This is about a lady who showed that she is very happy to have clean water near to where she lives.
A large village without enough water
The lady lives in a part of a large sprawling village of about 3700 people. Many of them are cattlemen. Their livelihood depends on being able to keep the cattle healthy. However, the water situation for many of them was desperate.
Most of the people relied on an open well. These open wells are better than nothing. And the water from it will be suitable for the cattle. But these wells often dry up or become too dirty for human consumption.
The nearest drilled well was 5 km away. It is one with an interesting pump mechanism. Even so, if they walked to this pump, it was usual to have to wait in a queue for up to three hours before having a turn to use it. The round trip would have taken, perhaps, 6 hours.
A full time job trying to find water
This is what the request form told us:
The women are always looking for water and they do not have the opportunity to develop other activities which would allow them to support their husbands in schooling the children. The children are also always looking for water to help their mothers and are absent, or late to school.
Happiness, then disappointment
So, if somebody came and drilled a well nearer to where they lived, you can imagine that they would be very happy! Myra’s Wells decided that this village should be next on the list for a well. In the goodness of God, the first borehole was successful. The borehole is 100 metres deep.
At first, the people were happy – but there was a problem. The water table was also deep and that meant that the pump was too heavy for some people to use.
Christine asked us about it. “Would we consider a solar powered pump?” Well, there is no point in having a good borehole unless the people can use it. So, we agreed. Now, there is a small tank which is filled from the borehole. The manual pump has gone – we will use that at another village. The solar powered pump keeps the tank full and there is a tap for the people to use to fill their containers with clean water. The solar panels are very efficient. Even when there is little sun, they still power the pump – which is very useful in the rainy season.
They are happy to have clean water
So, how did this lady show that she is happy to have clean water near to where she lives? Click here to watch the short video clip. Of the 3700 people in the whole village, over 1000 live close enough to the tap to be able to use it easily.
Our promise
Every penny given to Myra’s Wells is, and will be, used to fund wells in Burkina Faso. All other costs are paid by trustees personally. This link shows the full list of wells that we have provided.