools such as drills, hack saws and arc welding equipment.
The pump, really a water lifting device, is operated by hand using a handle attached to a “bicycle wheel” shaped mechanism that pulls a polyester rope with many small rubber gaskets, also made locally, through the 1 inch PCV pipe that reaches from the surface to the bottom of the well, which is anywhere from 12 to 20 meters deep depending on the underground terrain and water table.
When the gaskets reach the bottom of the well they scoop water from the bottom and pull it through the pipe to the top where it pours out into the waiting pails, gourds, jerry cans and other containers used by the villagers to collect and carry water.
Hand auger and percussion drilled water wells are not new to West Africa. Both methods have been used for more than 30 years in Niger and were used in the America’s and Europe several hundred years ago. Labor is cheap while drilling rigs, fuel and transportation is prohibitively expensive. A rig drilled well costs about $18,000.00 to $20,000.00 while hand drilled wells can cost as little as $2000.00.
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At 3:00 am. this morning the Niger team boarded an Air Moroc flight in Niamey headed for Casablanca and after a brief layover will board a Boeing 767-300 aircraft to wing them home to the USA. If everything goes according to schedule they will arrive at JFK at 7:15 pm. and then go their separated but hopefully content ways having made new friends, helped thousands of people move a step up the ladder to a healthier, happier and more productive life.
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