Lutendele -- A Water Project

Lutendele is a group of villages on the top of small hillsides on the outskirts of Kinshasa. The access to Lutendele is around the river road, a beautiful, scenic area, with terrible road construction. We climbed back up into the foothills and came to the road to Lutendele. After we went through these "mud puddles," someone met us and told us the bridge to the village we were going to was out and we should go around -- back through the puddles. We went back to the main road and took a scenic drive along the river -- past the rapids. The main road was blocked by a cement plant. So we went back through the mud puddles to the place where the bridge was out.

After about 30 minutes of walking on a very hot day, we came to a beautiful village, with homes that have larger yards and lots of tress and shops spaced along the main street. The village is bordered by a Belgian palm oil plantation, so the vistas are beautiful and unsettled. What was most exciting for us was the number of men digging the ditches for the water to flow to the various water stations. Participation is one of the requirements of LDSHS projects, and Lutendele is a shining star of participation.

An ADIR engineer ensures that the digging has reached the appropriate depth. ADIR is a very competent group and we see them so much that we have become great friends.

This is the village primary school. It is a realitively nice school for a small village, where schools are generally run by an interested party. The campus is clean and the buildings are neat. As with most of the older schools, the rooms are fairly dark and equipment includes a rudimentary chalkboard and chalk.

The homes in Lutendele have these wonderful address boards. Each house has a number and a street. These are very difficult for foreigners to understand because there are no street signs and it is hard for us to think of the dirt path in front of the house as a street. People here are proud of their addresses and give their addresses readily, even though it would be very difficult for a stranger to use an address to find a home in the villages.

The Lutendele well will have an electric pump and a water tank to provide storage and water pressure. The electricity will come from a fairly stable substation at a local Catholic monastery. this structure has the forms for the cement base of the water tank.

Creating the forms for the cement is a tedious process with hand tools.

The ADIR crew is busy at the drill-- this is a water driven process. The water is circulated through retaining ponds where a silicone treatment is added. This treatment helps to stabilize the sand in the hole so that it doesn't collapse back into the hole. Kinshasa is like a large sand pile. At 24 meters, the drill hit a large rock and drilling slowed considerably.

The man in the pink shirt standing by the police officer is the Chief of the village. He is a very smart man, who calls this well the "Jewel of the Village." Without this well, they have no water. He is watching carefully the process and has ensured the support of the village.

The police are an ever present force in village life. Here the village policeman has shown up for the action and to show his support.

Local women walk past the drill site on their way home from market.

The ADIR team, Eric Kahunda our site monitor, Elder Moody, Brino (one of our ADIR friends) and the Chief stand in front of the Chief's home. He has vacated his home in order to store the pipe for the project -- to keep it safe. He is really committed to this project, which will help it be more successful.