37 replies to this topic

[SpleenBeGone]

To say fuck you water pumps and being so expensive and such a pain in the ass. >.>

[Calvary]

You planning on making an African village self sufficient Spleen? =D

[SpleenBeGone]

No, keeping my car from overheating. >.>

You have a good idea though.

[Bowsette]

You planning on making an African village self sufficient Spleen? =D

Won't work.

[SpleenBeGone]

Won't work.

Why not? >.>

[Bowsette]

It's been done before. State of the art water well systems installed in villages that are left to rust because the people living their refuse to learn how to use/maintain it. It's a waste of money, and one of the many reasons I refuse to give any money to overseas charities.

[SpleenBeGone]

I feel like this should be a challenge accepted thing. Come up with a pump that needs no maintenance. 

[Bowsette]

Even then they wouldn't use it because it's different xD

[SpleenBeGone]

Yes. >.>

[Bowsette]

Seriously, that's why I don't see the point in helping them. Even when you do, they don't make use of it. I'd rather spend my money on helping like, the homeless in my own country or something. Or cancer research.

[SpleenBeGone]

Honestly, I have to agree for the most part, I'd rather help local people first.

That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing what I could come up with as far as harsh weather living conditions. >.>

[Bowsette]

Shipping containers. Problem solved. Bolt them down and fuck it, nothing will shift 'em

[Calvary]

It all depends on how you educate the villagers first. I work for an organisation that promotes nation-building in Nigeria and you sort of get a basic grasp of what is going right and wrong with those sorts of initiatives. Those pumps do help a huuuuuge amount, you're effectively saving hundreds of people from death by typhoid and cholera. The alternative is drinking contaminated water and then shitting yourself to death.

[SpleenBeGone]

Shipping containers. Problem solved. Bolt them down and fuck it, nothing will shift 'em

Yes actually. I've been working on how to get the most livable space out of one for a while now. Trying to design self sufficient little homes. >.>

[Bowsette]

Wow, pretty naive, borderline bigoted statement imo.

Most donated handpumps don't work anymore

Over 350.000 handpumps have been installed in Africa, but UNICEF/ SKAT data show that in most countries 40% to sometimes up to over 70% of these handpumps are abandoned. Most of the abandoned pumps are so-called "VLOM" pumps made in India. VLOM means that the community should maintain them without external support.

The VLOM pumps are rather cheap but not reliable enough to be used in an African community. Evidence shows that such VLOM pumps don't last. Due to frequent repairs and missing spare parts these pumps become a nuisance for the users and very expensive or impossible to maintain. It is expected that within a decade, most of these VLOM handpumps in Africa don't work anymore.

http://www.watsan.or...w_text.php?id=4

 

WaterAid, one of the world's biggest water charities agrees. It recently issued a statement explaining why it does not support using Playpumps in its projects. It outlines concerns over the high costs ($14,000, excluding drilling), the complexity of the pumping mechanism (making local operation and maintenance difficult), the reliance on child labour and the risk of injury.

http://www.theguardi...mps-roundabouts

 

Currently, most of the pumps are manufactured outside Africa (mostly in India and Pakistan) and some of the designs are relatively complex. When pumps break down, most communities lack the knowledge required to fix them. Moreover, the spare parts for the pumps are not readily available and villagers cannot afford to buy them.

http://sustainablewa...-statement.html

 

etc etc. If that makes me bigoted, then so be it. I would rather help people capable of helping themselves as well, than throw money at a problem that won't go away.

[flcl_grim]

Emosaurusrex is right.  Goreiju-sama is a victim of confirmation bias and cherrypicked data.  None of those articles contain information that could lead to that conclusion, but the more often that those stories pop up, the stronger the association to the nonsensical conclusion becomes.

 

Major bias reported for duty today; was promptly shot down by roflcoptr.

[Benihime]

And zero follow-up from the "benefactors".
Think about this people, whomever is setting up the purchasing of the wells is in bed with the pump manufacturers--probably getting kickbacks. They know the pumps are faulty, yet they still install them and abandon the communities.
And then there's the whole "are they training someone how to maintain them?"
And how about a support system.
We know from experience that once you start a project you must follow-up, otherwise the benefactor is just as guilty of neglect as the individual that ignores completely.
And there's the saying "charity begins at home."

[Bowsette]

I'll concede those points. I was certain I had read that many of the African people preferred getting water themselves and ignored the wells, but I can't for the life of me find it. Though there are certain communities selling the water from pumps they were given for free but that's a different discussion.

 

I still don't believe in affording charity to places such as this, for the simple fact that they've lived in it for thousands of years, and their culture has stayed. Other countries that had similar start-ups grew, Africa didn't. I see no reason to give money for that, and would prefer to donate to people who need it here.

 

Additionally, water scarcity affects more than just Africa, but nobody seems to give a shit about the other countries struggling with it. And in fact, most of the data I've seen seems to show that Africa isn't in such a bad position as other places. But again, nobody really gives a shit about other countries. I just think it makes no sense to prioritize one place over another, especially when you consider the fact that there are people 5 minutes away from you who are suffering too. I just don't get it.