The Elephant vs. The Water Cooler

A few moons ago, I was invited to travel with a friend to an exclusive lodge in The Kruger Park. I was to be the site inspection photographer. Bliss.  The lodge had 10 suites (yes that type of exclusive) and was run by a lovely husband and wife team.  Sadly, a few weeks before, there had been a serious bush fire in the region, so a lot of the greenery – trees especially – were now just stunted, blackened twigs. In the arrival / parking area of the lodge, there was, however, a beautiful thriving green tree. The reason that this tree made it was because it ‘belonged’ to the lodge and was kept watered and was protected during the fire.

Anyhow, we returned from a game drive and retired to our suite to prepare for dinner.   At about 7ish, we all sit down for dinner with the husband and wife team who are our hosts.  We chat about our day, what we’ve seen as we enjoy the delicious food that has been specially prepared for us. Just before main course, an askari* approaches the husband and he steps away from the table – something requires his attention.

Now, the lodge is set up on a hillside, the magnificent veld** falling away beneath us and with the glassed-in dining room, we have an almost 180° view of the land surrounding us. Now, understandably, it’s pitch dark as it’s night time. Except for, all of a sardine, I can see headlights from a Landrover (one of the game drive vehicles) advancing, then stopping, then reversing, then stopping, then advancing again (you get the picture) … this carries on with much hooting and some choice language from the occupants of the Landy for a good 30 minutes or so.

The rather charming lady of the lodge then explained that her husband, who was a qualified game ranger, amongst other things, was rather passionate about this single tree in the entrance. He had apparently planted it and kept it watered from a sapling. In his opinion this tree was in the lodge ‘garden’ (although there are no fences at all at the lodge) and therefore belonged to the lodge. He had saved said tree from the fire. The problem was that there was a young bull elephant that was hungry and in his opinion, this tree was the only one that had edible bits on it, especially as the other trees were all burnt. So, after dark, the young elephant came for dinner. The husband wasn’t having this, so he and the askari were playing ‘chicken’ with an 8,000+ pound elephant as to who ‘got’ the tree.

What we were all seeing was the mechanics of this ‘chicken’ dare. The young elephant would advance. The Landrover would reverse. They would hoot at the elephant and throw a brick at the elephant. The elephant would retreat. The Landrover would advance. And on it went. If memory serves, the ‘teenage’ elephant eventually gave ground and loped off into the reserve to see if he could find fresh pickings elsewhere – the husband returned to dinner looking triumphant.

All I remember is it was one of the funniest (if not rather scary!) stand offs I’ve ever seen and something truly never to be forgotten.

What does this have to do with water coolers you may ask? Well, truthfully, not much, but it does mention an elephant and the story is set in southern Africa.  It just so happens that The Africa Trust, to who AquAid donate a sizeable portion of their revenue to, builds Elephant Pumps that bring clean drinking water to communities throughout southern Africa. Have a look see. (No, the mammalian ‘hero’ of this story isn’t how The Elephant Pump got its name.)

*An askari is a trusted scout; usually at a lodge, they are responsible for escorting guests between their rooms and the main areas as well as a having a number of other responsibilities.

**Veld is open, uncultivated country or grassland in southern Africa. It is conventionally divided by altitude into highveld, middleveld, and lowveld.

The Africa Trust – Summer’s Coming!

The Africa Trust – Summer’s Coming!

Remember the heat wave? You must – it was only a month or so ago. Now, take those temperatures and turn up the heat, so to speak, by a good 8 °C. Or for that matter, another 10°C.

Now, take a good 38°C and couple it with scant shade … and … no water.

Then, to this rather sweltering image, add this: If you want drinking water, you need to walk to go and find it. And not just down to the corner caf, but a few miles. When you get there, you can’t just buy a bottle of water (or any liquid for that matter); you have to fill the bucket that you brought with you and walk back home, carrying the now full bucket.

Not enough Bear Grylls for you? The water that you’ve just fetched is most likely, not fresh, and not clean and may be so full of bacteria, that even while trying to hydrate yourself, you may very well be making yourself ill without even realising it.

Remember, this is just water for you (and possibly, members of your family) to drink. This is not water that is needed to wash your clothes or your dishes or to water your meagre food crop with. This is just water to drink to keep you going. This is basic human survival type of stuff.

This is the day to day existence for many communities throughout the Third World and in the summer months, lack of potable water is amplified by the heat.

That’s just one of the reasons that AquAid chose to work with sustainable charities like The Africa Trust.

Because although we’re always tooting our horn about being one of the top water cooler providers in the U.K. we also (truly) believe in helping others less fortunate to help themselves. So, while we have you to thank, most valued customer, for your support and through your purchases making it possible for others to help themselves; isn’t it rather nice to know that when you’re sipping cool spring water from one of our water coolers, there’s another Elephant Pump being built in Africa, bringing fresh, clean drinking water to yet another community in need?

I think so. Good on yer. Toot toot!

The Elephant Pump

The Elephant Pump

The Elephant Pump is based on a 2000 year-old Chinese design that the CEO of The Africa Trust, Ian Thorpe, adapted to make it stronger, more durable and made and maintained using materials that are locally available in remote rural sub-Saharan African communities.

The core program of pump building in Zimbabwe has grown with 432 Elephant Pumps installed in 2012 compared to 367 in 2011.  This is now a massive program with the Elephant Pumps, managed by The Africa Trust, providing clean water for over 10% of the entire population of Zimbabwe. In addition to the core staff, it has been possible to provide contract work to over 40 other individuals during the course of the year.

The Elephant Pump was awarded the St Andrews Medal for the Environment in 2005, competing against 250 other applicants. Prince Charles, a patron for the St Andrews Medal, gave a personal recommendation towards this option of water extraction:

“Each project has had a direct and positive impact on people’s lives. While it is perhaps invidious to highlight just one of them, I believe a good example is the success of The Elephant Pump project. Based on a 2000-year-old Chinese technique for lifting water, The Elephant Pump is inexpensive, simple to make and repair and made from locally available materials which give users a greater sense of ownership. When more than a billion people live without access to clean drinking water in the world today, it is hard to imagine a better cause than this”.

Diagram of The Elephant Pump

Ian Thorpe then became the first person to win The St Andrews Medal for the Environment on two separate occasions when his design for the Elephant Toilet was awarded in 2008. Since winning the medal, this toilet has been introduced throughout northern and central Malawi.

Pump Minders – Key to Sustainability

It has been seen that the pumps which have been well maintained over the years are at sites where at least one key person has been trained on how to maintain the pump. Instead of simply providing general training for the whole community, The Africa Trust has recognised that it is vital to train at least two people who are likely to remain in the community. Many young men leave the rural areas in search of work. Older women are often the best people to train, as they are less likely to move away.

Once identified, 2-3 pump minders per pump receive initial training when the pump is installed with further training after 3 months, 6 months and one year. By this time, it is expected that the pump minders will be able to do all minor repairs with informal payment in kind (often in the form or food) from the others who use the pump. Spare parts for the pumps (such as washers and rope) are made from waste products and the pumps contribute to increased agricultural production, so this approach to maintenance is sustainable.

Pump minders collect a low level of community contributions once the pump is productive to pay their wages and a small part returns to The Africa Trust. This helps pay back the capital cost over five years. Millions of people in over seven thousand communities use Elephant Pumps.

When Water (A Lot) Leaked from My Eyes

When Water (A Lot) Leaked from My Eyes

As you may have gathered by now, I like to think of myself as a bit of a card carrying clown-arounder, not taking ‘stuff’ too seriously and always looking for the pun, the sarckie (that’s sarcasm to you) the silly, but ….. there are some days when all the malarking around is just supressed in an instant.

That would be today.

Here’s why:

I have always been rather shine-my-lapels to work with a company that not only has a work ethic but it sticks to it and even more so that AquAid has an ethic towards sustainable charities and sticks to that and, and, and … but, when I read something like this, honestly, I put paid to a week of good hydration habits in 10 minutes flat. Leaking eyes, super attractive puffy eye surrounds, weird keening noises, you know the drill.

Now before I short circuit my keyboard from all the blubbing, let me elaborate about this magical water producing letter:

  • It is written by a 10 year pupil who attends a school in a rural region of Zimbabwe.
  • The Elephant Pump was built by a team and people in the local community.
  • The team will have been trained by The Africa Trust.
  • The Africa Trust is one of the charities that AquAid supports.
  • AquAid founded The Africa Trust together with Ian Thorpe, CEO of The Africa Trust and inventor of The Elephant Pump.
  • Ian Thorpe developed the pump after having worked as a teacher in remote African rural areas and seeing how communities had to walk for many miles each day just to get drinking water.

So, all of this eventually led to this rather remarkable letter and I’m c for seriously delighted to say that there are more letters like this because there are more wells that that have been built.

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Guest Blog – AV Danzer support in Africa: The Elephant Pump

Guest Blog – AV Danzer support in Africa: The Elephant Pump

As UK specialists and leaders in the supply of modular buildings and portable accommodation, AV Group /Danzer / Rentacabin© are committed to protecting and enhancing local and global environments. Along with our commitment to sustainability we also try to give back where we can and this was one of the reasons why we chose to use AquAid.

Our decision to install a water cooler from AquAid not only means that our staff members are properly hydrated allowing them to perform at their best, but it also gives our company the opportunity to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

For each of the machines that we have, we have donated £20 per year per water cooler to The Africa Trust. Through our contributions to The Africa Trust, an ‘Elephant Pump’ is being installed in Africa on our behalf. This pump will bring much needed clean, fresh drinking water and improve the quality of life of those who will have access to our well.

We are proud to be involved in this initiative and over the coming months we look forward to updating our website with photos of the pump bearing our company name.

For further information on AV Group / Danzer / Rentacabin© please visit our website https://avdanzer.co.uk