.JPG)
Hello Friends and Family,
I am writing to let you know some super positive news that's happening in Zambia, and is something that you can be a part of. The people living in the Matelo area of Zambia (the villages I was volunteering in), have rallied together, and are in the process of constructing 5 hand-dug, protected wells in the area! These will provide clean water to approximately 800 people. I am asking you, personally, to contribute $10.00 to this effort. I am asking this because when the cost is divided amongst the 200 people I hope will donate, this $10.00 amount will be enough to provide clean water to an entire family in this area.
Currently in this area, water is drawn from the one bore hole well at Matelo school, or from a number of shallow, unprotected holes in the area. A majority of people are collecting water in this fashion as the borehole is too far from their house. When rainy season begins in late October, these unprotected wells become contaminated, and many people in the area become sick with intestinal illnesses. This also happens at a time when food is most scarce, and farming work is most critical... the land must be tilled by hand and seeds must be planted in the first few weeks of rainy season.
This effort to build these eleven wells is coming about because of three factors. 1) The Matelo area is a motivated community that is looking to improve life for the people living there, and sees improvement in drinking water as their number one need, and has started this initiative. 2) My Peace Corps neighbor Lauren Schroeder and I worked real hard in the second year of our service to educate the area on how to improve their basic water and sanitation so that fewer people would become ill from easily preventable diseases, and we held workshops on how to construct these wells. 3) The current Peace Corps volunteer working in Matelo, Nan Davis, has worked very hard to coordinate with the local communities to get these projects started while simultaneously securing funding for the few materials that are needed that the village cannot produce or afford. GO NAN!!!
I think it would be an awesome show of solidarity if we all donated $10.00 to show the collective power of our support for these people. Of course, if you would like to donate more, it would be graciously accepted, and well used (pun intended). In the event of raising more than the total of $2,384.00 needed to complete these 11 wells, the money would then go into the general funding pool for other Peace Corps partnership grants. Your donation is 100% tax deductible.
You can donate safely and securely through the Peace Corps website here: (It takes two minutes, that's it... I did it!)
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=611-035
If you have problems with the link, just go to the Partnership page (link below, click donate to volunteer projects, search by country of service: Zambia, then scroll down towards the bottom and you'll find "Well Project" A. Davis, and click on the link there. Enter the amount you'd like to donate in the box, and click donate. A page will then appear asking for your credit card info, then finally a confirmation page will appear that you can print out for your tax records.
To find out more about Peace Corps Partnerships, click here.
Peace Corps Volunteers work in developing nations providing people with the skills and resources needed to allow these people to help themselves. This project is a prime example of this philosophy.
Rather than funding a borehole well dug by a drilling machine mounted on a truck (the method used unfortunately by many Aid groups, cost per well $6,000-$30,000 each, featuring parts unaffordable and unfixable by most villagers), this project is being completed by the community for the community, with community re sources, and some monetary assistance from you. Your money will be used to provide the cement, steel bars and a metal cap to protect the wells from contamination. The people of Matelo have volunteered to dig these wells by hand, mold and burn the bricks needed for the project, wheelbarrow all the sand for the concrete to the site, collect stones for the concrete, and carry in the water to make the concrete, and constuct the cap of the well. Villagers will construct these wells with supervision by the Peace Corps volunteer. Hence the knowledge and skills needed to construct these wells will be transferred to all villagers, creating the potential to help thousands of other people.
Most importantly these wells are easy to use and maintain. They are essentially a hole three and half feet wide deep enough to reach the water table. A rope with a bucket on the end is lowered into the hole and pulled back up once it is filled with water. If the rope breaks, it is easy, uncomplicated and inexpensive to fix. A cement cap with a lockable metal lid in the center keeps the well clean, and allows it to be secured if it were to become contaminated. Contaminated wells are treated through a simple and inexpensive clorification process, and can be re-opened when the water is tested as being safe (water treatment and analysis is performed by the Zambian Water Authority).
If you would like any more information about the project, please feel free to get in contact with myself, or you could can contact Nan Davis, the Peace Corps Volunteer spearheading this effort. She is in Mansa where she can receive email about every two weeks.
I will not have access to the list of donors to personally thank you for your assistance. So I'll say it here.
Thank you for providing a family in Matelo with clean drink ing water.
Natotella Sana! (Thank you very much).
All the best to you,
-Gregg
PS, if you are interested, email me and I'll keep you updated on the progress of the project! Even if you don't you might get an email or two... think about it... one meal at McDonalds = water for life !!!
Gregg Hayward
188 Dover Point Road
Dover, NH 03820
603-988-2924
gregghayward@gmail.com
Nan Davis
Peace Corps Volunteer
PO Box 710150
Mansa, Zambia
Africa
via air mail
nananimal@gmail.com
I am writing to let you know some super positive news that's happening in Zambia, and is something that you can be a part of. The people living in the Matelo area of Zambia (the villages I was volunteering in), have rallied together, and are in the process of constructing 5 hand-dug, protected wells in the area! These will provide clean water to approximately 800 people. I am asking you, personally, to contribute $10.00 to this effort. I am asking this because when the cost is divided amongst the 200 people I hope will donate, this $10.00 amount will be enough to provide clean water to an entire family in this area.
Currently in this area, water is drawn from the one bore hole well at Matelo school, or from a number of shallow, unprotected holes in the area. A majority of people are collecting water in this fashion as the borehole is too far from their house. When rainy season begins in late October, these unprotected wells become contaminated, and many people in the area become sick with intestinal illnesses. This also happens at a time when food is most scarce, and farming work is most critical... the land must be tilled by hand and seeds must be planted in the first few weeks of rainy season.
.JPG)
This effort to build these eleven wells is coming about because of three factors. 1) The Matelo area is a motivated community that is looking to improve life for the people living there, and sees improvement in drinking water as their number one need, and has started this initiative. 2) My Peace Corps neighbor Lauren Schroeder and I worked real hard in the second year of our service to educate the area on how to improve their basic water and sanitation so that fewer people would become ill from easily preventable diseases, and we held workshops on how to construct these wells. 3) The current Peace Corps volunteer working in Matelo, Nan Davis, has worked very hard to coordinate with the local communities to get these projects started while simultaneously securing funding for the few materials that are needed that the village cannot produce or afford. GO NAN!!!
I think it would be an awesome show of solidarity if we all donated $10.00 to show the collective power of our support for these people. Of course, if you would like to donate more, it would be graciously accepted, and well used (pun intended). In the event of raising more than the total of $2,384.00 needed to complete these 11 wells, the money would then go into the general funding pool for other Peace Corps partnership grants. Your donation is 100% tax deductible.
You can donate safely and securely through the Peace Corps website here: (It takes two minutes, that's it... I did it!)
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=611-035
If you have problems with the link, just go to the Partnership page (link below, click donate to volunteer projects, search by country of service: Zambia, then scroll down towards the bottom and you'll find "Well Project" A. Davis, and click on the link there. Enter the amount you'd like to donate in the box, and click donate. A page will then appear asking for your credit card info, then finally a confirmation page will appear that you can print out for your tax records.
.JPG)
To find out more about Peace Corps Partnerships, click here.
Peace Corps Volunteers work in developing nations providing people with the skills and resources needed to allow these people to help themselves. This project is a prime example of this philosophy.
Rather than funding a borehole well dug by a drilling machine mounted on a truck (the method used unfortunately by many Aid groups, cost per well $6,000-$30,000 each, featuring parts unaffordable and unfixable by most villagers), this project is being completed by the community for the community, with community re sources, and some monetary assistance from you. Your money will be used to provide the cement, steel bars and a metal cap to protect the wells from contamination. The people of Matelo have volunteered to dig these wells by hand, mold and burn the bricks needed for the project, wheelbarrow all the sand for the concrete to the site, collect stones for the concrete, and carry in the water to make the concrete, and constuct the cap of the well. Villagers will construct these wells with supervision by the Peace Corps volunteer. Hence the knowledge and skills needed to construct these wells will be transferred to all villagers, creating the potential to help thousands of other people.
Most importantly these wells are easy to use and maintain. They are essentially a hole three and half feet wide deep enough to reach the water table. A rope with a bucket on the end is lowered into the hole and pulled back up once it is filled with water. If the rope breaks, it is easy, uncomplicated and inexpensive to fix. A cement cap with a lockable metal lid in the center keeps the well clean, and allows it to be secured if it were to become contaminated. Contaminated wells are treated through a simple and inexpensive clorification process, and can be re-opened when the water is tested as being safe (water treatment and analysis is performed by the Zambian Water Authority).
If you would like any more information about the project, please feel free to get in contact with myself, or you could can contact Nan Davis, the Peace Corps Volunteer spearheading this effort. She is in Mansa where she can receive email about every two weeks.
I will not have access to the list of donors to personally thank you for your assistance. So I'll say it here.
Thank you for providing a family in Matelo with clean drink ing water.
Natotella Sana! (Thank you very much).
All the best to you,
-Gregg
PS, if you are interested, email me and I'll keep you updated on the progress of the project! Even if you don't you might get an email or two... think about it... one meal at McDonalds = water for life !!!
Gregg Hayward
188 Dover Point Road
Dover, NH 03820
603-988-2924
gregghayward@gmail.com
Nan Davis
Peace Corps Volunteer
PO Box 710150
Mansa, Zambia
Africa
via air mail
nananimal@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment