UMVIM team takes ACTION in Zimbabwe
By Jerry Washabau
Special to the Advocate

Close your eyes. You are at home with your family. You are thirsty and go to the kitchen get a glass of clean water. You drink it without a care in the world.
Now, shift your focus to Zimbabwe; specifically, the Old Mutare Mission Centre, which serves more than 3,000 people daily. You’re thirsty. Here, someone takes a plastic container to the nearby river, lake or pond, maybe even to the ditch to get water. It’s more cloudy than not and definitely not clean, definitely not safe, but it’s all you have to drink. They drink because they have no choice.
The children, adults and elderly of the area fall victim to the water-borne diseases associated with drinking unsafe water every day.
Young children are left without safe drinking water or sanitary bathroom facilities for extended periods of time.
“Water is life! Without water there is no life,” said the Rev. Kennedy Mukwindidza, pastor at Quinter United Methodist Church in Kansas, in the ACTION DVD produced by the S.C. Annual Conference. 
One of the missions addressed by the Annual Conference Trinity Initiative of Needs was the water project at Old Mutare Mission Centre in Zimbabwe.
More than $40,000 has been raised in this effort thus far.
A United Methodist Volunteers in Mission team of 12 went to Zimbabwe in June to see firsthand the water problems and help in other areas of need.
During their time at the mission, the team repaired two homes; inventoried items on the recently shipped container that was loaded at Trenholm Road UMC, Columbia; installed a ventilation system for the chemical lab at the secondary school; helped patients at the hospital; and purchased 120 textbooks and handed out 200 friendship bracelets at the primary school.
During the course of the week, Matt Brodie, director of communications; Robin Landers, team member; and Jerry Washabau, team leader, had the opportunity to follow George Mutasa, Zimbabwean hydrogeologist, and his work team around the mission.
They observed his testing as well as discussed with him options for either replacing or repairing the reservoirs and siting new and repairing old boreholes (wells) to maximize water efficiency.
The question for the water study was “Can the aquifer support all boreholes operating 24 hours a day seven days a week?”
It also set out to discover if the water table could support additional wells and if existing wells should be fixed.
The study, funded by part of the ACTION offering, was assisted by Edward Wentz, a United Methodist from the Western North Carolina Conference and an UMVIM water supply and treatment engineer, who went to Zimbabwe in May.
Mutasa’s findings were beneficial to the Rev. Solomon Mudonhi, station chair of the mission, and other mission officials.
“The aquifer (water table) at Old Mutare Mission Centre is able to sustain the institution for a very long time provided we manage it properly,” Mutasa said.
Some of his findings were bittersweet, including that although there is adequate water underground, one of the working boreholes was within 150 feet of a septic tank and was producing contaminated water.
Another borehole, which was recently drilled, has the potential to be contaminated by chemicals leeching through the aquifer from a nearby mine.
Mutasa informed Brodie, Landers and Washabau that with three boreholes working for eight hours during the day, 68 percent of the population is able to have clean drinking water.
If one uses this same quantity of water over a 24-hour period of time, Mutasa said, the percentage drops to 17 percent.
Because the S.C. conference invested in this water study, the mission officials now have the knowledge to make better decisions regarding the water problems that exist.
Other findings were that the reservoir serving the hospital was leaking water and was encrusted with algae and other contaminants; and the roofs of the reservoirs were in serious disrepair.
What alarmed the team the most was that on a daily basis, these reservoirs are providing unsafe and unclean water to the hospital and orphanage – those that need clean water the most.
All concerned believed repair was not economically feasible and recommended replacing at least one of the two hospital reservoirs.
Mudonhi obtained estimates to replace both existing reservoirs.
Those estimates were brought back by the UMVIM team and are currently being reviewed.
A new reservoir for the hospital and orphanage and repairs to the boreholes  feeding that reservoir are the top priorities of the water project and can only be accomplished because of the offering collected during the Annual Conference.
The second priority of the water initiative is to provide an additional borehole at Mandisodza Village, which houses mission campus workers.
This village is located some distance from the hospital well and reservoir and is served by an undersized 1/2-inch pipe.
The area would be better and more economically served by providing another well rather than upgrading the pipe.
Prior to our departure, Mutasa and his team sited two new boreholes, one within the Mandisodza Village area and the other near the boys’ boarding area.
As funds continue to become available the drilling of these two boreholes and the purchase of new and spare parts will become the priority of the future.
Contributions are still being accepted. Checks should be made out to the S.C. Conference and marked Zimbabwe water project.
Please mail donations to the S.C. Annual Conference, Office of the Treasurer, 4908 Colonial Dr., Columbia, SC 29203.
The solutions for the mission’s water problems can be implemented given the appropriate focus from the S.C. Annual Conference.
With our focus and with the cooperationof the Zimbabwe Annual Conference, we can offer clean, safe and secure water to the people of Old Mutare Mission Centre.
Are you thirsty?