The WATER TANK / Le RESERVOIR

When I arrived in Uganda I was armed with GBP2800 donated by Solihull Junior School, Haseltine Lake and St Alphege Junior School to build a water source at the school. We used a charity called the Busoga Trust who have lots of experience in the area and, after a survey, they decided the best use of the money would be an under ground rainwater collection tank. The ground was too rocky for a hand dug well to be viable and a machine dug borehole would be too expensive. After a few delays the excavation crew arrived and in a grand toal of five days, a crew of 4 guys produced a hole 5 metres diameter and three metres deep - just with picks and shovels...

Assez impressionnants les gars, je m attendais a voir une pelleteuse pour creuser, mais non 59 metre cube retires a la mano, chapeau les gars...

We looked on admiringly - how they labour in that heat remains a mystery to me..

Gemma, je pense qu ils creusent pour chercher de la fraicheur... ;o)

Even after seeing them dig it, I still couldn't quite believe they managed to make such a big hole so fast. The base was covered with hard core and then wire mesh to reinforce a concrete floor. The mesh also supports the reinforcing bars for the central column that will support the weight of the concrete slab that closes the tank. Concrete floor complete and the concrete pillar going up in sections. Everything, from the timber surrounds to the metal cleats for the re bars was made by hand on site. No electircity, no power tools and nothing pre fabricated.Premier rampe de lancement de fusee fabriquee en Afrique...

The cylindrical wall of the tank is built with layers of bricks intersperced with concrete ring beams. The gap between the brick wall and the earch wall of the hole is back filled with rubble from the excavation.The first ring beam completed. The circular reinfircing structure inside the beam takes about a day for the guys to make. Brick layer number 2 complete. The guys lean their hand made timber scaffolding against the sides for support. Even the ladder they use to get in and out of the hole was build by them on site. The final layer of bricks going on. The two lage cross beams are connected to and rest on the central pillar and will help to support the upper concrete slab. While the beams are curing, the guys start plastering the inside of the tank with waterproof cement.

Peter and Gerrard ( pour les non anglophones, je traduis, ca veut dire Pierre et Gerard), the two main workers who live on site in one of the shcool classrooms until the work is finished. When they leave the school they will move straight to another job, either a tank, well or borehole which could be anywhere in Uganda, or parts of Kenya or Tanzania.

Petite precision, ils travaillent 7j/7 et de 7h30 du matin a 6h30 du soir, ils sont loin des 35h hebdomadaires...

As we leave the shcool the tank isn't quite finished, but the guys are confident of getting it done a couple of days after Easter, and we will be stopping in at the school again before we go home to see it finished and operating. All the materials are on site at the school and all that remains is to fit guttering on the school buildings, close in the tank and fit the access hatch and hand pump.. Once it's complete, one good rainstorm should be sufficient to fill the 50000 litre tank to capacity, keeping the school in water for nearly a month..