Photo Update

Just some photos to update for February. The project continues to move forward at a good pace, but not without lots if interesting problems to overcome. Heading on a safari in western Uganda for the break. Travel plans for April/May: 3-4 weeks in Ethiopia in April, meeting my bro in Europe on April 26 for two weeks in undetermined countries, home on May 10.


This is a panorama of the main valley that the water project serves


John told me what these clouds are called but I forget. It's pretty cool regardless





A typical lunch: beans, rice, and posho






Some cattle drinking from a cattle trough near one of the two sources






This is the upper part of our solar shower. The pipes are filled each morning and when sunny, can be incredibly hot by the early evening. It's overkill in our opinion, but it is very nice







A local group came by to thank us by singing and giving us a bunch of vegetables





Tyler opening one of the air release valves on the problematic Bushenyi line









Project justification: cattle share the water source upstream of most of the communities. I also saw a guy bathing in this same spot a few days ago




Some interesting local cash crops







For anyone else would may also be ignorant to our favorite addicive tropical import, this is a coffee plant








The school kids doing some light yard work around the school









"Dear Family, life in Africa is proving very difficult. I am having a really hard time coping with the stresses of everyday life. Please send more money"



The first of two sediment tanks has been parged and is now full of water





John the Mzee (respected old man) explains to the school children that came to carry sand how the system works

Water Project Update

The last few weeks have been the most intense of the project to this point. The community had dug the large majority of the trenches within the first two weeks, at least three quarters. The crew has been mainly pulling out the 20 kilometers of pipeline, again probably three quarters has been pulled out to date. The first of the two sources has been developed and the pipeline has been attached and pulled out 700 meters to the road so we can get water for the camp. We’ve been troubleshooting this line because there’s only a minimal amount of pressure and it keeps airlocking which means the water won’t flow to the sediment tank. It’s been a stressful couple of weeks but the water seems to be flowing consistantly and at a good rate at this point, knock on wood. It is an elaborate fix but it works and when we finish it, there will no moving parts, which meets our goal of absolutely minimal maintenance. Tyler and I have made no shortage of mistakes on this project, seeing as we have no experience with water projects and we have been throw head first into the deep end. There have been some very tense moments and lots of stress but like we keep saying, there’s no better way to learn than this. None of these mistakes will be made again by us but unfortunately for ACTS it will be a new set of interns next year. The project keeps pressing on at an impressive pace and by the end of the month most of the pipeline should be finished and the development of the second source should be complete. The tanks have to be sealed and covered and all the tapstands have to be built. The project should be effectively complete by the time we are finished at the end of March, with the exception being a second reservoir tank that will be built last to increase the storage capacity to serve long term population growth. All of this may not sound too exciting but for those of us directly involved in this project it is amazing to watch it unfold and at such a fast pace.


I like this picture but it is by no means creative. A very similair picture is on the business cards they got made for us. "Water is Life"







A couple weeks ago there was stacks of pipe piled at our camp. Most has been pulled out by now and only a small amount remains, but we have to order more because we have shortages



A local kid digging a portion of the trench. It's not common to see kids digging but there is the occasional ambitious one








There are two ways to pull out pipe. I would call this one the lazy way because it requires far less effort but more time because once the pipe is pulled out it has to be untwisted. The alternative is for the pipe to be pulled out straight with several guys manually turning the roll of pipe


This pipe is connected to one of the sources and runs about 700 meters to the road so we can fill tanks for the camp. The locals around the area are also taking full advantage of the clean source of water



The 3 inch pipe is very heavy; one 100m roll weighs over 200 kilograms. Pulling this is a difficult task which takes pretty much the whole crew.



Jim has a quad here which he brought over a few years ago. In this instance we tried pulling a pipe with it, quite successfully, but normally it wouldn't work in the terrain were in



This is the trading center in Burara I cell. There are 12 cells (essentially small villages) in our project and I think they all lie in the Nyakigyera Parish. Its all very confusing