Well Tschinsakan
Have you ever thought of how it would be like not having the luxury just to open the watertap in case you are thirsty? Well, in Niger most women and children have to shoulder long and exhausting walks to get the water for their daily basic needs.
Water – therefore is also for us a most important subject.
The existing well of Tschinsakan has a depth of 70 meters and was digged decades ago. The upper 25 meters ENMIGRAW Suisse had already reconstructed in April 2007 to avoid a complete collapse. Our ambition was to guarantee clean drinking water to the local families.
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In June 2008 we sent again Wayounfan Amahoulouk, Dakso Hamidane and a specialist for wells named Himmi Bainou to Azawagh to evaluate the state of the well of Tschinsakan. Periodic controls of our projects are a must and stand for sustainability.
Below the area where we had repaired before, there are no more rings of concrete stabilizing the walls. So after a certain time at a depth of 45 meters three washouts had occurred. In addition the steady dropping of rock and sand material had filled up the well approximately 10 meters.
Right now there is still enough water to supply the local people and the animals with water. But to avoid ongoing decay the mentioned washouts have to be filled and all the hard dirt has to be cleared to the ground. At the same time the walls have to be stabilized by rings of concrete from the inside. This is the only way to make sure that the water does not get more and more contaminated by dirt and sand as soon as the water level falls.
Right now there is still enough water to supply the local people and the animals with water. But to avoid ongoing decay the mentioned washouts have to be filled and all the hard dirt has to be cleared to the ground. At the same time the walls have to be stabilized by rings of concrete from the inside. This is the only way to make sure that the water does not get more and more contaminated by dirt and sand as soon as the water level falls.
At such depth all work is most difficult because of danger of collapse and shortage of space. We assume that the complete reconstruction will take about a month.
Thanks to your sponsoring, the sales revenues of our Photo Calendar and the support from the Berufsschulzentrum Radolfzell (Christmas Bazaar), as well as from “hunger & thirst” we were able to start the next stage of our reconstruction work of the lower part of the Tschinsakan well at the beginning of April 2009.
Since the well narrows towards the bottom, workers have no choice but to individually measure and adapt the size for each single concrete ring needed for stabilisation. A difficult and most exhausting job to be done with utmost care. At such depth everything has to be secured with ropes and due to shortage of space work can only be carried out with buckets.
During the wall construction we relentlessly kept in touch with the working crew as well as the well specialist. Since the work advanced steadily, we decided to entirely reconstruct Tschinsakan well.
After 2 ½ weeks the twenty-third concrete ring was fitted and we could again open the well for the local Tuareg families.
Needless to say that everybody was happy that the dangerous work was finally carried out without any major difficulties. Some of the workers cheerfully cooled off in the precious water, while others enjoyed a fine meal in the shade of an acacia tree.
Without any exception all of them had done a great job! And thanks to their know-how and effort we have been able to successfully complete this project.
The entire well reconstruction of Tschinsakan cost CHF 10'895.--.
Due to the partly voluntary work of the local Tuareg we were CHF 2'000.—below budget.