Water Project
Pre-school kids at Bugumbe church
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Drinking Water for Communities in Tarime
Lack of safe drinking water in Tanzania and many other parts of the developing world is a cause for many waterborne diseases. As part of its efforts to alleviate this problem, the Diocese of Tarime has now installed rain water harvesting systems at nine church buildings in 9 parishes out of 27. The parishes that have benefited are Bugumbe, Kemairi, Manga, Mangucha, Nyangoto, Nyankuguru, Kitagasembe, Rebu and Gamasara. This is the beginning of a realization of the Bishop’s plan to ensure that church buildings are used effectively not only as places for worship and teaching, but also for pre-school instruction for kids from the local communities and for providing the local communities with safe drinking water regardless of their religious and political affiliation.
Bishop Mwita Akiri prefers water harvest to boreholes in Tarime because it is more affordable and a reliable means of accessing water given that Tarime district has two rain seasons a year. Boreholes can provide water for larger groups but are expensive. The process begins with water survey with no guarantee of getting water underground. And even when water is found, the cubic volume may not be sufficient to merit installation of water pump.
The diocese of Tarime is indebted to our overseas partners in England, UK for providing resources for this vital project since 2013. However, this project is facing two challenges. First, we need more funds to enable us to install water harvesting systems at all our remaining church buildings. Secondly, we are looking for simple, affordable and effective water purification technologies and methods to enhance the safety of water.