Tete Sand Dams



I have not talked much about the Tete sand dams that are being built by CCM Tete Province in the District of Changara. Most of the last two years have been in getting our first project going in Mandie on the other side of the Luenha River. We started the Tete project this fall with the help of our colleague, Holly, who is a civil engineer and helped the CCM staff design their first dam. I have pictures of the almost finished product in the midst of the rainy season as the river is running and a few pictures of the construction process. It is a bigger river and has a lot of potential for water capture.

Moving Gigantic Rock From Dam Site
I have never seen the likes of this before. This rock was enormous. The people hacked away with pick axes and hammers to chop it down to size and then they rolled it out with about 10 people. Watch out for those toes!


Women Collecting Rocks
Dzunga is quite a bit bigger then any of the communities in Mandie. When I went to visit with the learning tour there were about 200 people working on the dam. I was quite impressed. In Mandie I usually see 10-15 people working on the dams at any given day. 70-80 women carrying rocks in a long line is quite impressive.

Almost Complete Dam
It is the middle of the rainy season, things are green and water is running in the river. The dam is almost completed here in January but work is slower because of the rains and the base below ground is already completed. It should already be holding water and collecting sand. It has not been built very high yet but will be built up little by little over the next months and years as the sand collects behind the structure.