In October of 2010, Betsileo Development staff went to Ambalavao of Madagascar and helped the villagers to get water in the village. The project had two parts: get drinking water and irrigation. Three villagers will benefit from the irrigation. Only one for now, will benefit the clean drinking water.
We taught them to build the "Biosand Filter" which every household would have in their house. It is a very simple system made out of concrete and using gravel and sand to purify the water. One filter weighs about 150 Lbs.
As of pumps, we got six manual pumps from Kenya. The villagers have to pump the water to fill out the intermediate tank of 1,300 Gal then a bigger one of 2,600 Gal. There is a big cistern of 13,000 Gal beside those 2 tanks. Thesecond tank feeds the three fountains in the village and the cistern. Tank and cistern irrigate the field by gravity.
The villagers take the responsiblity to fill out the tanks. It is a hardlabor job but they are so thankful for what they got.
On the last day, some officials came over to check the project. There was an official ending ceremony with a dancing party till dawn! Thanks a lot to all of you who have contributed and helped us to make our dream come true. We hope you will continue to support us as we start working on our next project in another village.