This picture tells the story. They really need a well! The village is Tierakora. When we decide that we will drill a well at a particular village, we always know that there is a real need. Here is a video clip showing people using this water!
However, sometimes, there are circumstances that make it more difficult than usual to provide the well. This has been the case in two of the villages where Myra’s Wells has drilled wells recently. In both of these places, the villagers proved “WE really want a well”.
Villages and roads
It’s not too bad in some towns
Roads in Burkina Faso vary enormously. In the bigger towns, there are concrete roads. Radiating out from Ouagadougou, there are seven main roads. These are numbered N1 to N6, with the N2 forking and dividing into the N2 and N22. As Ouagadougou is in the very middle of the country, these roads go to the far corners of the country.
Within the larger cities, there are also other concrete roads; but away from the city centres, the roads are just compacted dust.
But villages are a bit different
If you want to go to a village, you will need to turn off the main concrete roads and follow tracks of compacted dust across the open ground. There will be no signposts. It needs local knowledge. You will need to be met by somebody at some point who will lead you to where the village is. This will probably be a man on a scooter. This is not too bad – especially if you are driving a 4×4. But, even then, there are the trees to consider. Going to many villages, the “track” will soon disappear completely. The man on the scooter will just ride through the trees, forgetting that you may not be able to follow him.
That’s a 4×4. What about a lorry?
If you are driving a lorry, you will have a bigger problem. In the rainy season, there is no chance of making it to the village. The compacted dust will be mud and you will get stuck. The problem for the drilling teams is that they drive two lorries. One has the drill mounted on the back; the other lorry carries the rods and pipes which the team needs for drilling the borehole.
What about the trees?
So, assuming the ground has dried up enough after the rainy season has finished, the drilling teams can set off. What they cannot cope with is the trees! That is when the villagers have their chance to demonstrate, “We really want a well”.
Tierkora and Gangbanan. “We really want a well!”
At both of these villages, there were trees in the way of the lorries. There were simply no gaps big enough to drive a lorry through. Here is the chance for the people to show just how much they really want a well by meeting the lorries and cutting down trees. It took the lorries a whole day to make the 35 mile trip to Gangbanan from the previous village. At Tiekora, the drillers spent the night on the road before they could make it to the village. These pictures are “stills” from videos so are not as crisp as we would like. However, at both places, the efforts made by the villagers have paid off. They have their wells. Here are links to the video clips.
Clearing the way into the village
We hope to have pictures of them using the new wells soon.
There are many other villages where they really want a well!
There are still more villages in similar circumstances. They really want a well too; and they, too, will be prepared to demonstrate it!
