News
Stay up to date on the latest news and events from Drilling for Life.
How time flies! 2010 came with its share of successes and challenges like any other year. One of our objectives for the New Year was to be engaged in more direct boreholes than subcontracts unlike in the previous year. In this, we have not been disappointed. We started off with a 200m depth borehole at an area called Kamulu on the Ruiru East Block which puts it in Thika District. The borehole was for an individual and was drilled between the 14th and 17th January 2010. We ended up drilling to 198.9m a successful borehole yielding 12m3.
Afterwards we headed to Naivasa – Musingini in Yatta District. This was a long awaited contract funded by the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). We had drilled two other boreholes in the area still with the CDF, both successful. However, a change of officers over time had caused a delay in the award of the said borehole. The community had waited since 2007 when we first placed our bid on the borehole in response to a tender invitation, probably even longer than that. Finally, by the grace of God, all doors that had closed up on this job seemed to open up and we were more than eager to undertake the job and help a community that had anxiously waited for this miracle. We successfully drilled the borehole between the 15th and 17th February 2010 to 160m and it yielded 3m3.
Masinga Hope Project at Kathukini – Masinga District is a ministry that reaches out to orphans and widows. The borehole was drilled from 22nd to 25th Feb 2010 to 102m depth. It yielded 1.8m3.
Kanginga Oasis Academy is a school in Mwingi District, Eastern Province. The borehole was drilled from 14th – 15th March 2010 at 102m depth yielding 12m3/hr.
The team later headed out to Nyamira District of Nyanza Province where a market had just been constructed at the Kebirigo town centre. Having water available at the market was crucial to ensure cleanliness and that hygiene standards were met. The borehole was drilled to 112m depth between the 12th and 17th April 2010 and yielded 1.2m3.
Kanthonzweni & Kakuyuni were the first subcontracted jobs in 2010. Kathonzweni was drilled from 23rd to 30th March 2010 to 200m but was dry. The first dry borehole in the year. Kakuyuni in Kangundo district of Eastern Province was drilled from 7th to 8th April 2010 at 138m and yielded 4m3.
In Bungoma, Western Province is Chemwa Children’s Home where we drilled a borehole from 21st to 23rd May 2010 to 80m3 and a yield of 1.2m3/hr.
The team took a short break in June to do repairs on the equipment. We are looking forward to several other boreholes in the next half with about four boreholes already scheduled up and many more coming up.
WELL DRILLING PROJECT FOR THE ENZIU COMMUNITY
Enziu is a rural semi-arid region in Mwingi District of Eastern Province of Kenya. A recent visit to the area revealed the adverse situation in which the community survives. A manmade dam, Enziu Earth Dam Project with less than 10,000litres of water is what they call their best water source. It’s a miracle that the water never completely dries up. Somehow, God keeps refilling it so that those who come to fetch do not lack. The community has formed a committee to manage the dam to ensure it is not interfered with by animals. The members contribute a fee that employs a guard to look after the water. Non members pay Kshs.70 (less than a dollar) per month to fetch water. About 10kilometres (6.2miles) from that dam, two rivers once converged, these too are completely dry. Desperate villagers sink wells that seem to chase after the underground water reservoir. Hand dug shallow wells are deepened with every passing day of the dry spell, as far down as the water level will go.
School children are sent to fetch water or a woman and her donkeys with several cows trotting behind. They construct a wooden trough just next to the well from which the animals drink as the women and children fill up their cans. The water level is so low that there’s no way of fetching it without mixing with some sand particles. Not to mention that their feet will crush the lower sand walls as they go down the well to fetch the water, further contaminating the water. Having walked for miles under the humid heat and dying of thirst, a villager bends down to drink up the water, completely oblivious of the diseases one can contract. From cholera to typhoid, the swelled up stomachs of school children demonstrate that.
Drilling for Life, with help Lancaster Evangelical Free Church Koinonia Sunday School Class in Pennsylvania is putting up efforts to provide access to clean portable water for the Enziu Community. DFL is raising funds from the Church and well wishers to help this community by providing a borehole that will serve over 120 families in Enziu. Putting up a borehole in the area will give hope to this community and improve their standard of living as well their health. A nearby well drilled by DFL in another area of Mwingi called Kiomo evidences how much benefit a borehole can bring to a community. In Kiomo, they have used the borehole to irrigate a local green house yielding tomatoes which the community earns a livelihood from. Our hope and aim is that Enziu will equally be transformed as we drill for them a borehole, thus giving them access to clean portable water. Well wishers are welcome to send their donations to:
DRILLING FOR LIFE
266 Vera Cruz Road, Reinholds, PA 17569 USA
For more information email here
KASARANI WATER TANK BOREHOLE: 207m 14th – 19th
October 2009
The borehole was drilled to provide water to a major water tank than serves as a water reservoir for Nairobi area. The borehole was successful.
KIOMO BOREHOLE: 140m - 8th – 13th October 2009
This borehole was drilled to 140m depth for an individual client in Mwingi District of Eastern Province. It was a great borehole, with a lot of water having experienced an aquifer running from 18m depth. The individual uses the water for irrigating his green house tomato farming project. It is a good example of how much water can benefit communities even in the dry regions such as this one.
MULLY’S CHILDREN FAMILY: 200m & 180m- September 17th – 7th
October 2009
We got an opportunity to drill two boreholes at the said home in a place called Ndalani in Yatta District of Eastern Province. One was sunk to 200m depth while the other was sunk to 180m depth. MCF houses about 2500 rehabilitated street children and mothers in various (about 4 different) homes they have in the country.
COMMISSIONING OF KIAMWANGI COMMUNITY BOREHOLE 21st September
2009
In February 2009, Ron Weaver and a church from Pennsylvania raised funds to drill a borehole for Kiamwangi community in Kenya. The borehole was successfully drilled to 160m depth. However, the community had to wait until September this year to start benefiting from the borehole since the drilling part was only Phase I of the project. More funds were raised and when Ron Weaver and Eugene Snader visited Kenya for a week in September, 14th – 22nd 2009 the project continued. During their visit, they got to work with Kiamwangi Community in installing a pump that would see them start utilizing the water. The pump was installed on 15th Sept. 2009. The community held a borehole commissioning ceremony on 21st Sept. 2009 in which they celebrated the victory of an accomplished project and thanked all the donors, friends and well wishers who made the project a success.
ATHI PRIMARY SCHOOL – KAMULU AREA: 200m - 10th – 13th
September 2009
Athi River is in Nairobi Province of Kenya. The borehole was drilled to 200m depth successfully and will provide water to the primary school and surrounding community. It was wonderful to see the drilling works alone completed in just over a day. Drilling started at midday of Thursday and by evening the team had drilled to 140m. The remaining depth was completed the next day.
NYAHURURU BOREHOLE: 180m – 2nd – 7th September
2009
Nyahururu is in Central Province of Kenya. The borehole was drilled at Mwenje Secondary School. It was drilled to 180m depth and will provide water to the school and surrounding community.
MBITINI BOREHOLE – KITUI: 120m – 10th – 15th
August 2009
Kitui is in Eastern Province of Kenya. The borehole was drilled for an individual client. It was highly successful as it was drilled near a river bed.
After about four successful projects in February,
the doors of opportunity seemed to lock out on us. For close to one and a half months there
was no job forthcoming. Although clients kept on inquiring, none materialized into
an actual borehole. In April the doors
seemed to open up a little, but it turned out that con artists were trying to
get us into trouble. Towards the end of May the doors opened up a little more.
We did a borehole in Western Kenya, 70m depth which turned out to be successful
with a 5m3 yield. After that another two boreholes in Yatta
materialized, Mungukya and Kavingo, again, both were successful. God had
remembered us. We went back to Western and did another borehole of 100m but
unfortunately, this one was not as successful. Two more boreholes in Kibwezi
followed, the latter of the two is almost complete and
several others are lined up.
- MUNGUKYA WATER
PROJECT, KATANGI – YATTA
Yatta is in Eastern Province of Kenya, a region in Kenya that constantly experiences prolonged dry climatic spells. Most of it is semi-arid with a few scattered water sources from streams and seasonal rives. This borehole was drilled for domestic community use on 19th to 21st June 2009 up to 100m depth. Unfortunately it did not have a high water yield, achieving only 0.8m3.
- KAVINGO PRIMARY
SCHOOL - KISESINI, YATTA
Drilled between 26th and 30th June 2009 up to 168m depth, the borehole yielded 3m3. It will serve the local primary school and its neighboring community for domestic water.
- MUNDUNGU
SALVATION ARMY PRIMARY SCHOOL – SABATIA
Drilled to 76m for domestic community use the borehole behaved in a funny way. There were two aquifers encountered while drilling, supplying enough water to finish the drilling process. However, on its completion, and after flushing the borehole, it dried up, yielding nothing at all but air. The community water officers are still trying to establish the way forward, whether to deepen it or drill at another site. The drilling process took two days, from 11th – 12th July 2009.
- KIBWEZI
BOREHOLES:
100m and
130m boreholes started on 21st July 2009 and currently on the 2nd
of the two boreholes. The first was successful and the second is also proving
to be successful as it is almost complete with good water yield.
Unfortunately this borehole turned out to be a dry well. A second well was also unsuccessful due to a land dispute arising. Working conditions here were almost unbearable with temperatures in the mid afternoon reaching 38 degrees Celsius with no air movement and a very hot sun. Mid day lunch was about a two hour welcomed break from the intense heat. Robert, our drill team leader, is a very good short order cook and works tirelessly for the team.
