Bosiango

RainCatcher — Kenya: Harvesting natural rainwater to quench the world’s thirst.

Subject: Help us Have Clean and Safe Water

Moses Nyagaka Okioga, Fred Mango, and David Nyabuto Ogachi in Kenya

On Nov 11, 2006, at 12:15 AM, David Nyabuto Ogachi wrote:

Dear sir/madam,
My community in Bosiango is suffering. Many people in this community suffer from water borne diseases, particularly women and children. After carrying the needs assessment I came up with the idea of starting a project of piped , clean, and safe water. Please could you assist?
Yours Sincerely,
David N Ogachi.

Hi David,
Where is Bosiango? Are you near Nairobi? I helped install rainwater water storage tanks at some of the primary schools in the Mua hills. The tanks were from Kentainers in Nairobi. Do you have buildings that would be suitable for catching rain?
My site is raincatcher.org
yours in friendship,
Jack Rose

On Nov 17, 2006, at 2:33 AM, David Nyabuto Ogachi wrote:

Dear sir,
I do not live near Nairobi, I live in Western Kenya, right on the floor of the Great Rift Valley where water is like gold — the driest area. I became interested in this issue of water because of the situation in which my community finds itself. Rivers in this area are seasonal, full during the rainy season, only to go dry as the rains recede (like the present condition in East Africa today). Every one is affected yes, but women and children are worst hit. Children who go to school do so without doing proper washing — you know the consequence of this. The less water which is available is brown with mud and dirt, therefore quite unsafe for both drink and general use. PLEASE HELP. Yes we have houses that have roofs capable of harvesting a large volume of water yet the people lack the financial capacity to purchase the tanks. We need tanks in schools that number almost 10 and other social gathering points.

Hi David,
We can get tanks from Kampala or Arusha. Which city are you closest too? I’ve included some maps. Can you show your location? You can also email photos if you have a digital camera. I have a filter that you can put the dirtiest river water through and get clean drinking water. It’s called a slow-sand filter and you can read about it by going to raincatcher.org and reading the RainCatcher Peru article. There you can click on the link for Blue Future Filters – bluefuturefilters.com – and find out about this amazing system. It is the highest rated by the UN and W.H.O. Also a good filter can be found at Katadyn.com

Two sources of water — the rain and the river. With tanks set up on school buildings, we collect and store fresh water when it rains. When the supply runs out over long periods of no rain, you can put river water through the filter and get clean water to drink. I can work on fund raising here if you can organize people on your end to help set these up. Is there an NGO established in or around your area that we can work with? Let me know. The goal will be to have systems in place before the arrival of the next rainy season. Can you tell me when the next rainy season begins?
Yours in friendship,
Jack Rose

Dear sir,
Thank you so much for your e-mail.
I live in the southern part of province 6 at the border with province 4 I think the closest city might be Kampala. Electricity is so bad today – it is on and off – my cyber cafes are almost off. Please reply soon.
Yours in friendship,
David N.Ogachi

Dear Sir,
Because of power problems I was forgetting another important thing. As a matter of fact I already have people on the ground who are working to install water system in the schools and social gathering centers I mentioned, however the cost of doing this is skyrocketing. We have an NGO in our area called Dano agency which I think would help. The next rain season is just beginning. I hope to hear from you soon.
Yours in friendship,
David N.Ogachi.

Hi David,
Can you please give me an email contact with someone from Dano?
Or have them contact me. Any photos will be helpful,
Yours in friendship,
Jack Rose

Email to Kentainers in Nairobi

Water Storage Tanks – fredmango@kentainers.com

KENYA
Kentainers Limited
Embakasi Road, Off Airport North Road
P.O Box 42168,GPO Nairobi, Kenya.
Tel: (254)-(20) 823513-5,823442-4
(Hotline) (254)-(20)-6750993,6750984
Fax: 823927,331502

Hi All,
A couple years ago I helped install water storage tanks at schools in the Mua Hills above Nairobi. I worked with a group from California called ‘Water For Children – Africa’. The tanks were supplied by Kentainers. See photos. I am contacting your company now in regards to an upcoming project in Bosiango. Below is the email correspondence that describes what David and I are attempting to do. Can you give me prices for water storage tanks delivered to Bosiango? How long a drive is it from Nairobi to Bosiango? Would it be better to ship from Crestanks in Kampala? I plan to work with an NGO in your region. Do you have a recommendation? Any information and images will be helpful,
Thanks,
Jack Rose

On Nov 20, 2006, at 9:32 AM, fredmango@kentainers.com wrote:
You will be responded to within 12hours . Thank you once again for your Interest and Concern about our products and services. Regards, System Administrator

Hi Fred,
Here’s a copy of the latest email exchange with Moses & David in Bosiango.
Thanks,
Jack

On Nov 21, 2006, at 4:43 AM, Moses Nyagaka wrote:

Dear sir, I am MOSES NYAGAKA OKIOGA , I am a writer. Some of my works are on sale through Amazon.com – just log to site and ask for RELEGATED TO THE WILD. I am 46 years old Kenyan, a father of three. What i am proud of is that I am a friend to people. I am always eager to help — I am told JACK ROSE has got the same trait in his personality…We have an NGO here, D.A.N.O Agencies, which helps people who have WATER problem. David N.Ogachi told me to contact you. At the moment we are making an effort to assist people, few of them to put up containers to catch the on going rain — but we lack funds. Regrettably we have never thought wise to photograph whatever we are doing, sorry, therefore we will dispatch someone to Nairobi to buy a digital camera. No one is selling the thing here. Thank you for offering the containers they will make a big difference. To assist install some of these tanks we have here I humbly request you to send some funds (if they are available) so that these friends of ours would benefit. Should you find yourself in a position of doing it Please use either MONEYGRAM or WESTERN MONEY Transfer cashed in KISII KENYA
Yours sincerely, Moses Nyagaka Okioga.

Hi Moses,
Thanks for writing. I have an email into Kentainers. When I hear back I will get a contact person for you to meet with when you go to Nairobi. You can pick out the water tanks that are right for your use. Have pictures taken of you with the tanks and have Kentainers email them to me. Also I need images of you and David and others with the houses, schools and other buildings that will be getting tanks. You need to take some measurements and let me know how many rain gutters you will need. I will have Kentainers deliver the gutters with the tanks and put the name RainCatcher on all the tanks. After they are set up I will need you to email photos of you and friends standing with the new water tanks. Then I will come to take more pictures and to visit other sites that need RainCatchers. The idea is to use each project to help create the next project, causing a chain-reaction until everyone has clean water to drink. This, of course could never happen without responsible people doing all the ground work on your end.

Thank you for helping. If you get to Kentainers soon, ask for Fred Mango. He is the one who emailed me. You will need to tell him exactly how many tanks and gutters you need so he can set up a business structure with me to get this all going. We will all work together to bring clean water to your families. The rain is freely given in such abundance. All we have to do is receive it. I look forward to doing that with you and David and your whole community.

I am a writer, too. When I come to Kenya we can trade stories.
Until then we will catch rain.
Yours in friendship.
Jack Rose

Hi Fred,
Below is a copy of an email from Moses and my reply

On Nov 22, 2006, at 2:36 AM, Moses Nyagaka wrote:
Hi, jack,
Thank you for writing. We would like to travel to Nairobi on Friday, please get the contact whom we are going to meet. I have made the measurements of the rain gutters and I have come up with the following: 10 schools – 2,400ft; 2 churches – 360ft; 8 families – 480 feet. You may be aware (because you have been to Kenya) that the type of soil we have here is hostile to plastics. Therefore the concrete base could be needed. My organization has run out of funds. It is good to have our pictures but due the fact that we do not have a digital camera we will send them once we buy it from Nairobi. Yes I am responsible, in fact I must be, because of the past experiences.
Yours in friendship,
Moses Nyagaka Okioga.

Hi Moses & David,

Below is the Kentainers contact:

I will pass on the gutter info to Fred and ask him to take pictures of all three of you in front of the tanks you pick out. He can email them to me. I need these for storytelling here. I plan to raise funds in January and come to Kenya in February.

I am a rain catcher. I will tell your story and have people purchase water storage tanks directly from Kentainers for your community. After we have successfully completed your project we will use it as a model for how people can work to catch clean water for drinking, one village at a time. We will want to start a chain reaction. If, starting in January, we could help to create one water project per month — that would be my goal. I think we can do it.

Another way to build a foundation for the water tanks is leveling the ground, placing an iron ring on the level spot and filling the ring with sand. I will ask Fred Mango if his company can supply one ring per tank. The idea is for everything needed (foundation ring, gutters & tank to be delivered at the same time. Set-up in one day. Then we dance when the rains come.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Jack Rose

Chain Reaction

Hi Jack,
What are your plans for X-mas? I’ll be in LA December 24 to the 27th.
D.

Hi D,
Yea, we can possibly get together on the 26th. Call me on x-mas and we’ll set it up.

I’m currently writing a story called ‘Chain Reaction’, about noticing the various directions the dominoes fall with every little, and big, decision we make. Below is an example. See you soon, Jack

On Nov 30, 2006, at 8:56 AM, Humphrey Blackburn wrote:

Hey Jack. I just received a Google alert which referred me to your website. How cool is that! Looks like a good project, I’m looking forward to participating. I am still snowed in here- about 2 feet of snow since saturday. But it is changing today. Talk to you soon. Regards, H

Humphrey Blackburn, President, Blue Future Filters, Inc.
Blackburn & Associates
Sustainable Water Treatment for the World

The future is here, it’s just not widely distributed yet. — William Gibson

Hi Jack,
That’s very great. I would suggest I meet David and Moses first, have the requirements and tanks of their choice. Then, from there, I will be able to furnish you with the costing and the business plan. However, I have to thank you for your kindness and willingness to support this community, and may you be blessed.
Ragards, Fred Mango – Systems Administrator

Hi Jack
Thanks for the story.
Can I forward to a friend in South Africa originally from Kenya?
Happy Thanks giving to you too! See you soon! Many blessings,
lisa

Hi Jack, Wow! What an amazing story! I read the chain of emails and I definitely will keep Bosiango’s water conditions, as well as all the other places lacking water, in prayer. Jack you are an amazing man and if anybody can spearhead this project into a miracle blessing of water abundance for all….it would be you!
All the Best, Molly

Hi J
This is Awesome…Have you been able to make contact with Miguel in Lisbon?
Absolute Abundance is taking such shape, there is still a lot of work involved in setting the foundation, but the soaring of the project is limitless… Once I’ve identified the areas that need the Abundance, the RainCatchers are part of the Absolute… The sustainable… I also have another friend that lives in the Congo, and I would love to introduce the RainCatcher system to him too… Please let me know how things are working with Miguel, as they already have projects happening in Africa…love t (from South Africa)

Hi Jack,
I met David and Moses today. We have taken photos as you requested. They have told me they proposed a 20 tanks project to you, in regards to that they have chosen two 24,000 litres tank and the remaining 18 they need you to choose for them between 10,000 litres and 16,000litres tanks since you are the one who knows the budget you would like to work with.

I would propose a concrete foundation since it’s a long lasting solution. Find below the quotation of their selections.

24,000litres (5217 gal) – $230,000 KSHS $3,200 USD
16,000litres (3478 GAL) – $155,000 KSHS $2,200 USD
10,000litres (2174 Gal) – $95,000 KSHS $1,300 USD

Transportation costs – 2 Tanks per trip @ kshs.45,000 = $640 USD

N/B: Note that the above prices are VAT inclusive apart from the transportation costs.

The transport within Nairobi we usually do for free but since Bosiango is more than 500km (300 miles)away from Nairobi so the cost is involved. For 20 tanks to bosiango this will be 10trips so you can do your calculations right from the above quote depending on how many tanks to be delivered.

Costing of the supply and installation of rain water gutters, it is inclusive of all required fittings, down pipes, unions, rafter brackets, tangit…etc:

Please note, these prices include for supply and fixing in well served districts and locations. If you require them to be sent and fixed to a remote location, you may factor up the prices by 40% to ensure satisfactory supply and installation done to a professional level.

I have also attached some of the photos we took both three of us.Please feel free to ask any query. The tanks will be labeled raincatcher as you requested. Thanking you in advance and looking forward forward for a greater business with you.
Regards, Fred Mango – Systems Administrator

Hi David & Moses & Fred,
I received the pictures from Kentainers. Thank you, they are really helpful. I am now putting the Bosiango story on my site. You can tell others to go to raincatcher.org to read about our project. It The story will be updated as we go along. I am working on some low-cost designs so that you can hopefully begin collecting rainwater soon while we work on raising funds for the larger storage tanks.Go to this link on the Kentainers site: http://www.kentainers.com/kent/downloads/Aquapic.pdf and see pictures of the smaller Aquatanks with the sand + iron ring foundation. I will work with Fred to get some smaller tanks that are easy to move around and don’t need concrete foundations. I will be sending email photos of some simple RainCatchers made with plastic tarps tied to the overhangs of buildings and sloping down into a small tank. The idea is to get some materials to you as soon as possible so you can take advantage of the rainy season that is already under way. The tarps are taken down when it isn’t raining, so they stay clean, then set up again when the next rain starts falling. This is a very clean and inexpensive way to catch rain.

In April of 2002 we purchased a dozen tanks for ‘Water For Children – Africa’. They were the 6000 liter model and we paid $350. US dollars each. Are these still available for this price? Or would the Aquatank be the better way to go. We were able to get five tanks on each truck. At this stage I am just exploring all possibilities to get the best price per gallon. The cost for the 2002 project was .27 US cents per gallon – these quoted above come out to be .55 cents per gallon. I’m open to all suggestions.

I want to set up a RainCatcher account at Kentainers. As I begin fund raising I will have people transfer funds directly to Kentainers. When we have enough for a truck load, then the first shipment is made. In January I will come take pictures and walk and break bread. It is good that Kentainers is in four countries. What we accomplish in Bosiango can then be duplicated in other communities.

If $200 Billion is available worldwide for cosmetics, then there must be plenty for clean drinking water. This is my goal, however long it takes. Water for all.
Yours in friendship,
Jack

RainCatcher Peru, coffee, and Slow Sand Filters

After handling the need for clean, uncontaminated drinking water, the next big issue is livelihood. The RainCatcher Peru project combines both.

There are 130,000 family coffee farms scattered throughout the Peruvian Andes. KC O’Keefe of Jungle-Tech is helping some of these independent growers to raise the quality of their coffee beans and increase the value of the finished product to be sold on the world market. You can read the whole story on jungle-tech.com. KC and I are designing a RainCatcher system to create a supply of clean water for both coffee production and drinking water. We plan to use his solar dryer structures to catch rain and channel the water into storage bags developed by International Development Enterprises. Go to ideorg.org to read about this ‘breakthrough’ in rainwater harvesting. Once at there, click “Tech Gallery”, then “Rainwater Harvesting” to read about and see the water storage bag in use in Bangladesh. With this product we can do several demonstration projects throught the provinces of Peru. Local growers will help build a RainCatcher/Solar Dryer coffee production system and then be able to take the neccessary materials back home to set up their own. These systems are low cost, low tech, non-mechanical, non-electric solutions for rural farming communities. Our aim is to have these operating on a thousand farms by the end of 2006.

The subtitle for Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point reads: “How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference”. Our project falls into this category. Getting a thousand growers set up and producing better coffee will lead to information and materials spreading to the rest of the 130,000 farms. If growers are able to improve the quality of their finished beans, the return on their efforts will double, eventually affecting one million people who work on the small, independent coffee farms of Peru.

After catching and storing the rainwater, the next chore is cleaning it for absolute safe drinking. Another key person in this story is a man by the name of Humphrey Blackburn. He and his company, Blue Future Filters, have developed the “Slow Sand Filter”, a filter with no moving parts that requires no maintenance or electricity and provides clean water for decades. It removes all the diseases that spread in undeveloped regions through contaminated water sources. Humphrey just received contracts to ship a thousand filters to the tsunami areas and seven hundred to Iraq. The good news is rainwater can be caught and stored and run through these filters and, if rainwater supplies dry up between rains, any old river or stream water can be passed through the slow sand filter. Now we always have a back-up during long dry spells.