Phase 2 · pipe laying begins in June

340 households, one well, and four kilometres of pipe.

Bilan Valley has water 90 metres down and no way to lift it. The community has already dug the trench route and pledged the land; what is missing is a drilled well, a solar pump and the pipe to reach the four hamlets.

$61,400 of $85,000 · 1,284 donors

72% funded$23,600 to go

Volunteers and villagers digging the pipe trench in the valley landscape

The trench route, dug by hand by 60 households over eleven weekends before we were involved at all.

The whole budget

What $85,000 actually buys

Six line items, quoted by the contractor in March and published here with the quote reference. Nothing on this page is an estimate we made up.

$31,000

The drilled well

Ninety metres through two rock layers, cased and sealed, plus the test pumping that proves the yield before anyone celebrates. Quote 2027-114.

$18,500

Solar pump and array

A pump sized for 340 households at 40 litres per person per day, with panels, controller and a spare pump held in the district store. Quote 2027-118.

$16,200

Four kilometres of pipe

To four hamlets, with twelve tap stands and the fittings. The trench is already dug, which is what makes this figure so much lower than usual.

$9,800

Storage tank

A 30,000-litre tank on the ridge so the taps still run for two days if the pump fails. Villages without this are one breakdown from being back where they started.

$5,400

Training and tools

Four people from the valley trained as pump caretakers, paid for a year by the water committee, plus the toolkit and the first set of spares.

$4,100

Our costs

Two site visits, the engineer's report, transfer fees and the audit. That is 4.8% of the total, and it appears on this page rather than in a footnote.

Every hundred dollars

Where your money goes

Measured across this project, not across the charity as a whole — a blended average is how overheads get hidden.

Construction and materialsWell, pump, pipe, tank, tap stands

88.0%

Training and first-year sparesFour caretakers, toolkit, spare pump

6.4%

Our costsSite visits, engineer, transfers, audit

4.8%

Payment processingCard and transfer fees, actual not estimated

0.8%

If the project finishes under budget, the balance goes to the same committee's next tap stand rather than into general funds — and you get an email telling you so, with the number.

Where the project stands

Eight months in, in public

Updated on the first of every month whether or not there is good news. Two of the entries below are delays.

Completed · October 2026Survey and water table confirmed
Two hydrogeologists, three test bores. Water at 88–94 metres, yield sufficient for 340 households with room for growth. Report published in full, including the bore that came up dry.
Completed · January 2027Community agreement signed
Land donated by four families, trench route agreed, and a water committee elected with six of eleven seats held by women — a condition of our involvement, agreed before any money moved.
Delayed · February 2027Drilling rig unavailable for six weeks
The only rig in the district was on a government contract. We told donors the week we found out rather than at the end of the quarter, and rescheduled for April.
Completed · April 2027Well drilled and cased
Ninety-one metres, tested at 2.1 litres per second — above the design figure. Invoice and test certificate published on the reports page the same week.
Now · June 2027Pipe laying, funding gap $23,600
The trench is dug and the pipe is quoted. This is the step your donation pays for, and it is the one that turns a well into water in the hamlets.
Planned · September 2027Tank, tap stands and handover
Twelve tap stands commissioned, caretakers certified, and the committee takes over operation with a year of spares in the store.

Accountability

How you check that this is real

Three things you can verify without taking our word for any of it.

Every invoice, published

Contractor invoices, receipts and the bank statement for the project account go up monthly with the reference numbers intact. You can ring the drilling company and quote them.

Audited, and the report is public

An independent auditor reviews the project account annually. The last two reports are on the site including the one that flagged our record-keeping on fuel receipts as inadequate.

The committee has the final say

The water committee owns the well, sets the maintenance fee and can remove us from the project. We fund and advise; they decide. That is the arrangement, in writing.

From the valley

Photographs from the last eight months

Taken by the committee's own volunteers, published with the consent of everyone in them.

Wide landscape photograph of the valley and the hamlets

Volunteers working together on the trench

Children carrying water containers along the path

The community meeting where the committee was elected

Voices

From the valley and from donors

"We dug the trench before anyone promised us anything. That was the point — we wanted to be able to say the work was already half done when we asked."

Portrait of committee chair Amina Sowande

Amina SowandeChair, Bilan water committee

"I give to three charities. This is the only one where I have seen an invoice, a delay explained before I noticed it, and an audit that says something went wrong."

Katrin VogelMonthly donor since 2025

"My daughters walked ninety minutes each way. When the taps run they will walk four. That is the whole thing, and it does not need a longer sentence."

Joseph AdeyiResident, Bilan lower hamlet

Before you give

Six questions donors ask

The work continues at the pace the money allows — the well is already drilled and paid for. If we are still short in December, we lay the pipe to two hamlets instead of four and say publicly which two and why. Nothing is returned to a general fund and no donation is spent on a different project.

In the countries where we are registered, yes, and the receipt you get within the hour is the document your tax office needs. Elsewhere the receipt still itemises everything correctly, but you should check locally rather than take our word for it.

Yes, and monthly gifts end automatically when the project is handed over — we will not quietly roll you onto the next one. To stop earlier, reply to any email with the word stop. There is no retention call and nobody will ask you to reconsider.

Because a project with no engineer, no site visits and no audit is how wells end up broken within two years. Charities advertising "100% to the field" are usually funding those costs from a different pot and not showing it to you. We would rather print the number.

A maintenance fee set and collected by the committee, four trained caretakers, a spare pump already bought and stored, and a district supplier who stocks the parts. We check back at years one, three and five and publish what we find, including failures.

Visits are possible twice a year in a group, at your own cost, and only when the committee has invited them. Goods are almost always worse than money — shipping a pump costs more than buying one two hours away, and it takes work from a local supplier who will service it later.

$23,600 to go

Four kilometres of pipe stand between a well and 340 taps.

Give once or monthly. You get a receipt within the hour, the monthly report whether the news is good or not, and a message when the taps run.

88 cents in the dollar goes into the ground
Every invoice published, every month
Monthly gifts stop by themselves at handover

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