BOREHOLES DUG
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OUR GOAL
The need for clean safe water is huge!
Zimbabwe has been dealing with water shortages for a long time. In the rural areas, families often have to walk up to 10km to get to a source of clean water. Sometimes children have to fetch water for their families after school by digging in a dry river bed and waiting for the water to seep up, fill their containers and carry them home. Some people can't walk that far so will resort to using an unclean water source. At best it needs to be boiled but often people don't have the luxury of time to boil the water. So they will use the dirty water as is and succumb to water borne illness. Our goals are:
- Access to clean safe drinking water
- Within 2km
- In areas identified as high needs areas
- Boreholes equipped with hand pumps for easy use
about the cause
Together Kiwilink and Showers of Blessings have dug hundreds of boreholes in rural communities throughout the south-western rural regions of Zimbabwe with funds raised in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The goal is to provide safe clean drinking water within 2kms of rural homes. In reality, the program has achieved much more. These boreholes equipped with hand pumps mean that families aren’t having to devote so much time to sourcing water for drinking and cooking with. Vegetables can now thrive with water more readily available, resulting in improved food security. Easy access to water has also meant that sanitation has improved and quality of life is improving too.
In some cases, the Showers of Blessing Trust has been able to establish solar power so that water can be pumped both into a nearby tank or further afield. This is particularly useful where it is difficult to find places suitable for drilling.
Improved sanitation is providing a healthier living situation for many people
Food security is now something people can think about as crops thrive because of access to water.
Access to clean water means less sickness from water born diseases. People are healthier!
So much time is saved when water is easily accessible. Families can function, children can go to school. Communities thrive.
Showers of Blessings Trust
Watch this video to see for yourself the difference one borehole can make.
$6,000 USD PER Borehole
Clean safe water isn't something that is nice to have; it is life giving! Partner with us as we work to provide water to the people of rural Zimbabwe.
Each borehole costs $6,000 USD. If you can't fund a full borehole any donation is greatly appreciated. Please partner with us and give the gift of water. The US$6,000 donation covers the onsite establishment of the drilling rig, the drilling itself commonly down to 50 meters, the above-ground pumping equipment and finally, the concrete plinth to direct waste water to a soak pit thereby preventing the buildup of stagnant water.
If you can't fund a full borehole any donation is greatly appreciated. Please partner with us and give the gift of water.
HOW WE HAVE HELPED
A 12 year old boy said
"I have had to wake up at 4am before I go to school to fetch 20 litres of water every day for my grandmother. I walked 10km each way. Now to think that from tomorrow, I will only have to walk 200 metres is like a dream."
Latest Update
Following two years of severe drought, the water tables in Zimbabwe have been dropping to the stage that some boreholes have dried up and sites for new boreholes have been more difficult to locate. An initiative that has been in place for a few years and is now gaining momentum is adding solar power to a new borehole to distribute scarce water further.
We are excited about this new site at Gwemvurachena funded by Australia. It involves pumping water up the hill to a storage tank where it can be gravity-fed to a nearby water trough situated in a new vegetable garden where people can bucket the water to individual plots. Another line takes water to a second trough where around 500 cattle come for a drink. No more lugging water from rivers kilometres away! Imagine the freedom this will bring!
Also nearby is a laundry area where people can go and do their washing. This means no more bending down at the river to clean clothes. Clothes can be washed in a tub! The hope is to add shelter over the washing tubs to provide shade in the sweltering heat.
We are hoping to extend this project to include toilets with improved sanitation.
This is an exciting project which is transforming the lives of those who live in the Gwemvurachena area. If you would like to partner with us to see this project completed or want to see something like this happen in another community feel free to contact Chris for more information.
