• Domaine :

  Water

• Région :

  Africa

• Pays :

  Burkina Faso

The project:

Drilling a well with installation of a pump and a curb to serve 2,900 people in the village of Tinsuka.

The request: 

2015-10-07

From: Michel Allaire
To: Fondation Coup de Coeur and Fondation Minta Saint-Bruno

1) Project relevance:

Tinsuka (or Tensuka) is one of 28 villages in the Tanghin-Dassouri Department.
Tinsuka means “Center of the Earth” in the Moore language.
How can one claim to be the “center of the earth and of the world” if there is not enough drinking water to quench its population? This village has more than 2,900 people living in 6 neighborhoods’; averaging 60 families per neighborhood. African families are composed of more than 8 people; this provides you with an idea of the number of people who urgently need a well for drinking water.
Here are my findings after my onsite visit:
a) First, a dam was built in the village’s lowlands, in order to retain water. This small dam burst in 1997 and was never rebuilt, depriving gardeners to harvest their soils.
b) There is an area for positive drilling near the church (drilling was made possible after 3 attempts). However, this area is in the outskirts of the city and away from other neighborhoods. It is impossible to access it during liturgical celebrations… 
c) Another drilling point is located in the elementary school (also in the outskirts of town).
However it is inaccessible during classes on weekdays since the well is in the school’s yard, and would prevent teachers and students to work.
The government came to drill a well in January 2015, however it wasn’t successful and the project was dropped. They will not come back to drill a well in Tinsuka…
Based on these findings, I was told that the chosen emplacement for the new well would be near the central market, which occurs every 3rd day of the week. If the project is accepted by the Minta Saint-Bruno Foundation in partnership with the Coup de Coeur Foundation in Montreal, in addition to supplying water to numerous people coming to the market and to the Nakomoro neighborhood where the well will be built, drinking water will be made available to the two nearest neighborhoods.
The total cost of the well will be $10,000 CAD. The cost will include drilling down to 80-meters if necessary, coping and a watering trough for cattle, and the installation of the India-2 hand pump.
2 and 3) Transparency and rightful governance of the project:
Last year, the Minta Saint-Bruno Foundation funded a well in Dayoubsi-Nabitenga (5,000 liters per hour). Records and pictures were sent to the foundation, to their great satisfaction. This year again, Father Michel Allaire and his team of drillers will take care of the execution of the drill, set the curbstone, and install the India-2 pump.
Michel will detect the basement’s water supply, using Sahel’s local populations’ water diviners.
He will also be present for the drilling and pumping tests, and will monitor every step by requesting Tinsuka specific technical drilling data (vertical cuts with water inflows to bullrings, etc…). A second set of data sheets will be made available to the populations for follow-ups and eventual pump repairs.
Acknowledged bills will be sent to the project’s donors.
4) Impact:
This project will have a positive impact on the Tinsuka village population, on its central market, and nearby neighborhoods.
Drinking water will now be available to women, who will not have to walk for 1 or 2 kilometers every day to replenish their water supplies. Merchants will also enjoy “aqua viva” to quench their thirst, have cleaner food supplies to sell, and have a cleaner marketplace in whole (what I have seen from my own eyes is dreadful and unsafe).
Additionally, the water well will be accessible all year long (12 months a year). This is not currently the case of the biggest non-covered well of the region, which dries up in January every year.
5) Durability:
To ensure the continuity and good management of this well, a WATER POINT committee will be created and named by the Tinsuka village population under the watchful and approving eye of the village’s chief and his notables (because of their authority, this will ensure a more serious nomination and higher success rate for the project’s good governance).
WATER POINT committee’s role:
 Ensure the hygiene and cleanness around the drilled site.
 Ensure the collection of modest contributions of beneficiaries, which will pay the repairs of the India-2 pump, if necessary.
Technicians and repairers have been trained and will guarantee repairs and necessary restoration of damaged infrastructure. They have all the needed parts and the pump’s manual if repairs are needed. In fact, a Tinsuka village repairman was formed by the Tanghin-Dassouri town hall (principal neighborhood of the village), who will have the responsibility of fixing pumps not only in his village, but also in the nearby sector. This will insure quick-repair in case of a pump failure, which will not deprive the population of water for long. This is a precious asset for this well, and a great gain for the project’s sustainability.
** Inauguration Celebration and Pictures to be sent **:
Just as I did last year for the Dayoubsi-Nabitenga drilling, I will send you pictures taken during the realization of the project (drilling), the pumping tests, the curbstone set-up, and the installation of the India-2 pump.
If this drilling is a success, with a sufficient flow to benefit the town’s population, an inauguration celebration will be organized. It will comprise long thank-you speeches, as well as chicken, roosters and egg prizes to be given out. We may also be giving a ram. Of course, I will enjoy these celebrations and cheers to your health, to the health of your benefactors, and to the health of your numerous volunteers! It will be the fruit of their efforts… and to the success of this project!
There will be a dance of joy, which can last for hours under the sun. I will participate by dancing on your behalf!!!
When you will see this with your own eyes through the pictures I will send you… you can tell the Minta Saint-Bruno Foundation and the Coup de Coeur Foundation benefactors that their donation was graciously used, and allowed to achieve wonders in Sahel this is the fruit of miracles of love!).
On my behalf, and on behalf of the Tinsuka populations, I would like to thank you for your gratitude, your interest to this clean drinking-water project and to the sustainability of these villages that have been deprived of this precious resource for so long.
With my strongest collaboration and in hopes to set-up this project as soon as possible, I thank you again.

Kindest regards,

Michel Allaire
Humanitarian priest of the Tang Sega village (Burkina Faso).

Translated by: Gabrielle Litwin

Financial contributions: