Mambilima Mission Hospital Support Project

In June we were excited to get our first “hospital equipment support project” underway, arriving with a new washing machine and dryer, funded by donations, ready to replace the old machines whose wiring had been destroyed by rats! However, on arrival we discovered that the hospital had been without running water for over a month, and were reliant on water being collected in drums and buckets from the community river supply (not potable) so it quickly became apparent that their most pressing need was gaining access to a reliable source of clean water. Gareth and Jon spent the rest of that trip troubleshooting how to get the current borehole up and running again, as well as plumbing in the new washing machine and dryer in anticipation of their water struggles being resolved.

During a second trip to Mambilima, just a few weeks later, Gareth and Jon were able to fit a more suitable water pump, with an electronic control box attached, which would prevent it running dry and burning out the pump. They also did a lot of rodent-proofing to the new laundry equipment and spent hours carefully identifying and re-soldering each rat-eaten cable on the old industrial washing machine. They left feeling really encouraged that Mambilima’s water issues had been resolved and the hospital staff could fully focus on providing care to patients.

Sadly, only a few weeks later the new pump began having problems and in the process of trouble-shooting this remotely – the team at the hospital dropped the pump and feeder pipe to the bottom of the 75m borehole.

Two weeks ago the Mission Geeks team went back to Mambilma to attempt the often impossible task of retrieving the pump and feeder pipe to clear the well. Jon flew RFJ along with 2 interns and Gareth drove the 1,100km round trip carrying the tools, equipment and piping etc. Because the 65m feed-pipe was still connected to the pump that was now stuck at the bottom of the hole we were not able to get a replacement pump down it. Jon designed and welded up a pipe retrieval tool on the end of 10m of rebar. We then prayed hard and went fishing! Incredibly were were eventually able to secure the pipe with the tool and with a rope thrown over a nearby tree branch and connected to our car, we were able to haul the feed pipe off the stuck pump and pull it all out of the hole. This allowed us to get a new pump down and get water flowing into the hospital tanks again.

We were also able to repair and unblock old drains and fix plumbing issues that increased water pressure in the hospital system. This means that the old industrial washing machine we repaired on the previous trip (after all the wiring was eaten by rats) is finally operating again!

The hospital is currently fundraising to have a new borehole drilled with a higher water yield that could supply both the hospital and the staff housing. Once this is done, Mission Geeks will aim to raise the necessary funds to install a solar pump system to hopefully resolve the water problems at Mambilima for the foreseeable future!