Rainwater Harvesting in Rural Tanzania
SUMMARY
Amizade will continue to create a self-sustaining volunteer/service-learning program and cooperate with a grassroots community movement to help meet the clean water needs of the region of Karagwe, Tan
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anthonyscaletta said 2 years ago
Rain water harvesting systems change lives! I know because I have been to Karagwe, Tanzania as an Amizade student-volunteer in the summer of 2009, and I have seen firsthand the powerful and utterly life-changing effects that these systems make in the lives of those that use them. While performing community service in Karagwe, I had the opportunity to work with one family in particular and my interactions with them shook me to my very core. I would like to share that story with you.
It was the first time that I had confronted extreme poverty on such a personal level. This family's situation was desperate. They had lost their father to HIV/AIDS two years prior and their mother had run away shortly thereafter not wanting to confront the passing of her husband. Abandoning her five children, she left her son Sweetbat, who was only 15 years old at the time, to take care of his four younger siblings. The first time that we visited the family, Sweetbat was battling a malaria outbreak and could barely speak. The family had to walk several miles every day just to obtain the most basic of necessities, water. The children were caught in a perpetual struggle for their lives, exerting much of their energy obtaining water. This left them little time to pursue an education or to secure any type of income for the family. Due to the dire situation of Sweetbat's family, Amizade volunteers were able to return one week later and install a rain water harvesting system on the family’s mud and straw home. I assure you, there are no words that I could possibly use to describe the amount of joy of the children expressed when we arrived with the water cistern, regardless of the fact that they would still have to wait out another three months of the dry season before they could reap the benefits of the rainwater collection tank.
Indeed, the rain water harvesting systems are a simple technology, but its effects are profound. Many of the families in the Karagwe district simply lack the capital necessary to construct one for themselves. Enter Amizade. I get emotional when I think of the scores of lives that would be changed with this proposed rainwater harvesting project. Perhaps, most importantly is the fact that these tanks offer a sustainable solution to a problem that plagues over 66% of the residents of Karagwe.
A large hunk of plastic and two thin metal gutters gave Sweetbat’s family a gift even greater than the water that will be collected in the cistern, for it empowered the children by affording them the opportunity to finally break free of the viscous poverty trap. There is no dollar amount that can be attached to that. I believe in this project because I have seen the results for myself. I also believe in Amizade because I have never met a group of more dedicated and passionate people than those that make up the Amizade family. I can assure you that they are working day in and day out to make our world a better place and I am honored to be able to call myself an Amizade alumnus. I leave you with this quote from Amizade’s website:
"These tanks are more than pieces of plastic; they raise people’s quality of life by ensuring safety and relieving a grueling workload. No longer required to spend hours each day fetching water just to survive, a child may finally be able to attend school, or a woman may be able to pursue professional training."
KUdesign said 2 years ago
Hello, we are students in the 2009/10 Industrial Design class at Kansas University in Lawrence Kansas USA. We are interested in applying socially directed design to make meaningful contributions to the everyday problems faced by the majority of people in our world today. We are offering our collaboration as design students to assist in the visual presentation and global awareness related to rainwater harvesting in rural Tanzania. We were hoping to gather information from those of you who are experts in this field or have lived or observed the conditions there.
- What format of visual presentation are you looking for?
- What audience(s) should be made aware of and contribute to this project?
- Are there any documentation of current systems and can they be made available?
- What, if any problems have the owners of these systems encountered?
KUdesign said 2 years ago
Current systems consist of either large plastic container or cement tank.
The pre-fabricated plastic containers are approximately 1/4-1/2 inch thick, which are difficult to ship and transport. The cement tanks are problematic to make because of a limited supply of immediately available water.
Furthermore both systems are targets for vandalism and jealousy among the community.
In order to create a more cost effective solution we are looking at creating a collapsible container made from an eco-friendly durable plastic, canvas, or rubber composite, capable of holding up to 100 gallons of liquid for up to a year. Accompanying these containers would be a protective outer layer of perforated sheet metal or plastic, that would ship flat and be attached around the tank on site.