As I mentioned yesterday, our non-profit foundation just financed a water collection and distribution system in Uganda. What follows is part one of the project’s status update…

Friends,

I’m writing today to provide you with an update on the Uganda Water Project. But first let me express my deepest thanks for your generous support. 

Our mission with Foundation for Human Civilization is to create a future that consists of vibrant self-sustaining local communities. And every contribution makes a real difference in the lives of the people we seek to serve.

With that in mind, your support enabled us to completely fund the Uganda Water Project. And we were even able to finance a wonderful extension to the project that wasn’t in our initial budget. More on that in just a few minutes.

As for the logistics… 

We funded the project in three phases. We felt this was important to ensure that the work was completed in full and that our team on the ground had ample opportunity to inspect and verify everything. 

We partnered with the Kireku-Bugolo Mwera Development Association on the project. Fr. Joseph Ssessaazi served as the local project coordinator for the association.

Fr. Joseph was responsible for securing bids and then meeting with the engineers to identify the ideal place to drill the well. From there he oversaw the construction and reported back to us with updates throughout each phase of the project.

The association was also responsible for securing the best possible foreign exchange rate to convert our US dollars into Uganda shillings. For this, they partnered with the Bevar Forex Bureau in Kampala. That’s the capital of Uganda.

We wired dollars to Bevar Forex for each of the three funding stages. They converted those dollars to Uganda shillings at the agreed-upon exchange rate. Then they transferred the shillings to the Kireku-Bugolo Mwera Development Association’s bank account. 

Fr. Joseph advised us that they were quite pleased with the exchange rate and how smooth the money transfer process went.

As for the project itself…

The first phase began in early October of 2023. We wired $15,000 to the Bevar Forex Bureau to begin construction. Here’s a snapshot of the heavy equipment arriving at the site:

And here’s the scene as the team prepared the site for drilling:

In this photo we can see Fr. Joseph (left) talking with the lead contractor Ssonko James (right) as the team gets set to drill. 

James runs a company called Ssonkos Consult-SMC. They have drilled wells in other parts of Uganda… and the team’s expertise was evident. 

Ssonkos Consult also does construction and renovation projects. They build and maintain roads throughout Uganda. They supply and install culverts to ensure heavy rainfall doesn’t wash out the roads. The team also does landscaping and surveying work throughout Uganda as well.

Here’s a list of some of the organizations Ssonkos Consult has done work for:

• Amiina Ministries Ug
• Best Queen Mother Primary School Fortportal
• Canan Junior School Matendo Luwero
• Kitongo Town
• Mwera Health Center
• Nawanjiri Community
• Partner for Community Transformation
• True Impact Ministries

Now they can add Foundation for Human Civilization to the list as well. Here’s a shot of the team drilling the well: 

With the borehole drilled and the manual pump/spigot installed, Phase One of the project was complete. Tomorrow we’ll look at Phase Two…

-Joe Withrow