Zuva Rabuda

We receive requests for a borehole from village heads. An example of such a request you find hereby. Together with people from the local community we decide in which village we will drill a water borehole. A diviner locates for us a spot in the village where, according to him, we will probably find water. He is also able in telling us how deep we have to drill in order to find this water. The actual drilling takes place with very modern equipment (an air compressor) and weighs 8 tons. It is the villagers' job to construct a road to these water spots. The road must be wide and smooth to carry this truck. Villagers are responsible for this part of the project, i.e. “no road, no borehole”! In a couple of hours the drill can drill through thick layers of stone ( mostly granite). Lots of people are always watching this whole process. Tension builds up. Will there be water or not? If the machine hits water, the sight is quite spectacular! People start singing , dancing and praying. An example you find hereby.
Once the borehole has been drilled, the drilling company places a pvc pipe in the hole.
Sometimes we have to drill very deep ( 55 meters cq 180 feet). A pump should be able to get the water out of this depth. The people should also be able to maintain the pump themselves. A so-called “rope and washer pump” meets these criteria. It consists of a rope, small rubbers ( from an old tyre) and an iron frame with a handle. An expert from Tanzania came to Zimbabwe to install the first rope and washer pump and gave a training on the spot to 2 local guys. The normal maintenance can be done by the the villagers themselves. For more complicated issues one of he guys comes to the village with a bike which we bought for them.

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