September 2025 Update
As we prepare for the second wave of Barotse Strong Pump (BSP) installations we have been busy with logistics and a side project.
Logistics
In May 2025 we shipped two parcels by truck, rail, ship and back to truck from Union Kentucky to Lusaka Zambia. Weighing a little over 3600 lb, the shipment contains enough material for 200 BSPs. As per design the actual pump bodies will be fabricated by a local machine shop in Lusaka from locally purchased steel. We hope to be back in the bush installing BSPs within the next month. Our foreman John Simasiku is now in Lusaka procuring materials and supervise the production of BSPs.
Before John returned to Lusaka to oversee the BSP fabrication he journeyed onto the Matebele and Mulonga Plains to document the villages still needing water. Recall last year we were surprised to find many villages that were missed during our 2020 survey. John found 160 additional villages in need of water. When complete this will bring us to about 270 BSPs including the 116 installed in 2024. John is also happy to report the BSPs installed last year are doing fine and changing lives!
Side Project
Before there was Project Sheluka, Beth and Joe donated funds to Kalenge Village for several years in honor of their friendship with Professor Imasiku Nyambe — he is a native of Kalenge. Unknown to us, the village council decided to save until they had enough to build a house for a nurse. Years prior the Czech Republic built a regional health clinic but the Zambian Ministry of Health would not provide a nurse until there was a house for the nurse. In June 2019 Joe was invited to a ceremony dedicating the house in honor of Joe’s late mother, Joy, who was a nurse. The dedication of the “Joy House” is what brought Joe to Kalenge Village and it was then that he saw the issue with water access and thus began Project Sheluka.
While we have provided several BSPs to Kalenge Village as well as the village school, the Kalenge Regional Health Clinic is located about 250 yards away and at an elevation too high above the water table to be served by a suction pump. Imagine a health clinic, either as a patient or provider, where the nearest water was a round trip of 500 yards.
Although Project Sheluka is in the business of installing shallow suction pumps this was beyond our scope and finance. When a private donor heard of this situation funds were provided specifically to bring running water to the Clinic.
Aerial view of Kalenge Regional Health Clinic and Kalenge Village School. The School and Teacher Houses are supplied by a BSP. The Clinic is a bit higher than the school where the water table is too deep to use a suction pump.
Local drillers use a gasoline-powered pump to jet a mixture of water and bentonite (a clay that expands when wet) down a steel pipe tipped with a simple paddle blade as a bit. The water pushes sand out of the borehole, the bentonite temporarily holds a 6“ borehole open as the bit and stem are advanced manually. Once the borehole is completed, in this case 40’ deep, the drill stem and bit are removed and sections of 4” PVC pipe, with the lower section screened, are glued and dropped into the borehole until it reaches the bottom. By this time the bentonite has given up and the sand has collapsed around the PVC.
Detail of drill stem and bit. Note triangular frame (laying on its side in this photo). This frame is place on the ground and guides the stem in the borehole.
A tripod is erected and a mixture of water and bentonite is pumped down the drill stem under pressure from a gasoline-powered pump expelling sand as the stem is manually advanced. Note triangular frame as seen in previous image.
Drill stem is manually advanced to about 40’.
Water tank with Kalenge Village Regional Health Clinic left and Joy House right.
A solar-powered pump is lowered into the casing and connected to a control box (located in the Joy House), a solar array (mounted to the roof on the clinic) and a 750 gallon tank positioned on the top of a 15’ high steel stand. The control box is connected to the power and a float in the tank. When the water drops to a certain level the pump kicks on to top up the tank. There are three taps connected to the tank, one each for the clinic, the Joy House and the Volunteer House. The Kalenge Village Regional Health Clinic now has running water!
Health Care Volunteer at the Kalenge Village Regional Health Clinic with clean running water.
Call for Funds
Project Sheluka is now a proven organization. We are an approved Zambian NGO and have successfully negotiated duty-free import status with the Republic of Zambia. We have installed over 100 wells and pumps that immediately change the lives of people.
Our field work in 2024 has shown that there are approximately 30% more villages that we found in the 2020 survey. It is our intention to install an additional 200 wells and pumps in 2025. In order to continue this work we ask for your help.
People often asked “How much does it cost to install a well and pump?”. Now that we have direct experience, we can say that the total cost per well is just under $400. This includes everything: procurement, shipping, fabrication, transportation and services. Not much considering the immediate impact a well and pump brings to a community.
Consider pressing the link below to make a donation. Thank you.