Water at Roche!

After tremendous effort on our local team's part, we now have a submersible pump and a generator to pump water 350-meters to our 2500-liter water storage tank on-site. This will be tested and used for construction in the short-term. Because of the heavy rain season, the delivery truck bringing the tank couldn't get to the site. The first image shows villagers rolling the tank 4 meters to the site. The other images show the installation of the tank and the first showing of fresh water.

Getting water for the Roche Health Center

Villagers in Roche have been getting most of their water for drinking and sanitation from a small pond that is shared by local livestock. When VLOP began working with the village, they soon learned that many of the diseases they were treating came from water-borne diseases that could be easily avoided with cleaner water. When we began the Roche Health Center project, it became clear that the first requirement was to provide a source of clean water in Roche. The first step occurred today when a borehole was dug by Majitech, Inc. This followed two water surveys and a choice location 350 meters from the health center site. The drillers hit water today at 90 meters below the surface!!!

brick training by Makiga

Makiga, Inc (from Nairobi, Kenya) produce hand-powered brick presses for the Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSB). Village Life purchased a straight and curved press for use at the health center and for future use in the region. Below are pictures from the training taken by Emily Roush.

Studio presentation for SHED

On November 8, 2008, representatives of our local partners, the Shirati Health, Education and Development Foundation (SHED) were in Cincinnati. We had the opportunity to present the progress of the design and get their feedback. This was completely invaluable for the progress of the project.

The institutional and "higher income" buildings in Roche are built of a kiln-fired mud brick. This brick is fired in a kiln built of the same material and the results are that after 3 days of burning, about half of the bricks are usable at all. The usable bricks are brittle, inconsistent and weak. As a result, the wall construction includes a majority of mortar.

Why we need health care in Tanzania

Tanzania is amongst the countries with the lowest ratio of population to doctors at 50,000:1

Image courtesy of doctorsoftheworld.nl