Bringing clean water to Tanzania

Jim O'Connor, from Esh Village in County Durham, is a man on a mission in Africa.

He was so affected by what he found in the Tanzanian village of Machame, that he felt guilty about his life back at home.

Since 2008, he has been determined to do something constructive to help bring fresh water to the village.

His fresh water plans are now coming to fruition with the imminent sinking of the Dorothy's Well.

For many, Africa is a continent that leaves an indelible mark on their consciousness and a burning desire to return. With Jim O'Connor, it has been this... and more.

Dorothy's Well in pictures

Pure water

In 2008, while Jim was on a two week trip helping in schools in Tanzania, he witnessed at first hand the degradation of villagers' quality of life and especially with the children.

They had no access to one of life's fundamentals - clean drinking water.

Women and children of the village would walk for three hours every day, carrying 20kg containers of dirty bacteria infested water.

What passed for their drinking water, had already flowed through villages with no sanitation and was, more often than not, shared with cattle and wild animals.

They knew that drinking this water would mean that they could become sick - but they had no choice.

It was at this time that Jim was moved to help. He has been fundraising to bring fresh water to the village ever since.

Riding to support

Ben Broome will be taking a little rest - but he's game for more

Jim decided to carry out the fresh water work in memory of his wife Dorothy, who died after a long battle against breast cancer in 2006.

The Dorothy's Well Project has attracted attention and received numerous funding boosts from far and wide.

Just one source of funding came from an unusual fundraising event.

On Thursday 27 August, 15-year-old Ben Broome completed a mammoth journey on his unicycle from Edinburgh to Newcastle to raise money.

Ben covered the distance nursing an injured foot from a "wall-flip" (he tends to get adrenaline rushes doing these sorts of things) the week before he started.

He says: "I just took painkillers and simply got on with it - I still have a little limp, but knowing where the money was going, it is so worth it."

Ben completed the journey in fewer days than expected. "I took five days in all." he says, "The first, was 40 miles, then 38, then 25 on my birthday (he's just turned 15-years-old), then 42 miles and ending up doing 17 miles into Newcastle."

"I've already raised around £700, and I have another £400 pledged which I'll get when I get back to school, so I'll easily top the £1,000 mark."

And what of the future for Ben? He plans to ride a 100 miles in a day on the same unicycle, but as he says, he's going to "leave it just a while".

There is huge joy to be seen on the faces of the schoolchildren

Roaring success

The City of Durham Lions Club, part of the international group of Lions Clubs that help the less fortunate in the community, have also supported the Dorothy's Well Project by giving donations and helping run fund raising events.

Their president was able to present visitors from the Tanzanian village with money raised for expenditure in their village - all going to support the community work which has been driven by Jim.

Plans for 2010

And it's with this sort of support that the project is on its way to establishing a second well in the country.

Jim says that there are now enough funds in the coffers to start sinking the well. So it is with this in mind that he has gone out to Tanzania to oversee the work.

While he is there, he also wants to establish the latrines.

Once this is completed, it will mean that the community around Machame village will really see and appreciate the benefit from the fresh water.

"With the huge support of our fund raisers," says Jim, "we have sufficient funds to continue with our programme to sink an additional well in 2010 and hopefully to fund two further wells during 2010.

We will hear from Jim on his return from Tanzania later in September, but meantime, you can read more about the Dorothy's Well Project through the Dorothy's Well Project website