Enable 500 Tanzanian youth to feed their families

Water is the key to life, particularly in a village like Zeze.  Many people were forced to get their water from this dirty pond shared with animals.  So using the donated money we drilled a new bore hole by hand and constructed this new rope pump.  This was a huge undertaking for the village.  Many people thought we could not succeed.  We drilled by hand for 6 long days through solid rock, but eventually reached water 13m down.  We learnt how to weld metal and created this pump - everyone is very happy!  Grace says "My family got water from the dirty pond and my children were often sick. I thank God that we can now use this new pump and it is so easy to use."  The village chairman says "I am so proud of what these youth have achieved!  When I saw how slowly they were cutting through rock I thought they would never succeed to reach water, but I was wrong and the whole village congratulates them.

Now we have a reliable water source we can more easily water the seedlings we're growing.  We have already distributed the first batch of water melon and tomato seedlings and the sunflower seedlings distributed are almost ready for harvesting, leading to valuable income in each family.  Petronella says "with the money I will get from my sunflower seeds next month I will be able to buy school uniforms for my children, so I am very happy!"

We're building a traditional greenhouse so we can grow a greater variety of seedlings and have plans for a fish farm near the pump.

Many women here never got the chance to go to school and cannot read or write.  They have asked for advice on helping their children succeed in learning, so we are starting a community library to support them...

We are all volunteers and money goes a very long way in Zeze, so any amount you can spare will be put to very good use...

Many thanks

Links:

• Video about rope pumps
• Video about measuring climate change in Zeze

• Rope hand pump report (PDF)