Joint Efforts for Green Mountain Initiative – Rafiki Memorial Wildlife Conservation Initiative

Help to provide clean water to communities at Bwindi (Uganda)- at $2,300 per well.

Join Sahaya International and Joint Efforts for Green Mountain Initiative to provide access to clean water to communities at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (home of the mountain gorillas).

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda is one of the two remaining strongholds of the endangered mountain gorilla. Bwindi is surrounded by human communities that depend upon the park for ecosystem services, including tourism revenue, but that also impact the park through poaching, firewood harvesting, and other impacts. Many community members live in extreme poverty.

A local NGO, Joint Efforts for Green Mountain Initiative (JEGMI), is working with local communities to minimize impacts on the forest and the gorillas through sustainable community development activities. So far they have installed 27 spring water wells, 41 public water taps using piped water, and 4 rain water harvesting tanks.

Many communities don’t have access to clean water and have to walk far to fetch water. This affects especially women and girls, as they carry the burden of fetching water for cooking, laundry and other household activities. This time could be utilized in a more productive way. This situation also leads to school drop-out of girls.

As part of a comprehensive community support project, JEGMI has been planning to renovate 10 existing water wells, which were abandoned by the water users and to conduct trainings on water management, usage and utilization. See below about the one well which was recently completed (September 2021). We aim to raise the funds for the next 9 wells.

In addition to constructing the well in partnership with the local community, JEGMI also trains the local community on maintenance of the well, including collection of a nominal fee of each family to have a reserve funds for any repairs.

Each well will cost about $2300. This includes approximately $1600 for materials, $350 for labor, and $150 for transport expenses. Any amount raised above that what is needed for the first well will be applied towards the next well.

We plan to do fundraising for one well at a time.

We are ready to build more wells but need your support! With the current price of materials, it costs currently $2,300 to construct a well. $2,300 means that another well system can be constructed for a community that is in need of clean water. If you, your family, circle of friends, or club like to support the construction of a whole well, we will have a written dedication or plaque in your honor or that of your loved one(s) at the well.

If you are in the USA, your donation is tax-deductible via the California-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization Sahaya International.
You can go to our donation page and use the donate button there to make a credit card donation. Please select JEGMI so we know your donation goes to the JEGMI program.

If you prefer to donate by check, make your check payable to “Sahaya International” and add JEGMI on the notes line. We will send you a tax receipt (please include your e-mail address with the check, if possible). Mail your check to:

Sahaya International
c/o Koen Van Rompay
1504 Portola St.
Davis, CA 95616
USA

We started with a well for a community in Buhoma that was in desperate need. The pictures on this page show the progress that was made, with the project completed in September 2021. Now this community has access to clean water! This catchment system is suitable for the community because it is durable and appropriate, and most of the materials can be mobilized and accessed locally. It uses water proof cement, sand, gravel, hard core stones, and wire mesh. This well at Buhoma is now benefiting approximately 1250 people (approximately 213 households, with an average of about 6 members).

The clip below shows the celebration of the community when the well in Buhoma was inaugurated:

The 2nd well was constructed for the community of Kanyamisinga, and was inaugurated on November 21, 2021. It will benefit about 520 families. A big thank you to the generous support of donors via Sahaya International who made this possible.