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Protecting the Mountain Gorillas of Virunga
Drinking Water For Bukima Villagers
In the late afternoons I often see groups of children passing our camp in Bukima carrying big plastic containers. It is their job to fetch the water for their families to cook, wash, and drink. I was confused as to where they were getting the water, so I followed them.
I was was horrified to find that this was their source of water- a stagnant pond/mudhole which they share with cattle:
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This was just another reminder of the conditions in which most people live in the Congo. This “water source” was less than 100 meters from the park boundaries. If we are to expect the people who live around Virunga to respect the park and avoid poaching or destroying the forest, their standard of life must get better.
There are already plans afoot to build schools on the outskirts of the Mikeno Sector, but clearly we also need to look into getting the locals access to cleaner drinking water.
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Even with their heavy loads, the children managed to smile
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News from Congo- Congo Boat Accident Possibly Claimed 140 Lives - Seer Press
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- Uphill task to solve Congo's conflict minerals - Reuters Africa
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- Mvelaphanda Holdings's Willcox Advising Zuma's Nephew on Congo Oil Blocks - Bloomberg
- Democratic Republic of Congo: Militia Leader Ordered Back to Jail - New York Times
- DiManno: Too easy to blame Africa's the white usurpers - Toronto Star
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12 Responses to “Drinking Water For Bukima Villagers”
It might be worth looking into the Lifestraw system. I don’t know a lot about it, but it seems like it might work in this situation.
Pierre, I did some research on Lifestraw and found an interesting article. http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/consumer-acceptance.htm. Apparently a pilot project is already in progress in the DRC and the company plans to extend the project. Just thought you might like to read it. I am a nurse and was impressed with the clinical test results on the efficacy of the filter. Maybe the company would be willing to extend the pilot to the Bukima villagers. Great suggestion x5g8!
Does anyone know of the work that Ethos Water does in DRC. I see that they are there too. They could perhaps be persuaded to extend this to Bukima. I will look into this and make contact with Peter Thum, the founder.
Improving the living conditions of the local population is, I am sure, a vital component in the gorilla conservation programme. As Jane Goodall pointed out in the CBC broadcast that Emmanuel wrote about earlier this month, it is unrealistic to expect people living on the edge of existence to place a high value on animal welfare. Along with the school building project and the briquette program, a clean water supply system would be a fine contribution to the conservation effort. Helping the local population to a better standard of living is a legitimate part of ‘habitat protection and management’. As the recent survey results show, the gorillas can do a good job of improving their own numbers under very difficult conditions. Just imagine how they will do if we can help the people who share Virunga with them live better lives…
What a wonderful idea. Does anyone know what the cost of installing a clean water system would be?
Indeed, I couldn’t agree more with all of you. Please let me know how I can help. Iris
Thanks so much for these suggestions. This was exactly how we launched the alternative energy programme, which finally led to the biomass briquettes.
Great ideas! And I definitely want to hear more about this subject. Louise, I don’t always like to buy bottled water, but when I do, I buy Ethos because I feel like I’m contributing in some way towards helping others, especially children, get clean drinking water. I want to know more and I want to do more. Please, let us know how we can help with this project. Thanks.
Their smiles are amazing! Learning about these awful conditions also serves as a reminder of how easily we can take things for granted. Please let us know how we can continue to help.
Apparently, Ethos Water are not universally appreciated. I wanted to learn more about them so I typed the name into Google and the first website I came across http://www.ethos-water.com/) was scathing in its criticism of them
[...] we have written before on this blog, there is a big water problem in the area around the Gorilla Sector of Virunga National Park. The irony is that it rains quite a [...]
[...] this year IÂ wrote about the lack of clean water in Bukima and how the population near the park was struggling with water, even going into the park just to [...]