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The Engewua Valley is a remote and beautiful highland set in the greater Matale area of Northern Tanzania. Relatively undeveloped and significantly hard to reach, this location is home to traditional Maasai people who live simply with a fairly low population density of approximately 2500 to 3000 people. Rural Maasai is never heavily populated and the extended count, including the broader area, brings the general population to approximately 6000 persons.
The lifestyle is simple: Homes are typically one-room shelters made of woven sticks plastered with mud and cow dung. A small fire in the center of the dirt floor serves for cooking and to provide warmth. Obviously, there is no running water or electricity. Many people wouldn't even have a kerosene lantern. The lack of water means that basic hygiene is at a very low standard. Herds are kept in close quarters with their owners and many children do not own even a single pair of shoes.
Wild Hope International, a nonprofit organization located in Arusha, Tanzania and headquartered in Pasadena, California USA, has worked with the community for several years through their friendship with James Ole Kukan, who has recently been elected to local government at a county level. James has nurtured a dream for this area ever since he arrived there in 2000. Knowing that quality education is one of the most effective keys to unlocking the potential of any people-group, James is making progress toward establishing a viable private school that will offer life-changing educational opportunity to the chldren of this greater area.
Even more basic than education, the need for water is keenly felt in this impoverished region. Before the hope of a good school can come to reality, a clean and reliable water source will have to be established. A pastoral people, the local Maasai struggle to keep their livestock alive and have to walk them far in order to water them, which tends to reduce the weight of the livestock and, thus, their market value. Agriculture is severely limited and cannot be irrigated by anything other than the unreliable rains. Beyond the basic provision of water for human need and livestock care, the area will only be able to entertain the possibility of quality education if their school can attract and keep well trained and committed teachers. Most high quality, well trained teachers would generally avoid a hardship post such as Enguwua.
The project need is immediate and will take 6 to 12 months to complete. Project funds will be used to: a. complete a hydrogeological survey to determine the best location to drill the borehole, b. bring required equipment and materials to the site, c. drill the borehole and establish the well with pumping capabilities for local use.
It is the hope that a viable source of plentiful clean water will be established so that new levels of health, education and lifestyle can be realized among these needy and often overlooked people. In partnership with Rotary, Wild Hope International, local leaders in the Matale region, and individual donors, we hope to provide a borehole for this area.
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