We’re thrilled to report we completed our first well last Friday in Kyababyara, less than 4 months after starting operations in Masindi. Much credit for this accomplishment is due to the Busoga Trust team on the ground, led by Matt Fay. See the Kyababyara page for some wonderful photos of the well in operation and for details on the next phase of our work in this village.

Viewed in total, our first five Masindi projects have progressed at variable rates, illustrating how social and geological factors influence how long a project takes. Digging progresses in Nyakarongo and Kihonda but has been slowed in each case by collapsing soils in the wells. The Kihonda well is now down 29 feet with a 4 foot water column but needs to go deeper. Neither case presents insurmountable hurdles but each is progressing slower than Kyababyara. In Kigunya and Kisera, digging has not yet begun due to a combination of local leadership and land ownership conflicts. Kigunya is closest of the two in assembling its requisite contribution of building materials and completing preliminary sanitation and hygene training. Our development partner Busoga Trust has learned from years of experience that digging in a community that is not ready provides a only a temporary and false sense of accomplishment. While we hope and expect these villages to be ready in time, we won’t spend the money and effort until they are.

Our pace of progress to date is in line with our expectations. We remain committed to our goal of completing 15 projects in 2008 but of course have much work to do in the 2nd half of the year. We’ve added to the Masindi staff (3 new employees) and made capital investments (2 motorbikes) during May to increase our production capacity to 2 wells per month starting in the 2nd half of 2008. The team in Masindi is working to complete the initial 5 sites and to build the pipeline of communities we’ll work in over the next year.

Thanks again for all of your generous support.