Many remote areas in Pakistan have no electricity and very little water.
People have to travel long distances to fetch water, from springs, streams or wells.
Underground water is too deep to extract using hand pumps.
Philanthropists are arranging resources to help communities dig wells and install solar operated water pumps.
One example is the Thar desert in south eastern Pakistan.
I know of a WhatsApp Group where members collect funds to install solar pumps in villages of the Thar desert.
One pump can cost around Rs.235,000, about US$1,500.
When a members discovers a village where a solar pump is needed, he posts the requirement as a message in the WhatsApp group. Members who wish to participate, deposit funds in a pre-designated bank account. Usually it only takes a couple of days to arrange funds for one pump.
A local manager arranges the logistics and oversees the installation. Pictures of the installed pump are then shared on the WhatsApp Group.
A challenge coming up in the minds of the sponsors is that it may be difficult for the poor communities to maintain and overhaul the pumps as and when the need arises.
Key sponsors are trying to get elders of the communities together to create some sort of organization that can oversee the pumps at a local level and communicate with the sponsors for maintenance requirements, as and when the need arises.
In Sha Allah, more on the topic in future posts.
Till then...
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