A Repaired Borehole and Filtered Water for All

It has been a busy couple of weeks since returning from Kenya and bidding farewell to my parents.

My first order of business was trying to get the borehole adjacent to the health clinic repaired so that people in the village wouldn't have to carry dirty water long distances (2km each way to and from the well, the only water source in the immediate area) anymore. When I first arrived at site, I was informed that both a district health team from Bukedea and a mechanic from Kampala previously tried to fix the borehole, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts. The borehole was therefore presumed "dead," and left untouched.

Flashback to August 3, the afternoon before I flew out of Uganda to meet my parents in Johannesburg. Upon arrival at the hotel in Entebbe, I met Jack Rose and Martha McBride, as well as Dennis, from Raincatcher and Water 4 Everyone. The team traveled from the U.S. to Uganda, dedicated to the sole purpose of bringing clean and safe drinking water to all, to distribute and train community members how to use Sawyer water filters. After demonstrating to me firsthand the brilliance of the filter - within seconds, it purified dirty, brown water crystal clear - Jack and Martha gave me a filter to bring back to the health clinic and to the people of Kachumbala.

It then occurred to me that if I could get the borehole fixed, people could literally fetch a cup or jerry can of borehole water, and walk, not even 50 feet, to the clinic to filter it.

Fast forward to August 18, when I arrived back at site. After a week of repeated calls and "when can you come?" texts, I finally was able to get a certified mechanic from Bukedea to come with his team to assess the repairs needed to fix the borehole. It turned out that one cracked pipe was the only problem. One cracked pipe that caused a primary water source for hundreds of people to malfunction for 10+ months.

8 hours later? A repaired borehole that was fully funded (90,000 UGX, $35-$40) by the community.

This past Friday, Dennis from Raincatcher and I held a training session on how to use the Sawyer water filter, cleaning water straight from the newly-repaired borehole. The highlight for me was at the end of the training, when one person commented, "I have never seen water so clear before." One filter was given to the health clinic, another to Kongunga Secondary School (the school I teach at), two others to training attendees from villages within the Kachumbala subcounty, as well as a Nike soccer ball to my S3 English class.

Thanks to Jack, Martha, Dennis, and everybody else at Raincatcher for bringing clean water to Kachumbala!