Mavuno Village Water Line

In September of 2007, we began work on our first building project at Mavuno. It soon became apparent that we would need to put in some sort of water system as we spent a lot of time and money hauling water from the lake. There were some weeks that we drove 100 kilometers to the land everyday just to haul three loads of water so that the building could continue.

In November, we began the work of putting in a water system. The village gave us a section of the hill near our land to use as a water storage area and a team from Cardwell Community Church put in a cement slab and a roof. We placed an order for 1400 meters of pipe and applied to the government for tax relief on the order. Because Mavuno is a non-profit organization, we are able to get relief from the 20% Value Added Tax, however this process can take a very long time.

At the end of January this year, the paperwork finally returned and we were able to purchase the pipe and slowly move it to the land. Dan hauled all the pipe in his trailer which is quite a feat as the rolls of pipe are quite large. It took a few weeks, but finally we had all the pipe at the land.

We then spent much of February and March trying to lay out the water line and purchase some remaining key pieces of land that the line would need to go through. While we were not able to purchase all the land, we were able to get permission to bury the line through the few sections we did not own.

At the beginning of April, we began to contract people from the village to dig out the water line. Often times we had to hire other workers to bust up huge boulders that were in the way of the line. It was quite a process, but the men did a great job and by the end of May we were able to begin placing the pipe in the ground.

We are now completing the pump house and covering in the line. The water system is currently working well and we are able to fill all of our water tanks in an afternoon of pumping. Praise God that we have been able to complete this much needed project to provide water to Mavuno!

We would like to thank all of the generous donors who made this project possible. We would like to give a special thank you to 'A Mother's Heart Homeschool Co-op' which is a ministry of Desert Springs Church in Albequerque, NM. They raised $4851.04 for Mavuno Village’s water project in March! The children were able to add up hours for one week of reading and collected donations for us. We were amazed to see their enthusiasm and diligence in this project and are now reaping the benefits of their generosity to the orphans of Tanzania with our water system almost totally completed! We praise God for you, MHC kids!