Solihull steps up to provide fresh water source to Ugandan town

The well is currently under construction in the town of Amolatar, which is 115 miles northeast of Uganda’s capital city Kampala. The £1,000 construction fund is broken down into £400 for drilling costs, £450 for a solar pump, £100 for civil works, and £50 for training. The well is expected to be completed in about a month.

The new well in Amolatar, northern Uganda (Photo: Emmy Foulkes)[Missing Credit]

Emmy, who Rabbi Pink says, is a “really popular figure” among his community, told the JC that the new well would have an “immeasurable” impact upon the residents of his hometown.

“It will provide a lot of relief,” Emmy said. “At the moment, you'll find women and children, especially children, spending a long time standing in the queue [at the two existing wells] and walking unreasonable distances to get to a water source – instead of children spending that time going to school or women doing something economically viable. So, this will really help a lot.”

The construction will be carried out by the local community, and “the fact that local people are doing it themselves is a source of livelihood, which is another benefit – it will add a little bit of money,” said Emmy.

It will be the third well in the whole town, which has around 1,000 families. The two existing wells are boreholes, which use heavy machinery to drain water from very deep underground. They are reliable, but the process takes a long time, and they have to be manually operated.

However, the well which is currently under construction will be a shallow well - around 71 ft deep - and will use a solar pump. While it runs the risk of drying out at different points during the year, it is much quicker and easier to operate. There is technology which exists which can forecast when the well is likely to dry out, but it is “too expensive”, according to Emmy.

The well in Amolatar, northern Uganda (Photo: Emmy Foulkes)[Missing Credit]

The water situation in Amolata is, needless to say, completely different from that in the UK. “It’s so difficult for us living in the West to understand what it means to be able to have fresh drinking water,” said Rabbi Pink. “We take it for granted, but for [the residents of Amolata], it’s a life-changer.”

Unsurprisingly, the project has gone down well in Emmy’s village. “My mum, my siblings, my ‘grandchildren’ [colloquialism for his nieces and nephews] are all still there,” said Emmy. “They’re now asking if I can run for local MP!”

This good news is only the start, hopefully, because three sources of drinking water for 1,000 families is still not enough, says Emmy. “This is kind of a pilot scheme, if you like. If this is successful, I intend to increase the number of water sources in the village. If we could have, for example, ten safe water sources for 1,000 homes, that would make a huge difference. We will start with one and see how it goes. Then we can plan the next step accordingly.”

Back in Solihull, this is far from the first instance of the Jewish community raising money for good causes. “Many years ago, I set up a separate account purely for tzedakah matters,” said Rabbi Pink. “This is just one small project; we probably raise about £60,000 to 70,000 per year through our fund. We’ve raised close to £1 million in the few decades that the account has been running. We’re a community of around 60 or 70 families, so when you think about it, that’s pretty amazing.”

Emmy is extremely grateful for the community’s generosity, and, indeed, their speedy mobilisation to raise the funds. “I'm really happy and grateful to the Jewish community for their charitable contributions,” he said.

“And I couldn’t finish this interview without specifically mentioning Rabbi Pink or Philip Linz [the chair of BJHA]”, he continued. “I’m grateful to Philip for showing goodness in allowing me to go to the local community to fundraise, and grateful to Rabbi Pink for wanting to advise me and taking the practical steps to do this within his own charity.”