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It does not seem possible that almost three years have passed since I was in office as President of The Rotary Club of Banstead. During my year I chose to support a charity well known to this congregation as Pump Aid. 
This organisation had developed a very simple and reliable water pump, known as the Elephant Pump, to fit to wells in the Third World countries; these are based on a 2000-year old design, using modern materials which were all readily available in these countries when any repairs were needed. The pump was also very easy to repair and repairs could be carried out by the users themselves. With the help of Pump Aid staff we selected an area in Zimbabwe in the state of Manicaland and the districts of Mutare and Markoni. The Rotary Club of Mutare agreed to be the “Host Club”.
The final plan was to provide ten villages with Elephant Pumps for their wells and to also provide twenty schools (each school has 500 pupils) with greatly improved sanitation facilities and clean water for hand-washing and watering their vegetable gardens.
Thus twenty pit latrine toilet blocks were specified. After fund-raising efforts by the Rotary Club members and the members of Epsom United Reformed Church the sum of £2000 was raised. This was passed through the Matching Grant system at Rotary District 1140 and the Rotary Foundation levels, and finally on 21st August 2008 the sum of US$13,699 was transferred to PADC Sherry Coleman, District Grants Chairman in Zambia, for safe keeping.
At this time the political state of Zimbabwe led to all the foreign charities being asked to leave the country until further notice. But Mother Nature also got involved and dwarfed any efforts by the politicians: the heaviest rains ever recorded in Zimbabwe fell for several weeks and raised the water table to unrealistic levels and made well-digging impossible until the water table returned to the normal level.
After the charities were allowed to return to Zimbabwe, Pump Aid finally started work on the project. The last report stated that six wells had been dug and five had Elephant Pumps fitted, six schools had their new toilet blocks and two more were under construction.
Pump Aid had received 75% of the grant funds and would receive the balance when work was completed.
Most of the labour is by local people and most of the supplies are bought locally. Wages are paid in US dollars, and supplies are bought with US dollars which is another benefit to a country which is still in dire need.
I have been promised some pictures of typical installations from this project and a list of all the locations when all the work is completed. I will report this to the Club and the Church members through their respective magazines when I have received this information.
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