On Sunday 12th January, disaster struck at TEAMS borehole! Our 10,000-litre high level water storage tank 15 metres high above the borehole, burst and water cascaded on to the ground below. Thankfully no one was drawing water at the time so there were no injuries. The tank itself looked as if it had exploded. The shell of the tank had split into many sections and was beyond repair.
Just before Christmas a small crack had been noticed in the tank, but as only a small amount of water was seeping out, it had been earmarked for further investigation this month! It just highlights the force of water!
TEAMS borehole is the only clean and reliable source of drinking water within the community. The nearest alternative source is over 1 km away - a very long way when you have to carry a full Jerrycan! TEAMS site itself (which unusually for this part of Northern Uganda) has flushing toilets and showers on site, soon ran out of clean water too.
An urgent email was sent to TEAMS Board in the UK and replacement tank was authorised and purchased the next day. However, how do you get a 3 m diameter tank weighing almost 300kgs (empty) on to a 4 m square platform situated 15 meters above the ground? Fortunately, a mobile crane on hire from Kampala was in Gulu and after discussion, the driver agreed to come and help us lift the tank. So, within 60 hours of the accident a new tank was positioned and plumbed in! It took another 8 hours for the tank to fill so the borehole could re-open, but the local community were very grateful repairs happened so quickly. Not a usual occurrence in Central Africa. Financially, this was an unexpected expense for TEAMS. At just over £900 at today’s (poor) rate of exchange it represents 3% of the annual support we have committed to supply TEAMS Uganda during 2025. We were just starting to feel this was a very poor start to 2025 when a substantial donation dropped through the letterbox from one of our generous supporters covering the cost. Praise the Lord! If you feel you can help TEAMS reach out to the poor and vulnerable people in Northern Uganda, please do visit our “Get involved” page and make a donation to TEAMS bank account. No matter how small a contribution, your gift will make a difference. As TEAMS UK has no paid staff or premises its admin costs (mainly accountancy fees are under 5% of its total income, making it a very efficient Charity.