A Well Without Water

So the day has finally come: I am deep in my first grant(s). My village, Tombila, needs water and they asked me to help. And I in turn ask you, dear reader, to help.

You’ve heard from organizations the very real struggle for access to clean water all over the developing world. But not many places feel the need for water more than the arid land below the Sahara known as the Sahel. Burkina Faso is characterized as a Sahelian climate with limited rainfall and about 30% of the landscape made up of scrub brush and acacia. My village falls just about on the line between desert to the north and forested land to the south. As a result not only does our region get little rainfall (only 4 months our of the year) but my village’s current wells are running to the end of their supplies. Therefore in several meetings with my village we identified a new well as the most important project to begin my Peace Corps service.

The people of Tombila showed a great deal of initiative when they began hand-digging the well in December. In only a few weeks the initial work was done and the village waits on help to allow the mason to cement and build the interior of the well finishing the project.

This new well is especially important for the village’s primary school only a few hundred meters away from the new site. Currently the school has no source of water so the children bring water with them in old soda bottles usually only ½ liter for the morning until they can go home for lunch. This time of year the temperature reaches well over 100 everyday and there is absolutely no relief to be found in the hot classroom. Imagine trying to learn in that environment.

The total cost of the new well will be $12,000. The community is able to invest approximately $3,772.00 in labor and materials. I hope to gather some funding from a source within the Peace Corps so that the total I hope to raise from friends and family is $5,254.00.

If you would like to contribute to this need more information will be posted at www.peacecorps.gov/contribute. Gifts will be tax deductible. I am excited to be helping the village of Tombila with such a necessary and tangible development goal. Please help me in this endeavor by giving according to what you are able.