Drilling deep to bring water to refugees from Burundi

(LWI) - Already exhausted, Burundian refugee Hatungaimana Justina gave birth in the Mtendeli refugee camp in west Tanzania days after arriving there.

Clean water critical in camps

In refugee camps, a supply of clean water is essential, more so for breastfeeding women like Hatungaimana, whose daughter, Furaha Eliza, is one of more than 2000 Burundian babies born in Tanzanian refugee camps  in the last 12 months, according to the United Nations.

In April last year, Burundian government militia began a crack down on dissident political voices, forcing an estimated 250,000 people, including Hatungaimana and her family, into exile in neighbouring countries. Tanzania is the largest recipient of refugees.

Hatungaimana and her family made it to the Mtendeli camp, which first housed refugees in 1994 and was recently re-opened after nine years. 

Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service (TCRS), the diaconal arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania and a partner of LWF World Service, is a major supplier of fresh water to the camp.

Camp expansion

At one site, a kilometer or so out of the camp, TCRS has commissioned the drilling of boreholes. Heavy machinery pounds a drill dozens of metres beneath the surface of the earth at a spot where geological testing has proven the presence of water. This is the second borehole drilled by TCRS around the countryside of Mtendeli camp, which hosts just over 5,300 people.  

The lush countryside belies the acute shortage of water faced by the region. Without underground water supplies, Mtendeli would not have re-opened. A river has dried up and no other source of water exists. A secure water supply is a precondition to expanding the camp and opening it to more refugees, as well as to the re-opening of another larger camp nearby.

More boreholes must be drilled before the hot season in April, otherwise the situation could be disastrous, says TCRS refugee program coordinator Albert Temu. Nearly 300 people arrive in Tanzania each day and tens of thousands need to be moved from a nearby reception center to camps like Mtendeli.

Ongoing unrest in Burundi

Since the early 1960s, TCRS has supported Burundian refugees fleeing to Tanzania. They thought they were finally closing the gates to the camps in 2007 when peaceful elections brought to stability to Burundi. In the years after its closure, water facilities in the camp were vandalized or left to deteriorate.

In May last year, TCRS came back to Mtendeli to drill boreholes, build latrine blocks in neighborhoods and the hospital, police station, food distribution centre and the health centre, as well as install clothes washing stands around the camp and distribute relief goods.

Provision of water is priority for camp management. In total, aid agencies will drill a total of 10 boreholes, says TCRS water sanitation and hygiene engineer Shufaa Mweta.

She says the camp is not without its problems. The neighborhood latrines are overcrowded with eight families sharing a single latrine. While each of the two toilet facilities are segregated by gender, still about 40 people use just two latrines each day.

TCRS Kibondo project coordinator Terry Raphael said the influx was putting real pressure on the water supplies and more help was urgently needed

“We want to see how much more we can explore so that more refugees can be assisted and get as much water as per international standards. However, we need more support to get ground water.”



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Photo gallery: Drilling deep to bring water to Tanzanian camps

Fresh water supplies are critical for a refugee camp. As well as being a major supplier of fresh water to the Mtendeli camp in west Tanzania, the Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service, which is the diaconal arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania and a partner of LWF World Service, also provides water stations, clothes washing stations and latrines to the camp residents, refugees of conflict in Burundi.

22 March 2016

Photos: LWF/S.Cox

TCRS refugee Program Manager Albert Temu at one of the 22 clothes washing stations dotted around the newly re-opened Mtendeli camp, which houses 5300 people. TCRS has worked with the United Nations and other NGOs to drill boreholes to supply water to the camps. With the influx of refugees not abating and the need to bring more refugees from a neighbouring reception centre, the need for more water supplies is critical, he says.

MSF Holland pump attendant Geremiah Balichako, left, explains the workings of a new pump to TCRS refugee Program Manager Albert Temu. It is one of three boreholes drilled or being developed to serve the Mtendeli camp. In May, TCRS is expected to take over operation of this pump.

Aaron Shedrack, a welder with the drilling company commissioned by TCRS to drill a new borehole, checks machinery at the borehole site. Testing found the presence of a good supply of water. Drilling found water at 74m. Once drilling is complete, a suitable diesel pump will be ordered and installed. Plans are in process to make some of the boreholes solar-powered.

Food distribution draws all the residents of the camp. TCRS installed latrines at the distribution centre. As well as providing water, TCRS hygiene promoters fan out over the camp each day encouraging people to keep themselves and their environment clean.

Bavuma Diomedi, left, is a refugee again for the ninth time. He sits in his tent made of tree poles and tarpaulins with his wife, Hatungaimana Justina, and their three children, Furaha Daines, 6, Igiraneza Sentia, 2, and month-old baby Furaha Eliza, who was born just days after the family arrived in the camp. TCRS provides water for cooking, cleaning and drinking to residents of the camp.

A man with a World Food Program ration card around his neck leans against a clothes washing station built by TCRS. TCRS has built 22 such washing stations around the camp, piping water sourced from boreholes it has helped drill.

A woman washes clothes in a water station built by TCRS. Anticipating the Burundi refugee crisis to be long-lasting, the Tanzanian government has instructed NGOs to build permanent facilities in the camps, many of which have been open and closed since the early 1990s.

A TCRS hand washing station in the Mtendeli camps sits immediately opposite a latrine block. Good sanitation is essential in the rapidly-growing camp. As well as water stations, TCRS has built latrines, clothes washing stands and has drilled boreholes that will ensure a continual supply of fresh water to the camp. Hygiene promoters cover the camp each day encouraging people to keep themselves and their environment clean.

TCRS Kibondo field project coordinator Terry Raphael says that although funds from UNHCR and ACT Alliance have helped sustain the lives of refugees in the camps, more funding is urgently needed. When the refugee influx began last May, the UNHCR was overwhelmed and immediately called on local NGOs like TCRS, which are well-positioned to assist in such situations, he says.