Project in the Tonga region
The Tonga region is very poor and the people there rarely have safe and clean access to water. Our goal is to make this possible for the inhabitants of this village.
Background
We found out about this area through the Caribbean regional administration and decided to start a groundwater borehole project there to provide villagers with safe access to clean water.
Tonga is an area in the Kariba Rural Area and is one of the poorest and most neglected areas in Zimbabwe. The people of the village we selected have to fetch water from a river 15 kilometers away. Fetching water is one of the main jobs of the young girls in the settlement and they are often unable to attend school as a result. The river dries up in the drought season, so they try to collect the water in shovel holes in the riverbed. In the rainy season, however, the river is full of crocodiles. Every year there are deaths from crocodile attacks. To prevent this, the children try to throw stones at the animals when scooping water to keep them from attacking.
Procedure
After careful planning, we were able to direct two trucks with a generator and drilling equipment from Harare to the drilling site. As the village is very remote, there are no good roads. They only allow speeds of 20 to 30 km/h. This was very time-consuming, as the borehole near the Savati River is around 120 km away from the well-developed town of Karoi. The drilling team found water that very night.
We were pleased with the good progress of the project. The water tank, pump and solar cells were recently installed. The people who will benefit from this are happy and relieved.
