26 FEB. 2020 — A “Well4Africa” water project was successfully implemented in St. Lawrence of Brindis Parish, Zomba diocese, Malawi. The parish is situated in the remote area, in the outskirt of Municipality of Zomba, Malawi’s old capital city. People around the Parish are subsistence farmers. They grow [corn] maize and vegetables for their livelihood.
St. Lawrence parish has a good number of Secular Franciscans who took care of the project.
Project included: drilling of the borehole, installing an electric water pump, building a pump house, installing solar energy system connected with the electric pump, building a tank stand and putting two 5000-litre capacity water tanks, and installing underground pipeline system.
Drilling of borehole was done on 4th November. The contractor drilled 73 meters and found a water vein which yields 800 liters per hour. This capacity was counted during the driest season of the year. Locals hope this borehole to yield 1000 liters per hour or more during rainy season.
The water pump was installed which can pump 2200 L per hour. The pump house was built, and three solar panels were put on its roof. Using these solar panels, it takes 5 hours to fill both water tanks. The tanks’ stand was constructed successfully, and water tanks installed. The work of fixing pipes underground was also done.
Around 85 households are benefiting from this water project at the moment. Women and children are benefiting the most. More than 1000 people can benefit from the project if underground pipeline system were to be extended to other villages.
The work was done by “Niho systems” from 4 November 2019 to 10 February 2020.
The total amount of the project was 12,839.44 Euros, which was equivalent to 10,464,143.60 Malawian Kwacha.