Spring 2018 First Well Drilling in Cameroon

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Spring 2018 First Well Drilling in Cameroon

Thanks to the hard work of the German community, Global H2O will drill its first-ever well in the west Africa nation of Cameroon this week. Our team is on-site in the village of Mbah, which lies in a hilly region northwest of Cameroon, 400 kilometers from the capital Yaoundé. Of the 2000 residents, most are subsistence farmers who plant corn, huckleberry, plantain or potatoes. A few have cows and goats. Along the main road are rows of mud or stone huts in which people live or run shops. There is a school, a marketplace and a healthcare center separated by a 20 minute. Between them, surveyors tell us there is water below the surface.

Despite a vast water table beneath the surface, Africa is known for its water problem. The real problem is the lack of access to clean water. In many countries, there is simply not enough availability of clean water to match the needs of the population.

Cameroon is a large country with a population of 24 million people. The political crisis of recent years over oil rights means that basic services like electricity are unpredictable. Villages are being attacked, car set on fire, resulting in an 8:00pm curfew as police try to gain control of the situation.

The well project in Mbah has been anticipated for a long time by the local community. Many residents thought it was just a rumor and can hardly believe that the drill team is now there, ready to work. Measures have been taken to transport water from the new well via pipes to the marketplace and healthcare center. When the well is finished and handed over to the local community, the village is planning a huge celebration will take place, maybe as early as Tuesday. After that, the Global H20 team onsite will organize a training session for the local water committee to ensure that the well is operated and maintained properly.

On location for Global H2O are Mathis Biermann from Germany and Sammy Ndzelen, who hails from Kumbo, not far from Mbah. Sammy and Mathis met while Sammy was studying statistics in Dortmund. Last year, the two came up with the idea for the project based on Sammy’s accounts of the water problem in his homeland. Mathis drove the fundraising effort on several fronts. In 2017 he hosted a fundraising dinner in Germany that raised about half the money need to build he well. The remaining funds came from Mathis’ work with a local charity called “Kinder der Sonne”, as well as generous donations from friends and coworkers.