Tanzania, Africa

TAN02 - Mazingara Village Water Development

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Key Partnership Information:

• Partnership Ref.: TAN02

• Partner: Robert Omundi

• Commenced: 23/04/2019

• Funding Status: Completed - No Funding Required

• Partnership Type: Community / Agriculture Development, Humanitarian, Evangelism / Church Planting

• Funding Size: $0 - $2,999

• Annual Budget: US$ 0

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Other Partnership Information:

• View partnership reports (latest shows first)

• No partnership video available yet

• No funding currently required for partnership

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Partnership Overview

Mwabamangare village, adjacent to Mazingara village, is near to the large town of Mkata, on the road from Dar es Salaam to Tanga. It is a largely Muslim area with Segua and Maasai people in the area. The village is wracked by intergenerational poverty and the people are generally very poor. Recent droughts and extreme weather events have caused the deaths of many people and destroyed many houses. There is rampant illness; malaria and dysentery kill many and internal parasites and jiggers make productivity and life tenuous. Children die from treatable diseases. 

There is a school in the community with about 750 children but few ever finish primary school, especially the girls. They are married young, often to older men. There is hunger in the area and there is little agriculture. They forage in the surrounding bush and try to grow maize and cassava. The closest water source is more than 5 kilometres away and they also purchase water from people who come through on motorbikes with jerry cans. They rarely wash, sometimes only once a month. The single biggest issue is lack of water. The water they purchase is ground water gathered from a small lake (see photo below) that fills during the rains but it is polluted by animals, birds and humans and is generally unsafe. It runs out about three months after the rains stop. 

The United Nations says that each person needs at least 10 litres of water per day to remain healthy. In this village families of 8+ are surviving on 20 litres every three to four days. Some of them have not washed for weeks. The lack of water means that people are constantly dehydrated. 

More than 1,000 people live in the area and there is a very small group of Christians.  

History of Partnership

Bright Hope World has a partner in Kenya, Robert Omundi (KEN10). Before Robert became a Christian he worked along the east coast of Africa selling paintings to tourists. In the process of doing that he travelled from Kenya to Tanzania, Zanzibar and on to Mozambique following the tourist route. While in Zanzibar he met Fabian who is a Tanzanian. Fabian had become a Christ follower while in Zanzibar and was pastoring in a small church on the island. Unfortunately, persecution came and he had to leave the island so he returned to the mainland and settled in his home village. However, conditions in the village were so harsh that they could not remain. In 2016 floods swept through the village and demolished their house so they relocated to Dar es Salaam. 

Robert subsequently went to visit the village, was shocked at the conditions he discovered and constantly talked to BHW's New Partnership Facilitator about the situation in this village. In 2017 BHW's New Partnership Facilitator visited with Robert and found his report of the conditions to be accurate. 

In late 2017 we commenced partnering with this village by providing funds to urgently treat the village for jiggers and undertake a hydrological survey to assess whether drilling a borehole was a viable option. Following this, in early 2019, the BHW Executive approved proceeding with drilling the borehole. 

Beneficiaries

The primary beneficiaries will be the 1,000 people who live in the immediate vicinity. There are many more outside of the immediate vicinity who will benefit as well.  

What We Like About The Partnership

It is in a village that is as poor as it is possible to get.
Involvement in providing water to the village will open many other opportunities to serve them. 
There are good people in place to maximise the impact of the investment in this village.
If we spread out the development of the project over 3 years we will test and reward the faithfulness of the villagers.
Water in the village means that Fabian will be able to return to the village as he would be able to rebuild his house and feed his family.  

 

Key People

Leadership Profile

Fabian (centre in photo with Robert on the left and village headman on the right) grew up in this village. Fearing for his life and persecution, he left for Zanzibar with an intention of getting casual work and a free place to worship. In Zanzibar Fabian met Pastor George Frank and Robert Omundi (KEN10) who had planted two churches (Evangelical Free Pentecostal Church) in Kianga, six miles from Stone town. Fabian continued serving besides Pastor George until August 2011 when extremists torched and burned the buildings belonging to the churches in Zanzibar.  

Pastor Fabian received threats to his life and came back to Dar es Salaam where he got a job as a waiter in a small restaurant outside town. While working, Fabian continued worshipping and sharing the Word of God to whoever he met. In 2013 Fabian lost his job so moved back to his village in Mkata where he opened a small center of worship. A few people became members and joined him in worship. His long time friend from Kenya, Robert Omundi, continued visiting him in the village and encouraging him. 

However, there was a drought in the village and Fabian was not able to feed his family (wife and two sons). Left with no option, he went to Dar es Salaam where he rented a small house outside town from which he operated a motorbike taxi business to get income to feed his family. He wants to return to the village and plans to do agricultural farming involving other village members using the borehole water to improve their lives and beat poverty in his village. 

Other People Involved

Robert Ngara Omundi grew up in the little village of Emesa, about 2 kms from Mochengo in south-western Kenya. His father died when he was in High School and his mother struggled to help him and his siblings complete Form 4. (Photo shows him with his mother and sister)

He discovered that he had a talent for painting and art and on leaving Form 4 he left the village and went to Mombassa to earn money painting on the beach for tourists. This lasted for three years but the threat of terrorism killed the tourism market. He then shifted to Zanzibar and things went well for a couple more years but a lot of other artists came and not being a local made life difficult for him. He then shifted further south to Pemba in Mozambique as it began to open up to tourism. There he became a Christian and was baptised. He then went to Bible School with Iris Ministries. 

After that he came back to his own village and married a local girl. They had grown up together and known each other from childhood. She was a teacher and got a job in Burundi. He went too and did business on the beach with his art. At the end of one year the teaching contract was not renewed so they had to leave. She got another contract in Rwanda and they shifted there. By this time they had two children.

After a couple of years he wanted to do something about the issues with the young people back in his home town so he shifted back to his family home. His wife has stayed on in Rwanda as she is earning a good wage there as an expatriate teacher in an International School. Every couple of months he goes to Rwanda to be with the family. He still sells a few paintings online through American friends he met in Mozambique. 

 

Vision And Annual Strategy

Vision  

The purpose of this project is to provide water for the village. There is desperate poverty, children die from treatable diseases, most are infected with parasites, both internal and jiggers. They use contaminated water for cooking and rarely wash. They eat one or two meals per day, they do seasonal farming but recently crops have failed. There are no employment opportunities in the near vicinity. 

However, it goes deeper than this, there is great spiritual poverty as well. In this community there are many social issues; multiple wives, child marriages, high birth rates, and high infant mortality all add to desperate spiritual blindness. Fabian sees the provision of water as a strong entry point for the Good News and he intends to go back to the village when there is water to oversee the management of it and pastor the people.  

Strategy

The strategy is to put in a borehole so that within a few years this place will be healthier and moving towards self-reliance. The people will have more food and there will be more productivity in addition to a strong church in the village. There will be no more jiggers and cholera and typhoid will be dealt with.  

The water will be for general use, for irrigation during the dry season to grow vegetables, to sell to people, and to make bricks which will be sold and used in the village (at present houses are made of sticks and mud and are very flimsy). 

This intervention will be a one-off investment that will empower many people and release them from poverty. Robert Omundi will be the key to the ongoing development along with pastor Fabian. The plan is that Robert will oversee the development, ongoing training and liaison with the village. He knows them well and is well respected by the leaders. He is always welcome there and comes and goes like a local. 

Impact

Potentially this will radically change the lives of all 1,000 people living here. A management group of five has been formed that includes the village headman, Fabian and three others. Fabian will oversee the day to day running of the project, sell the water and keep the money. A budget will be developed to ensure that funds are being put aside for maintenance and replacement. The community will assist with labour at the time of the build and also the ongoing cleaning of the panels and security. 

This is a relatively peaceful village with few major issues or disagreements which is one of the reasons BHW is interested to facilitate this project. 

With this water we would expect to see:
- An improvement in health – there will be training in sanitation and the building of latrines.
- Fewer children dying because of treatable diseases. Every year children die of typhoid, dysentery, cholera and malaria.
- Much lower incidence of internal and external parasites
- A major improvement in nutrition. They will have access to potable water and with the addition of Foundations for Farming training we would expect much better food production and security
- Less time being wasted through illness and lethargy and better attendance school
- They will be able to grow vegetables with the run off of water from the water station
- There may well be opportunity for animals to be introduced

 

Budget

The funds will be used for putting in a borehole for the village. There are at least four steps in the programme:
1) There are two parts here and this was completed in October 2017:
       a. To treat the village for jiggers - US$650
       b. To get a hydrological survey - US$900
2) A borehole was drilled in mid 2019 to the depth of 180 metres - US$30,000
3) Installation of a solar pump and piping, solar panels, security fences, two x 10,000 litre water tanks and pipes and taps to a distribution point - US$25,000
4) Foundations for Farming training along with health and sanitation training