Water (or more precisely the lack of it) is a pressing life and death issue in the community of Tourou, Cameroon. Two recent University of Oregon graduates, Brad Schallert (EHS, Class of 2000) and Leah Petit, are working in Tourou as Peace Corps volunteers to help villagers build new, safe water wells and they're asking their friends, family and others back home for help and support.

Married couple Schallert and Petit report the difference between Tourou and other communities of Cameroon is that Tourou is taking the task of development into its own hands. After centuries of fetching water from several kilometers away, residents of Tourou launched the community-based organization AVISE (known locally as "Association des Volontaires Intervenants dans la conservation du Sol et des Eaux par les puits, biefs et reboisement") with the sole purpose of installing modern, safe and accessible wells.

The two rcent University of Oregon grads finished a Peace Corps designed needs-assessment for Tourou and the 16 villages that make up the community. Unsurprisingly, water came out on top as the most important need overall.

Now is a critical time for the water well construction project and the greatest need is outside financing. Local "water team" members, working with AVISE, organized their community to donate some materials and labor for three sponsored (through an outside grant) wells that were installed last year.

Villagers are presently digging more wells, but when it's time to reinforce the wells with cement and provide covers to reduce contamination, they will need to have help from the outside. Without financing for the needed building materials, rains will send sediment oozing into the newly dug holes when the rainy season comes in May.

Using local resources, it may take years to raise enough money for a village. Schallert and Petit say Tourou's growing population can't wait. The two Peace Corps volunteers are searching for donations on behalf of AVISE for this year. To make a donation to the Well Project of Tourou and AVISE, please send a check to:

"AVISE"
Oregon Community Credit Union
P.O. Box 77002
Eugene, OR 97401-0146

On average, one well costs close to $1,500. The community funds about 40 percent of the cost by donating labor, sand, gravel and well digging equipment. Buying cement and rebar to make the cassion rings that frame the interior of the well is prohibitively costly. This brings the cost from outside funding down to somewhere between $600 and $1,000, depending on unforeseen costs.

Background: Schallert and Petit say in a number of the needs-assessment meetings held in the small villages, local residents were frustrated and annoyed by the formality of the process and kept repeating that water should be the key issue for the Peace Corps. At the meeting for Moutaz, Koulkoubaye, Ndrock and Duloum, a cluster of villages with steep terrain and very few wells, one person raised his hand and said in French, "Le premier chose ici, c'est l'eau... C'est l'eau TOUJOURS...TOUJOURS!" (The most important thing here is water... It's ALWAYS water... ALWAYS!). Tourou is a harsh, rocky environment. Without proper equipment and training, it's impossible to pierce through the layer of rock beneath.

For more information, visit http://bradleahcameroon.blogspot.com, the Schallert and Petit blog, and go to the "not enough wells" post. The work done by the previous Peace Corps volunteer for Tourou, which was to train local residents and create AVISE, can be found at http://free.ipdz.com/tourou (this website is on an unstable server - if you can't see it, please try again later).