Let It Rain

How often do we complain about the rain that spoils our trip to the zoo or ruins our bar-b-ques?

How many times a day do we turn on the tap without realising how lucky we are to have such easy access to water?

Many of the people in Kodumela are not so lucky but with your help, they can begin to collect and store rainwater to make their daily lives just a little easier.

This project will target 840 households in Kodumela, including approximately 235 orphans and vulnerable children; around 4,116 people in total. Many villagers currently get water from rivers, most of which dry up in the winter and even those that do not dry up require digging in the dry beds to form shallow temporary wells. The water is shared with livestock and wild animals. Some villages have boreholes but the water is saline, with laxative properties.

The project is focused directly on introducing sustainable water resource management and farming technologies to the people of Kodumela; it will be implemented in phases which can begin as soon as we raise the first instalment.

• The first phase is rainwater for crops, which will help parched crops to grow and allow the people of Kodumela to feed themselves.

• Phase two is the 200 households (20 in each of 10 villages) who will be established as examples of the Roof To Garden Rain Water Harvesting system.

• Phase three will provide 840 farmers with seeds and seedlings. They will then be able to grow crops such as maize, chillies, tomatoes and beans as they will have the skills and materials to harvest the rainwater to keep their crops alive.

• Phase four will train 40 leader farmers to save and use the valuable rainwater and each of them will provide training for a further 20 people.

• Phase five enables the project facilitator to visit the beneficiaries of the scheme and keep the programme within its guidelines as he will be provided with a motorbike.

• Phase six will take 25 farmers on a visit to Hammanskraal where a similar system is being implemented so that they can see how it works to better understand what they need to do themselves.

• Phase seven will provide each farmer with 20 metres of PVC sheeting to line rainwater harvesting furrows at their homes and 3 pockets of cement each to build reinforcing walls along the sides of the furrows.