With major apologies to Joni Mitchell...I returned last week from our water project at the Angel House orphanage in Tanzania in the middle of a 3-inch rain in central Texas, the first we've had in a long time, and I guess I'm still appreciating both.
The water project trip was a wonderful experience. For some reason--maybe having been there once--I felt much more comfortable on every phase of the trip and much more able to enjoy it. The orphanage kids were great as always, and our volunteer team was delightful. The following paragraphs are excerpted from the last status report we sent from Tanzania. Due to procurement lead times I need to make one more trip to complete the equipment installations and see it all in operation.
Rainwater Collection System
The rainwater system on the school building is complete. Our friend Marwa from Tarime installed the gutters and our team installed the downspouts, rain collectors, first flush diverters and water manifold system. We purchased the storage tank and ran pipe to it but did not hook it up, awaiting final installation of the tank support stand. In a rain shower this afternoon we had a glorious gushing flow of water from our pipe, rinsing out the system before final connection to the tank tomorrow. We are close enough that the teachers, cooks and students can envision the end result, and are very happy and appreciative. The science teachers in particular are interested in how the system operates, and we discussed ideas for possibly building a distilled water generator in order to avoid having to go to Nairobi to buy distilled water for the laboratory experiments.
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| The rainwater system on the school |
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| Our 5000-liter tank ready to be hooked up |
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| The "glorious gushing" flow during a rainshower |
Submersible Pump System
Pipe from the well to the storage tank has been run and buried, and pipe from the tank to the bathrooms has been run. The tank stand and solar panel support structure are being welded. A pipe has also been run from the storage tank to the rainwater storage tank so that during the 3-month dry season, water can be pumped to the rainwater tank for an uninterrupted supply. Our friend our Lucas, the installation technician, will finish these provisions on Saturday. When the submersible pump, pressure pump and purification system are on site we will fill every available bucket, remove the hand pump, install the submersible and run around to the tank to listen for flowing water.
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| The hand pump we'll replace and our first trench |
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| Trench from the tank location to the house |
We accomplished the greatest part of our task and I consider it a complete success. Our team learned a lot about patience within given circumstances, and accomplished this job with a minimum of expertise but a maximum of teamwork. We look forward to getting running water in the orphanage, and we feel like the rainwater system provides a model for effective and inexpensive water collection that can be applied anywhere. There is still certainly room to grow, as there are more tanks to be added as well as a complete system of modern plumbing that would include showers and sinks in the future.
Again, we are grateful for your contributions and support, and for the chance to perform this service to these deserving kids.
