Cameroon

SUMMARY

Two wells were installed in the Donga Mantung division of the northwest region of Cameroon. The project was to establish wells at a primary school in the Equato/Fung village. Our project lead, Vise Chin, purchased all parts for this project at the local market. A two-person team was sent to the village beforehand to gain the support and commitment from the community.

Equato/Fung is more than an eight hours drive from Bamenda, the headquarters of Vise Chin and his team. Therefore, all the items were purchased in Bamenda and Douala then transported to the village. On January 10, 2013, a team of four set out from Bamenda to Quato/Fung. At the time, children collected water from a river near their village. The first several attempts to drill were unsuccessful. Rock was consistently hit, which forced the team to move to a different site and try again. We had an active community participation of 12 people. While working, we also trained people from the community on how to drill boreholes and responded to their questions. The first well ended up being approximately 48 feet deep. The second well ended up being approximately 46 feet deep. The boreholes were then cased; gravel was poured around the casing for filtration and a water treatment agent was added to help purify the water while killing bacteria. Mono pumps from India were purchased and used at these sites due to their availability. Pressure pipes, instead of regular PVC pipes were used due to the loose nature of the terrain and the internal collapsing risks. The pipes that we initially considered were too thin and not very strong, so we had to recommend more expensive, resistant pipes for the wells.

The sand and cement were then mixed for the concrete pad. After this was all completed, we then flushed the pump by having constant pumping of the well for over 6 hours. The community was very happy and grateful for their new water supply. There was lots of singing and joy when we finally hit water. The wells are to help the school children and other members of the community who are suffering from lack of water and water related diseases.