Supporting village children into school in Benin

I spent February in Affame Benin with a group of volunteers mostly working on the orphanage which is being sponsored by HATW.

David Edge (a structural engineer with well drilling experience) and I had already decided to put together a cable drilling rig that could be used to provide a reliable water supply for the orphanage and surrounding houses. We assembled the winch unit and diesel engine before shipping it and a selection of drill tooling, to Benin . The gantry was to be made in Affame using local timber. Unfortunately the ship was delayed which meant that DE and myself had to return at the end of April.

However there was plenty of work to be done at the orphanage. Albert and Dieudonne (who are the local organisers for HATW) are also farmers and enthusiastic about integrating the orphanage and its children with local agriculture. One idea is to use composting toilets which, especially by separation of urine, can provide a valuable fertilizer to increase crop yields. This should be a significant factor on the somewhat “hungry” local soils. The photo shows Guillaume digging out one of the composting toilets.

On our return at the end of April, David and I, with plenty of local help, assembled the drilling rig. Our first borehole was in a patch of ground which can now, with a water supply, be used as a market garden. This will provide vegetables for the orphans and also train them in basic horticulture.

The drill worked well and once we got used to the local soil conditions soon reached 18 metres depth where we found water. There is still some work to be done developing the well but there is a supply of some 12 cubic metres a day available.

The rig was then moved to the orphanage where Albert and Dieudonne had already reached a depth of 6 metres before we left. Latest news from Benin is that a depth of 30 metres has been reached, which is just above water table.