Water for Gambia

GOAL: $25,500 to build two solar-powered water towers to irrigate a communal farm in Kembujeh, The Gambia, Africa. After building the towers, fertilize the farm and hire a man with a tractor to till the ground and prepare it for farming.

BACKGROUND: Gambia is one of the poorest nations in the world. It is a small country on the big bulge of Africa north of the Equator. English is the official language. There are three months of flooding rains, followed by nine months of very hot and dry weather which kills most crops which are not irrigated. The town of Kembujeh, south of the river, does not have electricity and gets its water from shallow wells. Polluted water causes diseases.

MY ACTIONS: I am working with two young Gambian men in the village of Kembujeh. I knew the water table would be close to the surface because they had hand-dug wells, from which the people collected water in buckets. My idea was to bore a hole in the ground to the water table, insert a pipe with an electric pump, install a water tower, and add a solar panel to power the pump. In that part of Africa, they have LOTS of sunshine, but they have a electric power grid that serves the main cities only. Such solar-powered towers existed in Gambia, but were rare. Their existence showed that they had the skills locally to do the job.

I first built a tower in Kembujeh to provide water for the village. It was so popular that people walked from other villages to get clean water and the tower would run dry. I built a second tower. There was a distress sale of a nearby farm, so I bought the farm and added a tower to provide irrigation. I added solar panels to homes so they had lighting at night and a place to charge their cell phones (everyone seems to have a cell phone). I have now built six towers, providing clean water to Kembujeh and surrounding villages. The farm, with irrigation, is providing fruits and vegetables to sell in the local market, but is too small to serve the village.

THE PLAN: We acquired a second farm. It is planted with cassava, a drought-resistant root like sweet potatoes, but not as nutritious. The villagers want two water towers for irrigation, and they would spit the farm into plots for different families. They need the two towers, then fertilizer, then pay to have the hard ground broken for planting by a harrow. The cost would be about $25,500, and I am running out of money. I turn to GOFUNDME

IS THIS A SCAM? I worried about funding something in Africa, and have built into this slowly, since January 2020. They sent me photos of each tower being constructed, so I could see that they were different towers. Finally in December 2023 my daughter and her husband visited Gambia as tourists, visited one of my towers and met the young men. After dealing with these young men for four years, I have confidence in them.

ABOUT ME: I am Bruce Gordon, a retired fighter pilot from the Vietnam war, author of the book "The Spirit of Attack" -- the spirit that got me to tackle problems even in my retirement years. I have been Treasurer of several charities, including the local Rotary Club and the local Immigrant Initiative, so I can handle the finances involved.