After six months of hard work, the water entrepreneurs in Petauke have been trained and are now ready to drill boreholes and install pumps independently without supervision.
The tools for manual drilling and the rope pumps are supplied by the trained welders and quality is guaranteed as Jacana monitors every pump (see www.jacana.help/mwater) and tool.
In addition, entrepreneurs have been trained to find the best suitable place for drilling a borehole. They do this with Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES).
The first year of this program has been made possible through the support of people like you who believe in Jacana, as well as organizations such as “Drink and Donate” and “Skat” (through the Sufosec program), both Swiss organizations. “Wilde Ganzen subsequently increased the donated amounts by another 50%.
A team of Jacana and a group of Zambian technical trainers have worked really hard. A quick look back:
- The office in Petauke has been prepared for business and technical training. For example, a solar system has been installed because the local energy company delayed (and probably it will take years to come), a workshop has been built and the entire office has been refurbished.
- The drillers, welders and borehole siters are selected and trained in business and technical skills.
- After the training, the entrepreneurs got to work.
- The borehole siters have already mapped 10 places where manual drilling is possible.
- The welders have made four sets of drilling tools and each has 5 rope pumps in their workshop as show models and stock.
- The drillers drilled boreholes in two groups under the guidance of the trainers and installed pumps at their own homes. The neighbors can use the water for domestic use and the drillers can show customers their work. They will now work in pairs for the sponsored program of Jacana and for private customers.
Now all new water entrepreneurs in Petauke have enough experience to offer their services and products to customers. Jacana will continue to monitor and publish their work on www.jacana.help/mwater . The drillers have joined the Eastern Manual Drillers Cooperative (EMD), which already has 19 members from Chipata and Lundazi.
The Petauke SMART Centre is now officially open and is managed by Douglas Mudenda and assisted by Stephen Lungu. The signposts have been designed and placed and you can also find the Centre on Google Maps.
If you want a borehole and/or pump, just drop by the office, they can give you advise and put you in touch with one of the new water entrepreneurs.
We are proud of the Jacana team in Petauke, the trainers, and all the newly qualified water entrepreneurs in Petauke.