Having clean, accessible water is a luxury in Rwanda. Most homes have no running water. Woman and girls are relegated to "fetching" water every day (the picture above is of a woman who filled her Jerry can while we were watching and was hiking up a very steep hill to bring water back to her house). For girls this usually means no school because the distance it takes to go for water takes up most of their day. Jerry cans are the most common container for water. Large or small they are visible all over Rwanda. They are made of plastic and are yellow and look to hold 3 to 5 gallons. Whether it is being balanced on a head or strapped on to the back of a bicycle, Jerry cans are the main container used to get water from the source.
Urukundo is fortunate. They have water from the big company Electrogaz. It is like having "city water". It is piped into our property and stored in large plastic tanks. The water is filtered for drinking. During the dry season the water runs dry (dry season can last from 1 to 3 months). A couple of weeks ago the water stopped coming for three days. We were afraid that we would have a longer than usual dry season. Fortunately the water has come back (usually just in the evenings) and has filled our tanks again. The cost for water is anywhere from $400-$600/month to have Electrogaz as our supplier. This expense increases during the dry season when we have to haul water from the "swamp". The cost of fuel and labor makes water even more expensive during our dry season.
So we started calling everyone we knew to see if they had any contacts with well drilling companies. We recently had Living Water International visit our campus. They are a Christian organization that specializes in drilling wells and sharing Jesus. They came and gave us a bid of $20,000 to drill a well below our property for the community (an estimated 3,000 adults and children will directly benefit from this well). Then a pump will be installed to bring water to Urukundo from this community well.
We are praying to see if this is the best course of action. We need to raise part of the funds to have Living Water International dig.
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