A day working in Khova Ward, August 2018

August 2018

Hallo subscriber subscriber,

What does a standard Jacana work day look like?

We already described one in the newsletter "Gray is not always old, Feb.2018", when we introduced the project Water for Khova to the community. Meanwhile small entrepreneurs have come up with their plans, they had a business training, the companies were visited and 19 families are chosen to get a partly sponsored pump.That was in the rainy season.

Jacana expects a contribution of € 40 to € 80 for each sponsored borehole.So it is waiting for the yield of the harvest. Meanwhile, there has been no drip rain for 3 months and there will be no drop in the next 3 months. Farmers, who do not (yet) have access to groundwater, all harvested at the same time and all bring their products to the market at the same time, which causes prices to fall.

Today we first go to a community pump in Konkomala village, that has been installed in collaboration with the rural water authorities. After that we go to the pump of Blackson Tembo in Mkwekwe village.

In June, four of the well diggers, Erasmus, Francisco, Andrew and Obuloni from the Khova Ward area, were trained in manual drilling of boreholes. We have been guiding them continuously since then.

The new drilling team created the first manually drilled borehole in Mkwekwe village next to the house of Erasmus (one of the drillers). It is almost as deep as a basketball court is long. Although the pump is from Erasmus, he voluntarily shares the water with 15 neighbors, which makes the queue at the community pump already decreasing.

Immediately afterwards the first people came with their own contribution for their borehole. But the team will first make three other boreholes, because every new driller makes a borehole at his own home to gain more experience before they start drilling for customers. A second was made at driller Francisco where we will take a look later on the day.

Now they are drilling at Andrew's house. The first attempt failed because of a thick stone, but the team does not give up, drill bits were repaired and a subsequent attempt started.

At Andrew's we take the opportunity to discuss the bookkeeping with the team.It was decided that Francisco is the most reliable and he manages the money. Small disadvantage is that he can not read or write, doubtful advantage is that he is not the only one.

Francisco recognizes numbers and another team member helps him with writing. But as everywhere -writing or not writing- the bookkeeping is not correct for the first few months with any team. We decide to let the team think about it and come back to them later.

On our way to the Marksensio's pump we hear: “Up! Up phuuu! and Up phuuu!”. That sounds familiar, but the pitch does not fit. A little later we see a group of children. Anyway look at a very short video and you will understand.

Further on our road is blocked by a fire that got out of control. We wait until the wind has done most of the work, arm ourselves - to extinguish the fire - with the few branches that were still upright and continue on the ashes. It is so common at this time of the year that we forget to take a picture of it.

Back at the "bookkeeper" there is a cheerful mood, they have found the problem. We discuss the results at lunch, provided by Andrew's wife Tafwangi.

Finally, we check Fransico's pump and hear strange noises again. It turns out to be a group of Nyau dancers who practice the Gule Wamkulu (the big dance). Now they are world famous among all our readers, who would have expected that?

Our work in Khova ward is sponsored by Marie-Stella-Maris foundation.

Thanks for that

Bester will strengthen Jacana

From this month the Jacana team has been strengthened with Bester Sakala. He has studied Agroforestry at Copperbelt University and not only knows a lot about agriculture, trees and plants, but is also technically skilled.

Welcome Bester