After many years of patience and perseverance, our work monitoring clean water wells has come full circle. Along the way, our effort to help one water ministry has benefited many others.
This account goes all the way back to 2007, when a team of SonSet Solutions missionaries traveled to the Central African Republic (CAR) to install a shortwave radio station for Water for Good, a ministry dedicated to bringing clean and lasting water to everyone in the Central African Republic. This station enabled Water for Good to reach its people with messages about clean water, hygiene, farming, and, most importantly, God’s Word.
Later, Water for Good asked for help with monitoring their water wells remotely. This would lighten the burden of their maintenance teams who travel through the remote African bush. We began collaboration with well pump manufacturers in pursuit of a solution.
While we were able to test two prototypes in March 2013, civil war broke out in the CAR immediately afterward. Due to this barrier and requests from other water ministries that heard of our efforts, we spent the next six years refining our technology and helping ministries such as Water Mission and Zoe Waters in more than a dozen other countries.
The political climate is more stable in the CAR and Design Outreach was recently able to install the LifePump™ in several villages for Water for Good. The request came for us to monitor these water wells. Our SonSetLink™ water monitor was installed in the Central African Republic the second week of July bringing us back to the ministry where the pursuit of a solution first started! We are grateful for the opportunity to provide tools that increase the effectiveness of Water for Good.
Written by Tim Mason; Photo courtesy of Luke Wright