This water well had not been working for about 3 months. The well is fitted with an electric pump powered
by a diesel generator located beside the well. The pump had stopped working and so it was necessary to
pull it up from the bottom - some 360 feet of pipe in 20 foot lengths. It took some time before a block
and tackle and sufficiently large supporting beams could be found ready to tackle the project, explaining
the three month delay.
Fortunately, after bringing up just one section of pipe, we discovered that the electrical wire had been
badly clamped to the pipe and had burnt through. When this was fixed, the pump started working again and
the locals finally had fresh water supplies again. I am told that the locals now believe that my visit
brought them good luck as the well was fixed while I was there.
The whole episode showed up the problems with the implementation of inappropriate technology - the Pokot
people have to trade goats to acquire diesel to run the generator. Far more appropriate would be a hand
pump, and the mission hopes eventually to be able to replace the generators and electric pumps with hand
pumps, solving the problem once and for all.
