Segment 1

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Carina Water Wells Project. Tabora, Tanzania.

JACQUELINE SIMONE AMBROSE [Project Coordinator]

I grew up in Tanzania from 1949 to 1970. In December 2003, I returned to visit Tabora in central Tanzania for the first time in 38 years. I was married there in 1963 and my daughter Carina was born in 1964. The population has tripled since then, and the majority of villages still haven't got a clean source of water. The area's economy is dependent on agriculture, subsistence farming using a hand hoe. The Tabora Anglican Diocese has been implementing water sanitation projects since 1997, but funding sources had dried up. They asked me to assist by finding more money for additional projects. Although I now live on the other side of the world, in Maui, Hawaii, I rose to the challenge. Funds were donated by a business associate and the first Carina Water Well was installed at Inonelwa village in February 2005. Inonelwa village has since become a part of the Millennium Development Goals.

JACQUELINE SIMONE AMBROSE

Tabora district is fortunate because the underground water is close enough to the surface in places to allow for hand-dug wells. The well at Kwihala village is 18 feet deep; the one at Inonelwa village is only 13 feet deep. Women and children are the most affected by water issues, because they're responsible for finding it. They often have to walk up to 5 kilometers daily to find water which is dirty and contaminated. It took four more years to raise money for the second Carina Water Wells project. It's located at Kwihala village close to Dr. David Livingstone's museum. The well and a rainwater harvesting tank at the village school were funded by the Rotary Club of Maui in 2009.

JACQUELINE SIMONE AMBROSE

Christopher Nyamwanji, has over 15 years of experience working on water sanitation projects in Tabora District. The program is very well planned and implemented, involving the villagers at every phase of development. The wells are hand dug. Molds for the concrete rings are brought to the site and the concrete is mixed right there. The rings are then placed in the well cavity manually, and with the use of ropes. It takes about six weeks to complete construction of a well, including the water sanitation education phase. Approximately 250 to 350 people use the wells.

JACQUELINE SIMONE AMBROSE

The village water committee is responsible for fundraising within the community to establish a water fund to maintain the well structure, and for resolving any inadequate water supply problems. Thus, the villagers both own and sustain the wells and rainwater catchment tanks.

JACQUELINE SIMONE AMBROSE

The Carina Water Wells project provides enough funds to include water sanitation promotion and hygiene education to the villagers. Raising the level of awareness within the communities, to understand good hygiene and sanitation practices for their improved health, is crucial to the success of the projects. An additional rainwater harvesting tank was built at Isukamahela School, in Tabora district. The American Society of Dowsers sponsored the project. A staple diet of maize meal is cooked at the school for the children. Having access to a water supply close by makes their lives much easier. School attendance during the peak of the dry season is about 70 percent, but jumps to 98 percent attendance in the rainy season.

JACQUELINE SIMONE AMBROSE

I plan continuing my efforts to raise funds for more Carina Water Wells Projects. Without water there is no life.

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"If real development is to take place, the people have to be involved." Julius Kambarage Nyerere, from his book Uhuru na Maendeleo (Freedom and Development), 1973

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www.carinawaterwells.org