Provide Water to Musabayana Elementary School

Musabayana Elementary School Water and Agricultural Project

About Shamwari International Charity Organization Shamwari International is a non-profit public charity organization based in Walla Walla, WA, formed to assist with humanitarian projects for orphans and impoverished children in Zimbabwe (https://www.shamwari-international.org/). Our outreach initiatives aim to empower people. We aim to work with partners in our communities, sharing our resources and knowledge and enabling them to use their expertise and experience to help with solutions. Shamwari International raises funds for school fees, college, and trade school tuition for promising students, teaches sustainable farming in communities of extreme poverty, and assists with building clean water systems for neglected rural schools. Shamwari International was inspired by the late Paula Leen, a Seventh-day Adventist in Walla Walla, WA. Our current team is comprised of Joanie Lucarelli, Executive Assistant to the President of Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington; Carolyn Shanks, a retired Speech Therapist, Walla Walla, Washington; Kate Ely, a Hydrologist with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Pendleton, Oregon; and Bob Shanks, a retired Wilbur-Ellis Company Agronomist, Walla Walla, Washington; Frank Millar, a retired Wilbur-Ellis Company Agronomist, Milton-Freewater, Oregon; with extensive knowledge in agricultural production, and Stephen Machado, an Oregon State University Professor working on agricultural production (https://www.shamwari-international.org/our-team).

Background

Shamwari International is working on a project to provide water to Musabayana Elementary School in Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe, for domestic and school agricultural projects. Musabayana Elementary School educates about 400 children in grades 1 - 6. Some kids come from far away (> 5 miles) on foot to attend school here. However, the school has no water. The only well that was functional was contaminated and is seasonal. The kids often bring unhealthy and opaque drinking water from their homes to the school. Most people do not have toilets and defecate in the bushes. So, surface water runoff during the rainy season contaminates open water wells with feces. Furthermore, the school is rural and about 50 miles from the nearest town and provides housing for teachers to save them from commuting daily from town to the school. However, because of the water shortage, all the teachers, except the Principal, have moved back to town. The situation is worsening due to increased drought incidences due to climate change.

Past work

Shamwari International has so far drilled two wells. The first one, costing about $8,000, was 100 m deep and only reached water at 98 m. The school could not use this well because it dried up so fast. The second well was more productive, but it was about half a mile from the school. With the help of the community, we dug a trench 1.5 km long by hand to pipe the water to the school. We bought a solar pump to pump the water up a nearby mountain to create the pressure needed to move water to the school. This project cost Shamwari International $22,000. For a while, the school had sufficient water but only for drinking. However, as wells in the surrounding areas started to dry up due to persistent droughts and insufficient recharge, the community also started to use water from this well. We could not deny them the water, particularly after they had helped dig the trench and were the parents of the Musabayana Elementary School kids. With increasing drought incidences, the water supply from this well is no longer reliable. The water shortage at the school is negatively impacting the kids' education. The school desperately needs water for domestic use, and with available water, the school will be able to introduce agricultural production in its curricula. Our main goal is to provide water for domestic use and the school's agricultural program. Production of horticultural crops at the school will not only give the kids an opportunity to learn agriculture but is also necessary for food production and extra school income. The school deputy Principal is a certified horticulturist and plans to teach the kids how to grow crops for their consumption and marketing to raise much-needed funds for the school. We have the drip irrigation and a fence for the garden purchased and ready for installation. The school needs funds for building maintenance, new furniture, solar power, Wi-Fi, and internet services to supplement teachers' salaries. Teachers' salaries at this school are about $200 monthly, well below their living expenses. So teachers spend little time teaching and working other jobs in town for extra income. With all these difficulties, we decided to raise money to draw water from the nearby dam.

What will we use the Requested Funds for?

The requested funds will be used to draw water from a nearby dam to provide water for domestic uses and agricultural production at Musabayana Elementary School, Mutare, Zimbabwe.

The Mupudzi Dam (coordinates), about 1.5 km from the school, has water all year round but is grossly underutilized. Drawing water from the dam for use at the school was not our first choice because of the limited funds we could raise. But with increasing drought incidences, drawing from the dam is the only reliable solution to provide water to the school. To the east of the dam, the Nyanga Mountains (Eastern Highlands) provide a perennial water source for rivers that feed into the dam. These majestic mountains, towering to about 2600 m above sea level, catch moisture from the Indian Ocean throughout the year and feed it to rivers that pour into the dam. The government built the dam in 2008 to serve the surrounding communities, but the dam is underutilized, with only one farmer and the orphanage drawing water from the dam. The government has no money to complete the irrigation schemes as planned initially.

In our effort to draw water from the dam for the school, We have done the following:

1. We relocated the tanks (20,000 L) from the mountain near the solar-powered well to the school. Currently, Shamwari International is buying water from water companies in Zimbabwe to fill these tanks, but for drinking only. This arrangement is not sustainable.

2. We have bought an electric water pump costing $7,000 to pump water from the dam to the school.

3. We have fenced the garden area at the school and have drip irrigation kits ready to go.

4. We applied for and were permitted to draw water from the dam, but the permit can be withdrawn if we are not pumping water.

The requested funds are needed to afford the following:

1. Purchase pipes enough to span the distance from the dam to the school (1 mile) and to run water to every building and toilets at the school ($7,000).

2. Purchase two more tanks, enough to hold 10,000 L tanks ($2,000) and two tank stands ($1,600) to increase water pressure.

3. Purchase a water filtration system to be installed on tanks designated for drinking water ($3,000).

4. Contact a local company to:

a. Build a pump enclosure and install the pump at the bottom of the dam ($1,000).

b. Connect electrical power to the pump ($500).

c. Dig a trench to bury pipes from the dam to the school ($10,000).

d. Install pipes to run water to every classroom, laboratories, toilets, houses, and school grounds at the school ($5,000).

e. Install irrigation kits in the school garden ($500).

5. Purchase agricultural equipment, tools, seeds, and fertilizer needed for the garden ($3,000).

6. Expense travel of one or two Shamwari International team members to Zimbabwe to implement and monitor the water project ($16,400).

Total: $50,000

****Your donations will be highly appreciated! ****