Sand Dams are Still Working

I believe I wrote an entry a few months ago on the results I was seeing in the community of Thangera. I had posted two pictures showing the resulting difference in that community from last July to this July. They had dug down 6 meters to get water by last July but as of this year they still had water one meter down in the hole. This was quite exciting for us as well for them. They are now quite motivated in digging making a second and all the communities around them are eager to build their own as well so things are rolling this year. It is also much easier this year as things are much more organized and CCM’s capacity is greater.

Well I have even better news. It is now two months later and Thangera still has water a meter down and there is so much water that they are all building brick houses. Without the water they could not have make the bricks. Other communities have already seen these results and have moved their fields near the new dam sites before the dams have even been built in expectation of the coming water. This could be a challenge if we do not get the results we hope for but it does mean the people are seeing positive results.

We have one piece of sad news. The village of Tchinda which has been featured in many blog entries before and who has an ideal functioning dam with water behind it is not utilizing the water at all. The dam sits there with lots of water and the community has done nothing. It goes to show that some communities take advantage of what comes there way and others don’t. As the old saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” Our hope, though, is that eventually someone will wake up and decide to use the resource that is available for them and fortunately a dam will be around a long time waiting for them and will not disappear overnight. Maybe once the communities around them all have water and are taking advantage of it they will wake up.

Meanwhile, Thangera is moving forward and people are benefiting. A lot of the credit goes to the chief of that community who is quite motivated and a good leader.