This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteers Marcie Todd, Garrison Harward, and Joey Johnston. To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.
In this project, Marcie and Garrison began to implement a new process to prefabricate a number of pumps at once and then take them out to the individual towns for installation.
Marcie reports:
The first day of our 5 pumps in 5 days challenge began with a trek to Joey’s village school located slightly inland from the Delta. Garrison and I prepared all the material, grabbed our bikes and hopped on an Alhum- a makeshift bus/van with bench seats able to carry more than 50 people. Once we made it to Joey’s road town we stopped for breakfast and made an unexpected friend who showed us photos of her past life and family members while we waited for Joey to arrive.
Joey, Garrison, and I strapped the materials to our bikes and made our way to the school down bush-path roads. A few times we got stuck in sand and had to walk the bikes through. The first thing we saw upon arrival was this huge prehistoric steel pump that pronounced problems for the future, but luckily we also had about 7 buff men including a happenstance mason around to help.
The men quickly grabbed materials and began disassembling the old pump and installing the new pump while Joey, Garrison, and I began the process of fitting pipe and threading the rope. The assembly was very quick and we even had time to build a step for the kids to better reach the pump handle. All in all, this pump install was a success and one of the easiest installs yet!
Pump Output: 33 Liters/ Min
Total Number of People Benefiting: 109, mostly children
Funder: Tristan Harward