Journey to the Well- Tanzania
Posted by Zelda Craig
on Jan 13, 2016
Journey to the Well - Tanzania
Brenda Colebrook and Debbie Dow attended our meeting to discuss their experience on safari in Tanzania. They shared gorgeous photos of the wildlife in Tanzania. Debbie noted that it was the wildlife that originally brought her to Tanzania, but it is the people that will continue to bring her back. Born and raised in Prince George, Debbie had a career overseeing field projects for the Ministry of Forests before starting her own antique business. Now retired, she volunteers with her church and loves getting outdoors and traveling to remote environments. Brenda also has a passion for animals, which led to her move to Prince George as a young RN. She married a vet and settled into life in PG, raised her family and is an active volunteer in our community. Given their passion for animals and the outdoors, they decided to journey to Tanzania, a country in East Africa, to participate in an eco safari. Early in their journey they were instructed never to share their water with the locals. Over the course of their safari, they were enchanted by the wildlife and beautiful vistas, but their hearts were captured by the local people known as the Maasai.
The Maasai are pasturalists, live in rural villages. The adults will walk 7 - 10 km to collect water, bringing it home in containers balanced on their heads. Children walk their animals for many kilometers so that the animals can drink as well. Despite many underground water resources, the Maasai have difficulty obtaining the water they need for health. Many of the surface sources of water (ponds and streams) dry up in the summer months, and all of them are contaminated with parasites because these pools are shared with wildlife as well as their goats and cows. They visited a school which served 43 students, and asked about the container hanging outside, only to learn that this small (4 litre) receptacle was the daily ration of water for the students and their schoolmaster.
Brenda and Debbie were instructed never to give their water away, but whenever their vehicle stopped children would come to beg for food and water. One day, a small child approached the vehicle. Debbie had a bottle of water and her camera within reach of the window; a young child reached in and grabbed the bottle of water, leaving the camera. This reflects the high value that is place on water in the area. It was challenging to do as they were instructed, in the face of such need for water. Brenda and Debbie resolved to do something to help the Maasai, and decided that raising funds to build a well would be an important use of their skills and talents! They produced a gorgeous calendar which is available for purchase for $25, and almost all of the proceeds go directly towards the costs of the well. Since August 2014, they have raised $16,200 towards the cost of building a hand-pumped shallow well that can provide water for hundreds of people and their animals. They note that many of the wells that other groups install at schools or churches will not provide water for the animals, which means that the Maasai still have long daily journeys to attain water for their animals. While a deeper well would serve a much larger number of people, a shallow well is more achievable in terms of cost to create and cost to maintain. With the drop in the Canadian dollar, Brenda and Debbie have produced a 2016 calendar for sale, and once they are done they will have enough money to proceed with the well.
Calendars are available through Dolly, or you can contact Debbie and Brenda directly at projectwell2015@outlook.com