Learning about Water

Last week Kyle and I met with the math teacher from the secondary school and discussed their needs and opportunities for us to be involved with teaching or tutoring math, chemistry, and physics when we are in Mundri and not working on water projects. Hopefully this time could line up with the time that Michael is teaching at the Bible College in Mundri. After the peace agreement in 2005, secondary schools transitioned back to being taught in English instead of Juba Arabic. The primary schools are taught primarily in Moru.

Yesterday we traveled about 3 hours to Mbara with some local pump mechanics to observe two pump repairs. The pump mechanics live here in Mundri and the supplies for repairs are located in Mundri, but they have no transportation to villages in Mundri county, so we provided the transportation traveling with them in the car that we share with the church. Many people in Mundri are working without pay or with intermittent pay such as teachers, doctors, pump technicians, and other community service positions. They work as much as they are able without pay, but many of them are also growing crops outside of the city to make a living. The water commissioner and pump mechanics, for example, may only be paid when an NGO partners with them for a certain project. This makes the situation difficult for the villages in Mundri county that are remote and don’t have any trained technicians or spare parts. When their pump breaks, they do not know how long it will be until someone will be able to come and repair the pump. In Mbara one pump was broken for 4 months and the other for 3 months before they were repaired. There is no real preventative maintenance performed, so something as simple as a loose bolt can eventually lead to the catastrophic failure of the pipe or drive shaft.
When we were talking to some people from the community in Bari, where we observed the bore-hole being drilled last week, we heard again that when a bore-hole is broken, people will walk to the river to get water. The river water carries many diseases and causes significant illness in the community. Last week when we spoke with the Mundri water officer, he gave us a good picture of the water situation in Mundri. He said that it is not uncommon to wait over two hours in Mundri town for water. There can often be over 100 jerry cans (5 gallon water containers) lined up before yours when you arrive at the tap or borehole.

We are continuing to learn and observe the local water situation and provide some assistance including the use of equipment and transportation as we pray about what our long term involvement in water projects will be in Mundri and how the gospel will impact our ministry, relationships, and interaction with the communities. Very soon we will start work on the water tower on the property that World Harvest is sharing with the Episcopal Church of Sudan. Our permanent housing will be built on this property soon.