Dear Water is Basic Friends,
Thank you so much for your support of Water is Basic. Great things are happening! The first rig has arrived and has already been unloaded in Yei, Sudan. Funds for another drilling rig have been transferred and it is in route to Sudan. The drills we use are from PAT-drill, a company that specializes in affordable rigs for exactly the kind of work we are doing.
Also, we had a key meeting earlier this month (March 3-5) with the local leadership in Sudan in order to finalize the practical details of moving forward- everything from feeding the drill team to the process of transferring money. Another goal was to remind the Sudanese that this project is their dream and it is their hard work that will make it successful. We passionately believe that an empowered local leadership can do far more to help their own people than we can. This is what makes Water is Basic so unique and so incredibly important.
These meetings went extremely well and we are now in place to begin drilling for ourselves next month. Each rig is equipped to drill 10 wells a month in different regions of Sudan. Soon, we pray that we will be able to purchase a third rig so that we could literally be drilling 30 fresh water wells a month… one new well every day. The most amazing part of this is that we have gotten the variable cost of each new well down to only $700 each. We currently have the funds to cover the cost of rigs and full staffing for one year.
We were reminded of the urgency of this problem at a village outside of Yei. At one well, there were hundreds of people lined up to fill their five gallon jerry cans with water. People we talked to said they had to wait three days straight, sleeping as little as possible so as not to lose their spot in line. One woman said she had 15 people in her home and the 5 gallons she would be able to bring would not even be enough for all of them for one day. This means that most of her family was spread out in different parts of the line- all for something we have a seemingly unlimited supply of in our homes.
There is another well a short distance away from this one, drilled by an organization who doesn’t work through the local leadership. This well is broken and there is no one to fix it. The people who drilled the well are long gone and none of the villagers have any way of repairing what they so desperately need. We cannot let this continue to happen.
Cost to purchase drilling rig and supplies: $130,000
Annual Salaries for the Drilling Team/Supervising Team: $30,000 per rig
Capital expenditures (2 trucks/rig, satellite phones, additional truck for drilling supervisor, etc): $50,000
It is only after these needs are met that we can get the variable cost of a well down to $700. Thank you for standing with the people of Sudan and your continued support of Water is Basic. We appreciate your prayers and look forward to telling you more about the lives that are being changed.
With Faith,
The Water is Basic Team
Steve Roese and Steven Harrell
