Exploring a water project for Ikwavila

Four years ago, I visited the village of Ikwavila for the first time.  The people I met told me I was the first wazungu to venture to their remote village.  To get there, we had driven four hours out of Iringa to the village of Tungamalenga.  Heading out of that village toward Ruaha National Park, we took a left onto the road that leads through Makambalala, Makifu, Mahuninga, and all the way uphill to Kisilwa. At Mahuninga, we took another left onto a narrow road that used to end at the bridge where we normally go offroad to Mahove.  At the bridge, continuing on a new road where there used to be barely a path, we arrived in  Ikwavila.

The hospitality was humbling.  I accepted the gift of a chicken.

This church elder welcomed me to the village.  His young son greeted me in perfect English, "Good morning, madam.  How do you do?"

Our travelers have visited Ikwavila every year since that first time, and as we have gotten to know one another, we have learned of the village's need for water.

Walking uphill about ten minutes from homes like these, there is a dry stream bed.

Water seeps to the surface in a couple spots.  Above, the small pool in the center is visited by cattle and other animals. The water is murky and dark, and the pool is surrounded by animal droppings. At the base of the tree in the background, protected somewhat by the roots...

...the villagers have shoveled a three foot deep hole in the sandy soil where the water collects. It appears clear.  This is where the village gets their water for drinking, cooking, bathing and cleaning.

There is water here even in the dry season, although in particularly dry years (like this one) the families of the village must stagger their water collecting times, so that the water has time to fill the hole between buckets.

This year, the villagers reported another hazard -- lions have been venturing away from the nearby game park.  At certain times of day, the girls and women who walk to carry water are accompanied by young men carrying spears to protect them.

Another five minute walk through the dry stream bed and then across some hilly terrain, the villagers showed us this spot.  Water again seeps to the surface, cattle gather, and the whole field is muddy with a few small pockets of standing water.  While the water in the stream bed appears clear and tastes good, the water here is very salty. Nearby there is even a small area that might be described as quicksand.  Our friends stuck a six foot tree branch into the muck and still did not strike a solid bottom.

From that muddy spot, there is another trickle of water running downhill.  Again, the villagers tell us this water is not fit to drink.

What is the solution for bringing a reliable, safe source of water to the people of Ikwavila?

The neighboring villages, from Kisilwa in the hills to Makambalala in the valley, have all been served by a system of pipes bringing water from a highlands spring fed stream. For thirty some years, a system of pipelines collect water from the spring fed stream high in the mountain, bringing it to a large tank in Kisilwa.

The water is so plentiful that the release valve (see that bluish pipe on the right?) has water flowing from the tank all year round.  Even in the dry season, the excess water flows with enough volume to irrigate fields up to a mile away.  I have seen this runoff water irrigate huge, abundant rice paddies downhill.

In 2012, Shepherd of the Valley funded a water project that extended this pipe system to bring water to the village of Mahove.  Downhill from the tank at Kisilwa, we connected to the pipeline at Kitalongolo.  From there, the people of Mahove dug and buried pipelines three meters deep, for 9.6 kilometers.  The water pressure is sufficient that this gravity system carried the water all that way, even uphill the last two kilometers.  There are six water taps located a kilometer apart throughout the village of Mahove. At times, the water pressure is so great that the last spigot must be left open to run so that the pipes do not burst from the pressure.  That last spigot has become the watering place for cattle.

We've seen amazing, life giving results of this water project. Girls, freed from their many hours of water carrying duties, are able to attend school.  Women have time to construct homes and tend crops. The whole village enjoys better hygiene and health.

Back to Ikwavila....

Some people in the village think their best option is to connect to the pipeline from the bridge and bring water to their village.  That's a significant distance, and farther uphill than the pipeline to Mahove.  We would need to have some careful calculations done to determine whether this option would work, without compromising the existing system that carries water to all those other villages.

We also want to explore the option of drilling a well uphill from the village, since there seem to be water sources right there. Again, we need some expert consultants to determine the quality and quantity of the water available.  

When we were planning the Mahove water project, our partners were dead set against the idea of a well.  They had seen several other wazungu organizations attempt to drill wells in the area, at great expense and with little success.  What they told us was that wells in their area either ran dry nine months of the year, or yielded water that was unfit to drink. Whether or not that would be the case in Ikwavila, we know there is a bit of resistance to even the idea of a well in this area.

Expert help is on the way...

For several years, St Paul Partners, the Bega Kwa Bega affiliate that works with water and wells in the Iringa Diocese, has worked with engineering students from the University of Minnesota.  The engineering students travel to Tanzania each January, visit several locations, assessing water needs and coming up with solutions. The students work in collaboration with the staff of St Paul Partners, and are in contact with the Iringa District water engineer, Amos Byemerwa.

Shepherd of the Valley is pleased that Ikwavila will be one of those locations the engineering students visit this coming January and we look forward to hearing their recommendations.

While we wait for this expert advice, we pray:

Gracious God,

you have called us into a community of faith.

We are called to life by you, and to sustain life with you,

the source of life and creator of every being.

We pray for those who struggle every day

for their daily supply of water.

We pray that those who are fortunate enough to have an abundance of water

do not take your gift for granted,

or fail to heed or understand

the cries of people who need water for life.

Amen.

~~adapted from a prayer from the Lutheran World Federation~~