Hope Junior Nursery & Primary School

The drillers arrived at Hope Junior on the 15th May, 2014 and on the 16th May, 2014 started drilling but stopped at 6m. And on the 17th May, 2014 continued up to 18m where the drilling became hard. The drillers reamed the well and installed the temporal casing up to 18m, then widened the hole and installed the permanents. They struck the first Water at 10m but there was not much water at this point so they kept drilling.

On the 18th May, 2014 we drilled from 28m to 50m where we reached a larger amount of water. There was definitely enough to sustain the well so we developed the well that same day. On the 19th May, 2014, we pump tested the well and did the casting on the 20th May, 2014, installed it, and the pump was at 30m. This well was completed on the 20th May, 2014.

This well at Hope Junior was sponsored by the Ohio based company Earnest Machinery who’s slogan is “Intentionally Better”. The people from Earnest asked us if they could do more than just the well, so we also built toilets, septics and hand washing stations. We also added a roundabout pump that pumped water up to a water tower when the children played on it.

The school is very organized, so we also set up a village savings group, where members of the community pool their money to set up small businesses. The loans are based around collections made to cover any repairs that may come up for the well.

Caroline has children at Hope Junior and had this was what she had to say about the difference the well and toilets have made. Caroline specifically wanted to talk about the dramatic increase in school enrollment at the school. “The biggest change I see now is just the increase of the children. since the parents saw that the flush toilets that Drop in the Bucket had built,  plus the borehole (well).”

She also described the water situation before the well. “Before the borehole everyone used to go to the swamp for water. It is 3 or 4 kilometers from the school and the water was very dirty. The children used to get sick.”