Friday, March 11, 2011

Watering Dryland part II

We have had a busy week. (Check out some of the pictures on facebook.) Our dryland pump has been an important project as we build up to the dry season, which begins in April or May or whenever the clouds decide. Water is essential to life, and some people live far from wetlands or don't own a plot suitable for the 'old way' of gardening. If we can expand the horizon of our pump, we will be able to teach such people how to grow food close to their homes.

This well is 6m deep. In the above picture you can see us installing the pipe. Pipe sections are sold in 6m lengths, so we had an easy job of fitting this pipe together.


After getting the pipe into the well, we must line up the inlet and outlet with the wheel. The kids enjoyed watching us, but probably thought we were crazy.
Emanuel, in the foreground below, will be using this pump to grow vegetable right outside his home. He was very excited to have the pump. His comment: "It's okay, it's easy, it's simple."