Day 4 - Water

Today we pumped water from the borehole; at that moment in time there was nowhere else in the world that I’d rather have been. In that fraction of second as the water first burst out of the pipe we had changed their lives from that moment on. It was a surreal moment. Initially they were wary of approaching the pipe but as the first was brave enough they all followed. The children just wanted to touch it and run their heads under the clean, cool flow. The adults wanted to taste the water to see whether it was good enough to drink and it did indeed pass muster. (Your narrator tasted it and can confirm that this.)


We had no choice but to pump the water today. We wanted to make so much concrete that we could no longer manage with the supply from the river. Pumping water was a matter of priority and we had hoped to do so before lunch, although in the end it was about 3.30 by the time the first water flowed. Everything was straightforward enough though, we just wanted to be very careful and had to wait for a few bits to be bought from Arusha.

Everything went smoothly and the boys in the electrical team were outstanding in their sensible, cautious approach to the task. (Your narrator was in charge of this team so this was an particularly special task for me.) We had to join the cables in such a way that they would remain strong and secure for the next 50 years, submerged in 30m of water. When joined they would be encased in resin so there was no second chance if it didn’t work out. Once the water pipe, electrical cable and rope were attached we lowered the pump and tied it off. People’s expectations were raised but we needed to wire up the solar panels, pump and cut off switch so there was a delay of 30 minutes or so before it was possible to press the button. One last minute hurdle nearly de-railed us though; we had been supplied with the wrong instructions for the control box and it wasn’t clear which way around to connect the panels and the consequences of getting it wrong could have not only been costly but also delayed the pumping by another day whilst another was purchased. Fortunately the designer of the control box had put the connections in the logical positions so after some pondering the power was finally switched on with some anxiety, but ultimately success.

There was lots of progress elsewhere too; three more concrete slabs were laid and the towers for the water tank continued to grow.