Water is Life
Tsholotsho where we are drilling is semi arid (droughts are common) and has no natural water supply such as rivers, lakes etc. hence the need for water wells.
The area is home to three ethnic groups, these being the Ndebele, Kalanga and the San (closer to the Hwange national park.)
Tsholotsho is home to hardwoods such as teak, these being found in the Kalahari sands. The clays are home to the thorn acacia and extensively covered grassland areas. Being located next to the massive Hwange National Park, Tsholotsho is home to basically all the animal species found in Zimbabwe, these being the elephants, buffaloes, lions, kudus and hundreds of other species.
Will's Wells
We have an innovative human powered drill invented by Brigham Young undergrad engineering students. We take the drill to remote hard to reach places via Land Cruiser & trailer and have a team 5 who work with the communities & Imvelo Safaris drilling wells. Each water well benefits on average about 300 people and their livestock.
The drill is a cost effective way to get water to the area and give people a vested interest in their well. If drilled with a conventional rig, the hole alone can cost $10,000 wet or dry. Both the people & Zimbabwe government cannot afford the cost or the risk of a dry hole.
Our drill, we call it Will's Drill, cost for a borehole is just a few hundred dollars. When the casing and the legendary Type B Zimbabwe Bush Pump is added, the working well cost is maximum $5,000 depending on depth.
The high cost of traditional drilling has limited access to clean water and many (mostly women & girls) have to walk 2 to 3 miles one way for a 5 gallon bucket of clean water for their family.
Our drilling makes their water trip a lot shorter and frees up girls to go to school and takes stress off the women.
Below is a short film about the water situation in rural Zimbabwe. We filmed this a few years ago in a different part of Matabeleland where we put in a water pipeline for two rural schools.
Gallery of the drill sites & community where we drill
Video shot just after completing Will's Wells #1 near the Victoria Falls Area
Locations of our water wells & the schools in the area to support.
