Testigo Africa

When her Masai friends in Longido, Tanzania, asked Tracey Sawyer to help them fund a water project, the Australian lawyer said hesitate to say yes.  Through Testigo Africa (a division of her charity Testigo Projects inc) she is enabling a US$35,000 water rehabilitation and extension project that will bring clean running water to 12,000 Masai people.  Situated alongside Mt Longido, the village is ideally placed to utilise the underground spring water sources within the mountain.  The cheaper borehole procedure common to many African villages is not an option in Longido.

One existing borehole in the sub-village of Altapesi has a high salt content, and although technically not potable, it provides an essential source for a tribe with no other choice. The Chinese contractor working on the improved road between Arusha (90 kms from the village) and Nairobi (the village lies 30 kms from the Kenyan / Tanzanian border) has drilled other boreholes in the village but has abandoned them as no water was forthcoming.  Water from Mt Longido's underground sources has been tested by the Arusha Urban Water Authority and found to be of excellent quality for human consumption.

Longido recently suffered its worst drought in history - for three years no rain fell on the village, and 90% of the livestock died.  The Masai are pastoralists, and their wealth is entirely in their livestock.  Social consequences included suicides amongst the Masai, and fighting over the distant dirty water sources. Children were particularly affected, as the young boys were forced to take their families' livestock great distances in the search for pasture and water, and the girls had to walk for days to find water to bring back to their families - all the children missing significant amounts of school.

The project is rehabilitating a gravity water project with over three kilometres of iron pipes.  Only iron pipes can be used on the slopes of Mt Longido due to the very rocky terrain and the common presence of elephants and buffalo that would crush plastic pipes.  Testigo Africa is working at the grass roots level -  Tracey's friend is now the Chairman of Altapesi sub-village, and through him they have held village meetings at which members of the tribe can ask questions about the project, and from which a water committee has been set up with equal representation of Masai men and women.

They are working closely with the Longido District Water Department, which has agreed to manage the project at their own cost, using a Tanzanian water engineer with over 10 years experience of community water projects.  Once the project is completed, Testigo Africa will be looking at permaculture.  Although not an agricultural society, the Masai are keen to address their 100% dependency on others for food.  Their decreasingly nomadic lifestyle is finding family groups now establishing themselves long term in villages so that their children can attend school, opening up the possibility of sustainable agricultural initiatives.

For more information visit www.testigoafrica.org